Wednesday, May 29th, 2024

Distance ridden 208 Kilometres

It was one of those occasions when, upon waking up, I could not quite remember exactly where I was. In addition, I still had most of my clothes on.

All around the room, I could see, in the early morning light, various pieces of clothing on hangers. Then it came to me, I was somewhere in Slovenia. I still was not thinking clearly enough to remember exactly where in Slovenia, but I was satisfied that I had it.

Next to me, Lucie still slumbered peacefully. In “normal” life, I would, at that point, have got up and made her an espresso, but my slowly clearing brain reminded me that we had neither kettle nor mugs. We would have to wait until breakfast which had been promised for 09:00. According to my iPhone, it was just after 07:00.

Slowly, we dragged ourselves up. Lucie had obviously been very busy with the hair-dryer as, apart from my boots and gloves, everything seemed remarkably dry. She revealed that she had still been drying things at midnight, but what did I know ?

Outside, it certainly did look more welcoming than it had the night before – although anywhere looks better when it is not raining. The Harley sat quietly under its little roof and behind it the fish pond was nicely framed by green countryside.

We ordered our belongings as far as we could and, soon enough, it was time for breakfast. After the emptiness of the previous evening, the downstairs was positively crowded. There was a manager, some kind of handyman, a girl mopping the floors and two more girls in the kitchen. After a little bit of toing and froing, a very creditable breakfast was produced including – and this got my vote – a thermos of hot water for my tea bag. How can you hold a grudge against someone who does that ? The fried eggs and bacon that HAD actually seen a pig rounded things up nicely.

We checked in, just in time to check out and had to pay the startling sum of 2 EUR in Tourist Tax. The manager apologised profusely for the previously mentioned absence when we arrived and was a tiny bit scathing about booking.com.

I rolled the bike out from under its cover and Lucie demonstrated that she had not forgotten how to swiftly and efficiently stow all the luggage. The weather looked a bit grey, but at least it was not raining as we set off down the drive and headed to the nearby highway. Tunnels were still a common occurence.

The signs said that Zagreb, the capital of the next-door country, Croatia, was only 70 kilometres away and, sure enough, within about 10 of those kilometres, we came to the Croatian border. Although Croatia is not part of the Schengen Agreement, there were no Passport formalities and we drove across without stopping.

The highway, was a Toll road, so no Croatian Highway Sticker was required. The road led us all the way to the outskirts of Zagreb for only a few Euros which were paid upon exiting the Toll zone. It was quite quick and easy despite being coned off to a single lane for about fifteen kilometres at one point. At the very end of the “cone-zone”, (which meant at least fourteen kilometres of it were, by then, unnecessary), two guys in a tractor were slowly mowing the brownish, spindly grass of the central reservation. Some things are the same the world over.

Despite the obvious attractions of the “Museum of broken relationships” (inexplicably billed as one of Zagreb’s premier attractions), we skirted the city and followed the SatNav’s guidance onto yet another stretch of Toll motorway. It was pleasant riding, on a sunny day, with no need to hurry as we did not really have very far to go.

At one of our regular stops, Lucie and I shared a delicious cake ….

We headed south for about fifty kilometres before branching off eastwards when both the SatNav told us to and a road sign indicating our destination of the Plitvička Jezera (Plitvička Lakes) indicated it might be the thing to do.

We paid our Toll and left the highway for the countryside.

After an urban start, the road, which was obviously fairly new, wound through some cuttings of very red earth and then into countryside proper.

It was all very green and rural, with small villages every few kilometres. The lakes are a big thing on the Croatian tourist agenda and there were a lot of foreign number plates, many from a long way away, in the traffic heading in our direction. It was necessary to watch the speed as there were lurking Police cars and, in one place, a keen looking motorcycle policeman (whose interest the Harley luckily failed to excite).

The road began to follow a very deep river valley and finally we needed to cross it on a bridge at the town of Rastoke. At that point, the topography more or less turned the confluence of the rivers Slunjčica and Korana into a number of streams that, in turn, created a series of islands and small waterfalls, before becoming a river again.It was very picturesque and we actually stopped to take a quick look.

The tourist infrastructure attached to the Plitvička Lakes is very big indeed and, as we steadily climbed towards them, we drove through a number of towns in the near vicinity that were very much geared to the tourist trade.

There are two main entrances to the National Park and Lucie had selected a place to stay at the top of the hill, just beyond the second, higher, Entrance Two.

We stayed at House Samardzic (Jezerce 5, Jezerce) and what a great choice it was. Our room was neat and comfortable and we were provided with a kettle, which we deem important.

The hostess and her son were both English speaking, the son particularly so and they both went out of their way to make us feel very welcome. The setting was slightly away from the main road and idyllically peaceful. The breakfasts were filling and excellent. It is a strange thing that, when I typed “Jezerce” into the SatNav, the only two options it offered were the village where our pension was – and the street parallel to the one we live in, in Prague.

Once installed, we took a walk to the Entrance Two of the park to get some idea of timings for the next day. It was about three kilometres away and took around thirty minutes as it was mostly down hill. Because of huge demand it is not possible to pre-purchase tickets for early morning entry – you have to go there. Tickets for after 09:00 can be bought on the internet – but they sell out fast. Across the valley, we could already see a picturesque waterfall in the middle-distance …..

The only drawback of Jezerce as a place to stay is a dearth of eating places. There is only the Pizzeria, Vučnica,( Mukinge 55, Korenica-Plitvicka Jezera) so we went there on the trek back up the hill. The food was actually very good, our pizza came really quickly and was well done. I enjoyed a nice, refreshing local beer and Lucie enjoyed their chocolate cake.

Then it was the short walk home, writing up this document and a wonderful night’s sleep.