Itinerary (1)
Kranjska Gora (Slovenia) (2)
Portoroz (Slovenia) (4)
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| Juz Franza lagoon |
The second week of our trip was spent in the coastal town of Starigrad - Paklenica near Zadar in Croatia. It is located on a quieter part of the Dalmatian coast, with Zadar (a more popular tourist town) located nearby. For a week, we explored places around - towns, beaches, islands, the sea, mountains, rivers, waterfalls and so on. The water there was the highlight - warm, clear and a sparkling green. We loved our stay on the coast and would love to be back.
Day 8: Drive (4.5 hours) from Kranjska Gora (Slovenia) to Starigrad-Paklenica near Zadar (Croatia) with lunch stop in Ljubljana (Slovenia)
The drive from Kranjska Gora to Starigrad-Paklenica was quite picturesque and not too long, though the day started a bit rainy. So we couldn’t stop as much on the way as we wanted. When we left from Kranjska Gora, we again drove towards the Lake Bled area through some hilly areas.
Initially we were not planning to visit Ljubljana (the capital of Slovenia) but as the rain seemed to stop for a while, we decided to pay the city a visit. And what a charming little place it was. On the outskirts, Ljubljana felt like a boring Soviet bloc kind of place with typical post-war apartment block architecture. But our view changed once we reached the city centre.
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| Ljubljana high street |
We parked near Ljubljana castle which was on a green hill in the centre of the city. As we explored the area around, we were blown away by the beauty and simplicity of the place. We walked to a local square where a farmers' market was going on. Then we walked through one of the high streets where a lot of handicrafts were being sold. There was a lot of activity going on there, and it looked quite colourful.
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| Along the river |
After the high street, I started walking along the river Ljubljana - what a walk it was. Old, simple and classy. The river turns around the hill, and so the Ljubljana castle on top of that hill was visible throughout the walk. On both sides of the river were parks, lot of trees and colourful buildings. And since it had just rained, it all felt so fresh and inviting. There were a lot of trees, lovely bridges, churches, shops, restaurants, museums and so on, all along the river.
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| Along the river |
I loved the walk so much, I just kept walking. It felt like walking through a fairy tale village. And most of all, totally unexpected. I had not expected to see such a pretty town centre, especially given the Soviet-type housing we saw when we just entered the town. We explored the area for a bit, and left before the rains came back.
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| On the drive |
After Ljubljana, the drive was mostly through green hilly areas. We got some gorgeous views on the way, of narrow country roads through green forests, charming villages and churches. We stopped at a village on the way with a spectacular view, and I remember thinking - even the cows here get better views than we do living in our cities 😂. I think this was one of the prettiest drives of this trip, so simple and so green.
After that, we drove on a highway all the way till Zadar. The hills were smaller here and not as pretty. It was again raining all the time, the dramatic gray clouds adding a darkness to the sky. Towards the end, we crossed a long tunnel, and when we got out of it, the landscape changed dramatically. The dark clouds vanished and the sun came out.
We were staying in the village of Starigrad-Paklenica, along the Dalmatian coast, next to the Velebit mountains. It was a very quiet area, away from the tourist zones. So we turned much before reaching the Zadar coast, and drove about 10 kms along the coast to get to our village. As it had got dark by then, we did the long winding drive along the coast without knowing what kind of terrain we were driving in.
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| Starigrad-Paklenica |
There were many small villages all through the way, driving past which we reached our village, Starigrad-Paklenica. It was near the Paklenica beach, close to the Paklenica National Park. It was a small picturesque village on the coast with very few houses.
Our airbnb was an apartment on the ground floor of a two floor building, where the owner's family lived on the floor above. It was a nice cosy apartment, with three different sitting areas - inside the house, behind in the garden and in front outside the door. The garden thankfully had no wind, and not much sun either, which was helpful as there was a lot of both there. We again settled into our apartment for our five night stay there. We felt like we were living like the locals. Our airbnb was about 5 mins walking from the beach. And there were olive gardens on the way.
That first evening, we walked out of our airbnb towards the water. The town was very small, with barely a few houses. There was a beach, a pebble beach. And the weather was so warm, with a cool sea breeze flowing. I loved it. As we walked more, we found some restaurants on the waterfront, and had pizza dinner at the Fratelli Pizza Bar. The food was average, and this is the point in the trip where our food quality started going down. After dinner we continued our walk along the beach, it all felt so quiet and remote.
