Canyoneering Cetina River

Wednesday morning we slept in a bit and then had breakfast out on the Riva.  Around 10, we headed to the South Gate of Diocletian’s Palace to get picked up for our canyoneering adventure.  Our shuttle took us over to the small town of Zadvarje and we had about a 20 minute break to use the restrooms and grab a snack.  Then we headed to the tour office for a safety briefing and to get our gear – wet suits for the cold water, a PFD, and a helmet.  Once we were all geared up, they drove us to the start of our adventure.  It was quite warm in the wet suits, so the cold water was a bit of a relief.  We hike down into the gorge and soon starting canyoneering down Cetina River.  The water was chilly but wearing a wet suit kept us warm enough.  Almost immediately we had to jump into a deep pool and then rock hop and wade further down.  There were several spots to jump into the water as well as a couple water slides to enjoy.  In slow-moving sections of the river, we just floated downstream.  About half way down the river, we stopped for a break on some big rocks and then got out of the water and headed into a narrow tunnel.  This river was used extensively for hydroelectric power generation and the there was evidence all around.  In fact, the tiny village of Zadvarje had power before Split thanks to the river's power.  We used this tunnel to get around Gubavica, a large waterfall on Cetina River.  Back at the river, we headed upstream a bit to the base of Gubavica.

There was a big rock here to climb up and jump into the deep pool at the base of the falls.  After a few jumps here, we continued downstream.  There were a few more rock hop and swimming sections and then we came to another spot where we had to climb a ridge to get around.  There were ropes to assist with the steep climb up and then back down, reminding me of some of the more difficult waterfall hikes back home.  Soon we came back to a rather flat section of the river near the end of our adventure.  We floated downstream a bit and passed a tall waterfall.  It comes from the overflow of the dam, so it’s not a real waterfall, but was really pretty nonetheless.

At this point, we got out of the water and followed a trail to once last wade across the river and then up to the road where the shuttles were waiting to bring us back.  We changed clothes and then headed back to Zadvarje and then were shuttled back to Split.  We took showers and then headed to dinner in the evening.  We stopped by a grocery store to pick up some wine and had drinks down by the Riva.

Plitvice Lakes

Tuesday morning, we woke up early and grabbed some pastries from Bobis before heading to the bus stop for our tour to Plitvice Lakes.  It’s a long drive – 3 to 4 hours – so we had to start early.  Our tour guide was Mario and our driver was Tiho.  We absolutely loved them – our favorite guides of the week.  During the long drive, Mario kept us entertained by teaching us about Croatian history and culture and a few words in Croatian (though he wouldn’t teach us any bad words!).  Right away, we passed by the fortress of Klis, which is where Mereen in Game of Thrones is filmed.  As we headed deeper into hinterland, Mario pointed out how the trees and plantlife were stunted due to high winds coming off the sea.  We made a quick stop for snacks at a gas station near Maslenica where we could see the Velebit Mountains.  We would pass through this mountain shortly.  After our stop, we drove through Sveti Rok Tunnel, passing through the Velebit Mountains.  This was the longest tunnel in Croatia at nearly 6 km.   Through the tunnel, we left the Dalmatia region and entered Lika.  On this side of the mountain, protected from the strong winds by the mountains, the land was all forested.  Amazing what a difference the side of the mountain makes.  We continued for another hour or so, finally arriving at Plitvice Lakes National Park around 11 at entrance 2.  After Mario got our tickets, we entered the park and took a short boat ride across Lake Kozjak to begin our hike around the Upper Lakes.

Boardwalks wrap around the many lakes here, each separated by the most beautiful waterfalls.  The park was very crowded, despite being shoulder season, so walking around on the boardwalks was slow going.

We passed by a few smaller, presumably unnamed waterfalls, and soon arrived at the first named waterfall Veliki Prštavac, at 28 m high.

This is the second highest waterfall in the park.  It was a real beauty, but was flowing strongly and produced a lot of mist.  Continuing on, we then made it to Mali Prštavac, a similar waterfall at 18 m.

Next, we came to Galovački Buk.  Although not particularly high, I thought this was the most beautiful waterfall in the park.

A dozen or more streams of water tumbled down from one lake to the next into the most beautiful turquoise pool of water.  This was such a beautiful scene and truly captured the stunning beauty of Plitvice Lakes.  Heading further up along the lakes, we saw many more small, unnamed waterfalls.

