An hour in Zagreb...

We headed to Zagreb and Rachel caught the train to Slovenia, and Steven to Rome. That left Anne and I to explore for just over an hour, so we walked quickly around the older parts of town. Beautiful city with gorgeous architecture. My foot was incredibly sore today after yesterday's walk around the national park. I think I overdid it. I was also really tired.

However, Zagreb is an interesting city and the largest in Croatia. Zagreb is a city with a rich history dating from the Roman times to the present day.

The Zagreb Cathedral on Kaptol is a Roman Catholic institution and the tallest building in Croatia. It is dedicated to the Assumption of Mary and to kings Saint Stephen and Saint Ladislaus. The cathedral is typically Gothic, as is its sacristy, which is of great architectural value. Its spires can be seen from many locations in the city.

The cathedral was severely damaged in the 1880 Zagreb earthquake. The main nave collapsed and the tower was damaged beyond repair. The restoration of the cathedral in the Neo-Gothic style was led by Hermann Bollé, bringing the cathedral to its present form. As part of that restoration, two spires 108 m (354 ft) high were raised on the western side, both of which are now in the process of being restored as part of an extensive general restoration of the cathedral.

The 1880 earthquake struck Zagreb 0n 9 Nov. 1880 at 07:03:03 hrs and the cathedral clock stopped, the dial of the clock is today mounted on the northern side of the defensive wall and shows the time 7:03.

Making our way to the Upper Town - we found a vineyard on a steep hill and there's even someone tending the grapes!

The buildings were colourful...

This is the Gradec Stone Gate built as part of a city defense system between 1242 and 1261 when fearing a Mongol invasion. It's also a memorial for those that died in the war in 90s during the war for independence. It is incredibly sad because its only one generation ago, and there are so many reminders everywhere still.

Just round the corner from the Gradec Stone Gate is St Mark's Square. St. Mark's Church is the parish church of Old Zagreb. When guilds developed in Gradec in the 15th, and later in the 17th century, being the societies of craftsmen, their members including masters, journeymen and apprentices would gather regularly in St. Mark's Church.

Other government buildings line the square as well.

  

From the upper town looking over to the Zagreb Cathedral...

 Heading back down to the lower town...

We then headed to the airport dropped the car back and flew back to Amsterdam.  Jori had made a lovely Quinoa salad with feta and mint.  I loved it – and could eat it for a week!

A Day in the Plitvice Lakes, National Park

The second day at Plitvice, we started at entrance two, then got the shuttle bus up to entrance four.  At the entrance was some food you could buy - looked interesting, but we didn't indulge having been the supermarket on the way to stock up on a picnic lunch.

The start of entrance four - crystal clear lake water, and stunning reflections...

The only bird I ever saw the whole of the walk.  I had been hoping to see more bird life around, but they were avoiding me that day..

I had my Gorilla pod and my ND10 filter and did my best despite the number of tourists around us! The board walks moved when people walked on them, so I could never be sure if my images would turn out or not...

We started walking. Waterfall after waterfall. Just when you thought you could not see anything more beautiful, we would round a corner and another spot would take our breath away.  

The waterfalls came from everywhere - through trees - it was amazing.

We did catch up with this Yellow and Black lizard who waved at me as he went past... This is apparently a Fire Salamander who lives in Central Europe, and likes hilly areas and deciduous forests. They can apparently live for 50 years.

Spring was definitely on its way...

Oh look - another waterfall....

These little mayflies were everywhere and they feed the trout in the lakes..

Tourists like us taking photos..

The many trout in the crystal clear waters..

We slowly made our way down to the boats.  By 2pm – it was cold, raining, and we were hungry and thirsty.  We were ready to call it a day,but caught the boat to Entrance 3  but stopped in the café for a hot chocolate and had our lunch we had packed – cheese and bread.  The sun then came out again, and we found some more energy somewhere within  us.  We decided to keep  going back to the big waterfall at entrance 1, then get the shuttle back to the carpark at entrance two.  Rachel, Anne and Steven took the high road above the cliffs, but I decided to keep going around the lake edges as the last little bit looked steep for my balance.

My path was really pretty, and for a time I walked with a ranger.  We saw a water snake, and she told me the insects we kept seeing only appear in spring, and were between a caterpillar and butterfly, and fed the fish in the lakes.  She also told me that the route I was taking would take longer than the others, so I decided to walk a bit faster.  I needn’t have – I arrived first!

I heard this and wondered what it was so stuck around for ages until I finally saw it.  Being deaf is pain sometimes as I cannot tell direction, nor ascertain what it is until I see it.  He was loud though!

I would have loved to explore down there but that part of the lakes was closed.

One of my favourite images using the ND 10 Filter..

Finally at the bottom by the Big Waterfall, we awaited our turn on the seats...

By the time everyone else arrived, we had 15 minutes to get to the shuttle.  I tried to hurry everyone up, but it was useless so I gave up!  We finally got to Station 1 shuttle station 15 minutes too late, so we had to walk the last bit to our entrance which took another hour or so.  It was worth it though - look at the views...

I think Anne sums up very nicely what we were all feeling.  Energised from being outdoors all day, inspired by the absolute beauty around us, and happy from being in such good company and having such wonderful photo opportunities.

I came across this beetle while walking back to the carpark. - I can't identify it but it looked pretty.

By the time we got to the car we had been walking 11.5 hours!  I couldn’t believe it.  It was a very pretty walk though and well worth it. My foot was sore, but not overly so.

We went straight to the restaurant, with one detour – where I stopped to photograph a house with bullet holes in it.  The house stands empty – it was obviously badly damaged in the war.  The restaurant was not much further – and was lovely – wasn't expensive either.  I had the special of BBQ’d veal which just melted in your mouth.  It was so big too, I couldn't eat it all, even though I wanted to just for the taste!

Back to the apartment where we uploaded the photos to our computers then hit the sack!