Day 9: Exploring Starigrad and Zadar Old Town (45 mins away)
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| Swimming in Starigrad |
The first half of the day we spent around our airbnb as we had had a long day the day before. We walked out to the waterfront and went swimming in the water. The day was quite hot and the water was so warm. The water there was protected by the Zadar archipelago, so there were no waves and the sea was so calm, it was fun to swim. The beaches were pebbly though. There were some people swimming in the water, but not a lot. It was just so slow, so relaxed as we were far away from the tourist zone. We loved it. And the town looked quite pretty, with deep blue sea water on one side, white houses with orange roofs and a lot of greenery in the centre, and the grey hills of the Velebit mountain range on the other side. Everything there was scenic. And slow.
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| Roman ruins |
In the afternoon, we drove to Zadar which was the largest tourist town in this area. It was about a 45 mins drive, mostly through barren areas with shrub vegetation. We first walked all around the waterfront along the sea and it was lovely. The water here had a deep blue colour. And the sun was out - it felt like a perfect day to enjoy the Adriatic Sea. We first sat near the Sea Organ, a musical instrument set up on the waterfront where the waves coming in and out create musical sounds. It felt lovely to sit there enjoying the sea playing music. It was heavenly.
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| Sunset at Zadar |
As we continued to walk along the waterfront, we came across some Roman ruins right next to a church - quite a scenic location I would say. We stopped for dinner at a sea front restaurant, the Tramonto and saw the sun set while having dinner. It was quite surreal. Apparently the sunset in Zadar is supposed to be stunning, and it was.
After dinner, we walked through the old town and around the fort. The streets were made of white rocks (instead of black cobblestones). At night, it was brightly lit up, with all the shops still open and people filling up all the space. There was a party-like atmosphere at night. There were many lounges and clubs all ready for action, and party music was playing everywhere. Though all the places were still empty even at 10 pm! Clearly parties here started late.
But we had an early morning the next day, so we left before any of the action started. Also, the drive back from Zadar felt different than the one we had taken on the way there. This was a highway route whereas while driving in, we had gone through smaller country roads. Funny.
Day 10: Boat trip to Ugljan island (45 mins drive and then a boat ride)
This was one of my best days in Zadar. There are many islands off the coast of Zadar, and we booked a boat to take us to one of those islands, where we could jump off the boat and swim in the open sea. We left from Zadar harbour, on a small speed boat, with some 5-6 people on it and the captain. We first went along the main island, then turned and sped towards Ugljan island. The day was sunny and the water was sparkling everywhere.
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| Uvala Frnaza lagoon |
We made a few stops along the Ugljan coast. The first one was in the wilderness, near Uvala Frnaza lagoon. The boat stopped there for a while and we jumped into the emerald green water! The water was warm and clear, we could see all the rocks on the bottom of the seabed. It was so clear, we could also see all the fish on the reefs just like that. I saw some needlefish and many many sea urchins on the seabed. It was so much fun.
Interestingly the captain was saying that the locals had already stopped swimming by now as the weather was cold by their standards (in the low 20s!). We were all laughing at how such things are so relative. I also convinced some other British tourists on the boat to jump in, given that the next 6 months we would not find anything close to such warm temperatures in the UK.
Our next stop was the nearby Zaljev Juz Franza lagoon. The water was completely clear here too. We jumped in and swam all the way till the beach. There were a lot of pebbles here too, but still fun.
After that, we went in the boat all along the beach. The island was lined with the typical houses of the region, yellow in colour, with orange roofs. There were some stunning seafront mansions also. All of that was surrounded with loads of greenery all around. And given how sunny it was that day, everything sparkled. The water, the trees, the houses, the sun; and the air was so fresh and crisp - it’s very difficult to capture the experience of that day.
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| Preko village |
Our last stop on the tour was Preko village. We stopped our boat in the lagoon in front and jumped in again. The village had the typical yellow and orange houses, and looked so enchanting. We swam in the sea looking at all that scenery around us. I also thought to myself, that next time I should stay on the island. It would be a great experience. We had a lovely day just being out and about for about 4-5 hours, swimming in the open sea. It was tough to return to the city that day though.
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| Streets of Zadar |
Once back on land, we explored Zadar more. We walked through the high street, it was fun, though not as much as at night. The town looked older during the day 😂. It still had an active vibe to it, with its narrow white streets, and the pastel houses all around. But as it was too hot, it was less inviting than the pleasant nights.
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| Zadar downtown |
In the late afternoon, we thought we would be experimental and drove to a beach slightly out of town, called Borik beach. Apparently that was where all the locals hang out. Though it turned out to be a bit of a disappointment. For starters, it looked a bit run down. There was grass on the side beyond the beach to sit and chill. The water was difficult to swim in because of all the waves. Honestly, it wasn’t fun to be there. So we just walked along the waterfront for a while and soon left for our small village of Starigrad.