Arriving at essentially the top, we made a short restroom stop and waited a short time for the shuttle bus.  It was a bit chaotic getting on the bus - Mario advised me to use my tripod to whack other tourist and ensure our group go on the bus.  The shuttle took us all the way down to the past the upper lakes and parked at the lower lakes.  From here, we followed gravel road down to lake level.  Another trail, mostly composed of boardwalks led past the lower lakes.  We first passed Milanovački Slap waterfall, which drained into a most beautiful lake.

The water here is so clear and green.  A number of fish, European Chub I believe, could be seen in the water.

Continuing on, we passed more small cascades and the beautiful turquoise water before heading to the big waterfall.  Veliki Slap is the highest waterfall in the park at 78 m.

Of course it was very crowded, but we climbed on some rocks to get some good pictures of this massive waterfall.  Then we started heading back towards entrance 1 where Tiho would pick us up.  Heading back up the gorge, we passed a couple more overlooks of Veliki Slap from a distance.

Although the lighting was poor, it was a great view of this waterfall and really put perspective on its massive size.  We could see not only the main drop that we could see from the base, but also additional cascades and drops downstream.  Back at the bus, we went a short ways to lunch at Vila Velebita.  It was a late lunch by around 4 when we arrived and we were all very hungry.  But the food was really delicious and nice to have something more traditionally Croatian.  After lunch, we started making the long drive back to Split.  On the way, Mario opened the bar so we could purchase beer or wine on the ride back.  I had a Velebitsko Temno.  Mario claimed it was the best beer in Europe, but having been in Munich for Oktoberfest, I was a bit skeptical.  But after tasting it, I agreed – it was great.  Unfortunately, I’m not sure I can get it back home.  Mario gave us some more information about Croatia’s history on the ride home and we made one more stop for a sunset view over Krka River.

As we approached Split, Mario handed us a note that Tiho was a good singer and we should ask him to sing us a song.  Tiho sang O Sole Mio for us as we drove through Split back to the bus stop.  It had been a long day so we headed back to the hotel after our tour and went to bed.

Diocletian's Palace

Monday morning, we woke up and went to Bobis along the Riva Promenade for some pastries for breakfast. The storm the night before had cleared out and it was just beautiful along the riva.

I was surprised to see all the beautiful palm trees along here.  After eating, we swung by a bank ATM to withdraw kuna and then headed to Diocletian's Palace.  As one of the top tourist attractions in Split, it was quite crowded.  Vendors were set up all along the pedestrian streets in the palace, but it was too crowded to really browse.  So we bought tickets to explore the basement areas.

We first walked around the western wing.  This ancient palace was really beautiful and it was just amazing to be walking around such an old structure.  Despite its age, the palace was in remarkably good shape and the supporting columns and structures were beautiful.

A number of old artifacts were laying about in the basement area, including old bowls, stone plaques, and sarcophagi.

A few 3500-year old sphinxes were found in this area, which the emperor had procured from Egypt.

Unfortunately, most were beheaded as later Christians considered them idols.  In a couple spots of the basement, parts of the palace had collapsed, but fortunately, restoration work is in progress.

We also found a bust of Diocletian himself, though I don't think that dated from his era.

After exploring this side for a while, we headed over to the east wing that had similar features but not as many rooms were open.

Here, we saw a couple of people dressed as Roman soldiers and followed them outside to where they had a short performance with the emperor himself coming out to address the crowd.

Out here in the courtyard was an intact sphinx from Egypt, one of the only that wasn't beheaded.

At one part of the courtyard, beautiful flowers were growing up the walls.

Exploring further around the palace, we headed through the vestibule and came across a jewelry shop where a lady was making glass jewelry.  It was interesting watching her work with the glass and I bought Sandy a pendant before we left.  Next, we headed to the cathedral to see some of the other sights.

Our first stop was the treasury that had a number of beautiful artifacts on display, but no photography was permitted.  The relics of Saint Domnius as well as beautiful chalices and and ornate crosses, paintings, and old manuscripts.   Next, we walked though the cathedral which was truly beautiful, inside and out.

There were several altars that were so elaborate.

This is one of the oldest Catholic cathedrals in the world still in its original structure.  From here, we headed up the bell tower.  Initially, we climbed up some very narrow and steep stone stairs up about half way and then climbed up metal stairs to the top.

It was crowded, but at each point we stopped, the views just kept getting better and better.  First, we ascended to the level of nearby rooftops, then a higher above the roofs and finally to the top with great 360-degree views of Split and the surrounding mountains.

We could see all the buildings with their orange roofs, Marjan hill in the distance and the gorgeous coastline.  A storm was brewing and it was fantastic watching the clouds roll in from here.  Looking down, I could see the open ceiling of the vestibule we had walked down earlier.

