Croatia – Zagreb and Plitvice National Park – May 2012

plitvice national park croatia rainbow

I left Budapest when it was still dark out, headed for Zagreb, Croatia.  My time in Zagreb was really to visit Plitvice National Park.  I had gone back and forth so many times between staying in Zagreb and staying at Plitvice.  Staying in Zagreb meant it was easier to leave once my Croatia stay was over. Staying at Plitvice meant it was easier to get to the park.  In the end, I opted to stay in Zagreb.

I boarded the train at Keleti Station and found my seat.  Someone was sitting in it. I try and show him my ticket and he will not acknowledge me.  Fine, I’ll just sit across from you. His body language told me my presence annoyed him.  Well feel free to move…out of my seat….

My train was one of those trains that had cabins with six seats in each cabin. I don’t like these trains. I don’t like facing someone, being locked in a cabin with a stranger.  Well okay you aren’t LOCKED inside a cabin with a stranger, but that’s what it feels like. I had just really wanted to sleep for the bulk of my six hour trip, but having this person directly facing me inside a locked cabin (okay again, not LOCKED) made it awkward.

At some point, the train stopped and a very menacing man in a uniform came and barked at us in a language I did not understand.  Turns out we were crossing into Croatia and needed to show our passports.  Yay!  Croatia stamp in my passport!

Finally “guy in my seat who hates me” leaves the cabin.  I am alone! I can sleep!  I put my headphones in and start blasting The Loved Ones, relaxing and then…ugh.   Mere minutes later, I am interrupted again. There is construction on our train line so we are being transferred to a bus, and then back to a train after the construction.  This makes me very anxious.  The woman who was called into my cabin to explain this to me as the conductor didn’t speak English, tells me that this happens all the time. It is no big deal.  But I’m still anxious.

We get out of the train and find the bus we are supposed to take.  It’s like…right there.  A very hot bus ride later, we reach the train station.  We are only five minutes later than we would have been if the train had run straight through.

We board and continue to Zagreb.  Once we arrive at the Glavni Kolodvor station, I have another one of those “I’M IN EUROPE!!!” moments.  I stopped to grab something to eat.  The guy behind the counter didn’t speak English and I did not speak Croatian. He was kind enough to write down the total on a piece of paper for me. I then bought a tram ticket and outside I went.

Trams in Zagreb are free within a certain distance around the train station.  My hotel was not an actual hotel; it was an apartment house just outside the free zone. I had to buy a ticket.  Once again, I was pleasantly surprised at how the tram ride went absolutely smoothly.  I had made myself a list of tram stops between the train station and my hotel.  One by one, we passed the stops in exact order and I got off where I was supposed to.  It needs to be said over and over again.  I live in New York City.  The subway system here is thought to be the greatest in the world.  It is not. It is constantly being repaired, it never runs where its supposed to.  It skips stops and trains are moved to other lines.  People who live here often find themselves in places they didn’t intend to be.  Yet in Croatia, I had zero problems.

I did get a tiny bit lost walking from the station to my apartment.  Since it was located outside the “main center” of the city and was more in a residential neighborhood, there wasn’t really any other reason for anyone to be walking around here with luggage.  There was a sidewalk café and an older gentleman saw the suitcase, saw me looking at a map, and automatically knew where I was going.  He did not speak English but he could still figure out I was lost.  He pointed out exactly where I needed to go.

I find where I am supposed to be – Hotel Antunovic where I’m staying for the next two nights.  There was a very kind English speaking woman outside on the patio.   We talked a little bit as I smoked and then she let me know that she would check me in whenever I was ready. I had no idea she worked there.  Very laid back relaxing place.  When she checked me in, she apologized profusely as the air conditioning was broken today.  She let me know there was a fan in my room.  This was absolutely fine; I even got frozen cold in the middle of the night with just the fan on.

I went to my room and looking lovingly at the bed, but resisted.  I did some quick laundry in the sink, hung it up to dry and went out.


hotel antunovic, zagreb croatiahotel antunovic, zagreb, croatiahotel antunovic, zagreb, croatia

Zagreb doesn’t really seem like a destination city to me.  I walked around for a while and took pictures and soaked it all up.  I hate to over use the description “very Europe” but that’s honestly what it felt like to me.  Other than the woman who checked me into my hotel, I found no one who spoke English.  It was the first time on this trip I felt truly alone as I could not communicate with anyone.  Not that I would have anyway, but having that option erased was an odd feeling.

As anyone who has ever traveled solo can tell you, there will be many times when you are just hit so hard with the realization that “Holy shit, I am in HERE and I got myself here by myself and I’m with only myself and I am HERE!!!”  This happens to me often and it happened to me while walking around Zagreb. This internal burst of independence flavored pride never gets old.