During the drive, we got a view of Zadar from higher ground, it looked nice. A spreadout town on a small peninsula. The drive back today was through a country route with views of mountains and water all around. It was definitely more fun than the highway route.
We had dinner at Dalmacija restaurant, which was in one of the happening areas of Starigrad. The food was ok, but it was nice to sit outdoors, enjoying the cool ocean breeze.
Day 11: Exploring Starigard-Paklenica
We took a day off from all the travels given the busy past few days, and today was that day. It was raining most of the day, and that helped in not feeling guilty about doing very little. We spent most of the day near our airbnb, resting at home or exploring nearby areas. In the morning we first drove to the nearest supermarket, Tommy to shop for groceries, and then had coffee next to the the beach. It started pouring again as we tried to get back to our car after the coffee.
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| Starigrad-Paklenica |
In the evening, we walked along the waterfront for about 3 kms one way, and saw the luxurious living along the Dalmatian coast. There were some beaches, some parks, and many magnificent holiday homes along the way. At one point, we walked right down to the water, enjoying the parked boats and all the waves lashing at them, and the pine trees and the white and orange houses on the other side. We sat there for a while, just enjoying listening to the waves.
We finally reached the lively part of town where there was a boardwalk with many shops and restaurants all lit up for the evening. There were a lot of billboards advertising different kinds of activities, like watersports, rental boats and so on. There were a lot more people hanging around there too. So this place isn’t as dead as we initially thought it to be.
While walking back we got caught in the rain and thunderstorms though. And I had to go and charge my car nearby, again all in pouring rain. But still it was nice that we took a walk in the area. It turned out that it was actually quite an interesting place, with lots to do around. It's just that as it's not on a tourist map, we didn't make many plans to explore it. Still its good we did see a bit of it that day.
Day 12: Hike in Plitvice Lakes National Park (2 hour drive)
Today was another one of my favourite days in Croatia. We drove to Plitvice Lakes National Park, about 2 hours away, and spent the whole day exploring it. The place is just spectacular, and has to be visited to be believed. The weather, which was supposed to be sunny, turned out to be very rainy. And we were not prepared for it, as the forecast had been for a sunny day. This did affect our experience as we walked all day in the rain. Still the place was so mind-blowing, it made up for the weather.
The drive to the lakes was quite scenic, through small green mountains, cute little villages, huge farms and just so much beauty all around, that I enjoyed the drive a lot too. There was a long patch of the road which was quite bad and bumpy, but most of it was fine. And close to the park, there were many towns which offered hotels and other amenities for tourists.
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| One of the upper lakes |
When we reached the park, the weather did not look too inviting, so thankfully I changed into something more suited for the rainy weather. And it helped. There are two different entrances to the park. And when buying tickets, one needs to choose which route they want to take as there are 8 possible routes to choose from. Each one of the route covers a different part of the park, some routes are longer than others. We chose route C and were in the park for about 6 hours, walking past all the rivers, lakes and waterfalls, including a boat and tram ride also.
Once you enter the park, everyone must follow the standard path which takes you through the lower lakes, then to the upper lakes, through multiple levels in the park. It is very well managed and easy to follow. As you walk along, slowly the whole magical world of this place unfolds in front of you.
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Waterfalls in Plitvice
National Park
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The Black river and White river combine and flow through the park. And given the mountainous nature of this park, and the soft limestone and dolomites rocks here, the rivers as they flow through the landscape create lakes, cascades across different levels, rock caves, waterfalls and many other interesting structures everywhere. As you walk along the path, you can see many of these places.
There are about 16 lakes which can be easily seen, some known as lower lakes and some as upper lakes. The colours of each of the lakes are different based on the vegetation around, the minerals in it and the angle of sunlight. And as the limestone karst rocks are all soft, many different structures are created across the park due to the flowing water.
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| Big Waterfall |
When you enter the park, you first see the ‘Big Waterfall’, one of the defining photographs of the park. It is a single large waterfall with multiple branches, made by the Plitvica stream. It is quite impressive even from a distance, and it's also possible to go up close to see it. When we went near it, it was all misty there.
After the waterfall, one can walk for about 10 kms across the park. First you cross all the lower lakes, each on a different level creating small cascades and with a different colour. The water everywhere was so clear, one could easily see fish swimming everywhere. The shades of blue or green of the water, based on the minerals present in that lake are stunning to look at. And on both sides were high mountains with some fall colours already appearing. Every spot in the park was picturesque and it was lovely to walk around.