Heading back down the stairs, we descended into the crypt, which was the former mausoleum of Emperor Diocletian.

Finally, we swung by the Temple of Jupiter that had been converted into a baptistery dedicated to St. John.  The ceiling inside the temple was really ornate and beautiful.

As we left the temple, it started raining lightly and we were getting hungry so we got lunch nearby.  Seafood is very popular along the Dalmatian coast, but I'm not a big fan.  Fortunately, there’s a strong Italian influence so I was always able to find something I liked.  After a late lunch, we swung by the office for Portal Tours to pay for our tours for the week and get our vouchers.  Then we started walking towards Marjan Hill.  There were a lot of stairs and uphill through the old Veli Varoš district to Vidilica cafe.

The overlooks here provided great views of Split and the harbor down below, but this is only part of the way up the hill.  Trails and roads lead up the hill and it was a very pleasant hike.  Along the way, we saw lots of enormous aloe plants.

We also passed by the Church of St. Nicholas.

It was a small church and the door was locked so we couldn't go inside, but I put my camera through a hole to get a picture of the interior.

Continuing on, the trail came out at the site of a former zoo and then led up to the top of Marjan Hill where the Croatian flag was flying.

From up here, we had a great view of Split from above, but the view west towards the sunset was blocked.  So after a few pictures, we headed back down and had dinner and cocktails along the Riva.  The harbor was beautiful at night.

After dinner, we headed to bed as we had a long day planned for tomorrow.

Layover in Munich

For our five-year anniversary, Sandy and I spent a week in beautiful Croatia.  We left on Saturday, September 17, our actual anniversary.  Unfortunately, we spent it in the airport.  From RDU, we flew to Washington Dulles and took an overnight flight to Munich.  We arrived in Munich at around 8 AM local time and didn’t fly out to Split until late afternoon.  With such a long layover and the start of Oktoberfest, we decided to leave the airport for a bit.  Knowing it would be a bit crazy in Munich, we took the 635 bus from the airport to Freising, a smaller town very close to the airport.

There was a light rain, but we enjoyed walking around this cute little German town. The little town had a lovely European small-town feel.  We walked part the St. George's Church to Marienplatz, a little square in the center of town.

They were setting up for a festival, so we decided to come back in a little while.  Next, we walked a nice little stretch of trail following a canal along the edge of the town.

It was Sunday, so many places were closed, but we did some window shopping walking by.  Then we headed back to Marienplatz where the Hops Fest was getting underway.  We got some lunch from the street vendors and ate that while watching dancers on stage with traditional polka music.

And of course, being a Hops Fest, we had to get some good German beer, since we didn't make it all the way into Munich for Oktoberfest.  Sandy picked up a couple airplane bottles of some delicious liquors from one of the vendors.

After lunch and some drinks, we headed back to the bus station and took the bus back to the airport and waited for our flight to Split.  Although there was some rain and storms, our flights were on time.  In Split, we caught a taxi from the airport to the Riva and made the short walk to our hotel – Kastel B&B Split.  The rain managed to hold off until we had checked in, but then there was quite a storm.  We were tired and jetlagged, so went to sleep shortly after checking in.

A Fall at Pot Branch Falls

We continued driving east and hit a lot of holiday traffic.  We were going to stop at Hickory Branch Falls in the Curtis Creek area, but ran out of time.  So we continued on towards Morganton for one last waterfall of the weekend.  We exited the interstate on NC-226 and went about 18 miles and headed into the South Mountains Game Lands.  It was about 3 miles on the gravel Old CC Road to a parking area at a gated road.  We hiked down this road about a half-mile to Pot Branch Falls.  It’s a small, but scenic waterfall that flows through a narrow chasm in the rock with several big pools at the top and the base.

Although it’s kind of in the middle of nowhere, the area is a popular spot.  There were two couples hiking out as we were heading in and a group of about a dozen teenagers swimming at the waterfall.  I got a couple pictures here and then we got ready to hike back.  I noticed one of the girls was near the top of the waterfall and told Sandy that she better be careful up there.  Not thirty seconds later, she slipped and fell.  She survived, but it looked like she broke her foot badly and was in a lot of pain.  While several of her friends helped her out of the water, Sandy and I headed back to the car with two of her friends to check our first aid kit.  We found some bandages and gauze to give to the girls and try to help their injured friend.  We offered to call 911 once we got back to cell signal, but she was almost back to the car by this time and her friends would take her to the hospital.  What a way to the end the weekend.  A good reminder that waterfalls can be extremely dangerous and that no good comes from going to the top of a waterfall.

We headed into Morganton for dinner at Las Salsas before heading home.