Glavni kolodvor train station, zagreb croatia

zagreb croatia

zagreb croatia

zagreb croatia

zagreb croatia

I went to bed early as I had to be up very early to catch a 5:00 am bus to Plitvice.  My bed was so comfortable and I love sleeping when its cold in my room.  Getting up was slightly difficult but come on – PLITVICE.

Plitvice National Park is a natural phenomenon.  I am not smart enough to explain it, so I will let someone else do it:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plitvice_Lakes_National_Park#Topography_and_geology

Entrance map:

litvice national park, croatia map

The bus ride from Zagreb is under three hours.  I had chosen to go this early to get there before hoards of tourists took over the park.  This was a great decision and for the majority of my trip, I was completely alone. There was a full hour straight where I never saw another human being.

The park.  Wow.  WOW.  Its so beautiful.  The water is so crystal clear. You can see everything SO CLEAR.  All of these pictures are of the water.

litvice national park, croatiaplitvice national park, croatia

litvice national park, croatia

plitvice national park, croatia

I had so many “deep thought” moments in this park.  At one point, I was up top of a hill in a spot I had hiked to.  Looking down I could see a pedestrian bridge I had crossed myself not that long ago.
plitvice national park, croatia

Just realizing how expansive this place of pure beauty is and once again having the “I got myself here” feeling filling me of pride, was so overwhelming.  Every time I stopped, completely stunned by the beauty that was in my line of sight, all I could think was “THIS is why I work a job that I hate”.   It is all so worth it if this is the reward.

plitvice national park croatialitvice national park, croatialitvice national park, croatialitvice national park, croatialitvice national park, croatia


plitvice national park, croatia

The park has a shuttle tram to take you up and down.  I was too early to take it up the hill.  They also have boats to take you across the lakes.

litvice national park, croatia tram

boats plitvice national park, croatia

Taking the bus back to Zagreb – the “bus stop” is a tiny little shack about the size of a NYC bus shelter. There is no bus station.  Before leaving, I had read that as you wait for the bus, so many busses will pass.  Do not be paranoid if they do not stop.  They are simply not your bus. There’s a bazillion tourist busses passing by here.  My bus showed up a little bit late, but it showed up.  I got on and passed out and had to be woken up by the driver when we got back to Zagreb.

I would love to make it back to Plitvice in the winter time and see all this beauty frozen into solid ice. It is definitely on a “to do” list for my future.

Once back in Zagreb, I was completely worn out from my day at Plitvice.  I walked around a bit just looking at things before I was just too tired to stay out any longer.

Dinner was purchased at a supermarket where I spotted this tasty gem. Being that I am mentally twelve years old, I found this hilarious.  In addition, I also found it odd that this package (pun intended) was in English.
nesquik duo

I spent more money on tram tickets than on anything else in Zagreb.  Of course, I never once got asked to show anyone a ticket.  But I feel wrong if I don’t buy one.

Next stop, Slovenia!

4 thoughts on “Croatia – Zagreb and Plitvice National Park – May 2012

  1. Yul

    I really enjoyed reading this post! Too funny! I agree with the part about screaming “I AM ALONE AND I GOT HERE BY MYSELF” part. That was exactly what I felt when I visited Mount Seorak in South Korea on a solo trip.

    Reply
  2. Thuy

    Great post, I thoroughly enjoyed reading it! Can you offer some help on the logistics of the bus: When and how did you buy your bus ticket from Zagreb to Plitvice and then the ticket to return? And are there multiple bus companies that depart at 5am or just one bus? Similar to you, I’m only using Zagreb as my intermediary point to Plitvice so I arrive in Zagreb in the evening and hope to be on a bus to Plitvice the next morning at 5am so not sure when I should try to get my ticket. Thanks in advance!

    Reply
    1. jennifer Post author

      Hi! I didn’t keep the name of the bus company BUT I did bookmark the Croatia bus website. It shows you not only the schedule, but the bus company names, prices and BONUS (my personal favorite thing) the list of stations it stops at. So you can see if you are stopping three times or 75 times.

      I bought a ticket at the Zagreb bus station to go to Plitvice, same morning, not in advance. I did not buy round trip because I was not sure what company I would be taking back.

      Going back, I paid on the bus. They even took credit cards on the bus. There was maybe ten people tops on the bus.

      Here’s the website, you will be searching for “PLITVIČKA JEZERA”

      Enjoy your trip!
      http://voznired.akz.hr/VozniRed.aspx?lang=en

      Reply

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