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| The walk |
After that, we took a ferry across one of the lakes and reached a camp ground to reach the upper lakes. We ate a quick meal for lunch. We could have turned back from there but we chose to continue to walk forward. So we took another ferry and kept walking. (There is a maze of ferries one needs to take to be able to continue the walk). We walked up and down hills, through lush green vegetation and past so many lakes, it was tough to keep count. The upper lakes had many waterfalls, caves and lush green forests all around. The water was clear everywhere, and created many unique views. Every scene was just mesmerising.
And finally we reached the end of the trail when it started pouring like crazy. We waited and took a tram back to the starting gate before the park closed down for the day. The tram ride was very scary, as the tram moved very fast on very narrow roads along the cliffs. I really wonder how the driver could drive so fast without fear.
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| Top view of the cascades |
Even after the tram ride, we were dropped a bit before the main gate. As we walked the last half a kilometer to the gate, we got to see all the cascading lakes from the top, another popular view of the Park. It was tough to walk back the last part as we were drenched in rain and very tired after walking the whole day. Though we still loved the place. I can’t imagine how it would have been if it hadn't been raining. I don’t think we would have left the park then 😂. I was also very impressed by how well organised the place was. It was very convenient, well marked and had many amenities within the park (including many eating places on the way). I loved it totally.
We had initially planned to eat at one of the towns nearby, but after the rain, all we wanted to do was get back to our warm airbnb. So we just drove back directly. The drive was again, as after the rain, it had got even more beautiful.
Once back in Starigrad-Paklenica, we changed and went out to one of the nearby restaurant, Kaleta, for another meal on the sea front. And just like that, this second part of our trip in the Balkans also came to an end. Soon we were to go back to Slovenia.
Day 13: Drive (4 hours) from Zadar (Croatia) to Portoroz (Slovenia) with lunch stop in Senj (Croatia)
The weather on this trip had already turned for the worse by now. Even on the day we drove from Zadar to Portoroz in Slovenia, it was raining most of the day. We did stop on the way in a small town, but couldn't explore much as it started raining again.
The route we chose to get to Portoroz was not through the highway, but a scenic route along the coast. And it was fabulous. We started from Zadar and continued along the Dalmatian coast for a few hours. On the one side were the mountains, and on the other was the blue-green Adriatic Sea. Every turn was picturesque, with loads of houses dotting the hills and boats dotting the water down below.
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| Cove on Dalmatian coast |
Around many of the turns were small coves with shallow water where the light green was even more prominent. We stopped at one of these spots to dip our toes in the water. The colours of the water there were just out of this world. We later drove by a line of islands spread out in the sea on the other side. The views were so stunning, that after a while, even that began to feel normal 😂.
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| Senj |
On the coast, we stopped at a supercharger in a random town called Senj. Even the supercharger had an imposing view of the sea around! We walked around town and had lunch. We then explored the high street and the shops there, looking for local coral stones. It was a cute little town, nothing extraordinary though.
After Senj, we drove on some highways which were a lot faster but less scenic. When crossing back into Slovenia, at the border, we were asked for our passports! That was a big shock to us as we were within the Schengen zone and weren’t expecting to be asked for our passports. Anyways it was good learning for the next week when we would be skipping between Croatia and Slovenia quite often.
The drive now turned greener, and we drove past some cute little towns. The entry into Portoroz was quite impressive. You drive through a road covered with trees on both sides, like a tree tunnel. After that, you drive through a small pass, with the whole of the Piran and Portoroz valley opening up in front. Both towns are located on the sea, with hills all around and have some of the best views I have seen in a while.
The whole area felt very posh, so fancy. On the one side was the vast sea. And on the other, the green hills with orange houses peeping out from between. There was something very picture perfect about this place, it's tough to explain. And we hadn’t expected it at all.
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| Sunset in Portoroz |
We checked into our airbnb on one of the hills and the view from there was something to die for. To get there, we had to drive up a small hill. And the view was of all the hills around, and the sea in front. We could have just sat there and enjoyed the sunset over the sea everyday. Though the first evening, there was a lot of rain, and we couldn't see the sunset. Anyways, we settled in our airbnb for the next six nights and rested after the drive in the rain.
In the evening, we drove to a local supermarket and then to the nearby Portoroz marina for dinner. It was pouring, so a bit difficult to get anywhere. Still we braved it. There were loads of restaurants along the marina, and we walked into one which had parking right next to it - Santa Lucija. They had local seafood on the menu and the food felt tasty after almost a week! So we were definitely looking forward to the next week in this coastal part of Slovenia.
Our week in Croatia felt very short. Especially because there was so much more to explore in the area (leave alone the rest of the country like Hvar, Split and Dubrovnik areas). I enjoyed all the places around Zadar, the highlight being the swims around Ugljan island and the day in Plitivice National Park. We all left with great memories from Croatia, and a resolve to be back.
