Our Last Day in Croatia - Novigrad and Porec

For our last day we decided to go across the cove from our apartment and see the town of Novigrad. We had seen it over many sunsets and decided to check it out.

This is the main square of Novigrad and the bell tower.

Beer is hard to find but there is plenty of bear.

The bell tower was free to go up so we of course did.

Looking down as we made our way up.

We had to squeeze our camera through chicken wire to get pictures
but we were successful. Here is the marina from the tower.

Looking out at the Adriatic

Back toward our apartment. 

Dana seeing if she can fit in the the bells.

The waves were fun to dodge as we walked out on
a concrete walkway in the bay. 

Dana got mad at me when I jumped straight up  off the edge of
the walkway to avoid a wave while holding the camera.
She was more worried about the camera. :)

Looking back at the town and bell tower.

Can you tell it was windy?

Dana dodging a wave. This is right before I jumped.
I didn't fall in or get hurt so so no worries.

Can you see the look of "Why would you do that?" :)

Some of the old streets of Novigrad

Another tiny car. 

After seeing Novigrad we decided to go back to Porec one last time for dinner. We really enjoyed this small but picturesque city and it was hard to say good bye.

An old Protestant Church.

Our last dinner was at an outdoor cafe. If the weather
is nice it would be stupid to eat inside.

The streets of Porec fill your needs for authenticity.

This was a cat shelter run by a non-profit group.

One of the tour boats.

Our last sunset getting closer over Porec.

We decided to go back to the apartment and watch the sunset from the beach and take a final swim. We wanted to create a memorable conclusion to our stay in Croatia.

Looking across at Novigrad at sunset.

Our entrance to the sea. This side of the peninsula
was far less rough than the other.

We jumped in and had a great swim. It was a little cold
but the surroundings made you not care pretty quickly.

After we swam we took some sunset pictures.

Dana taking my picture on the beach.

Dana enjoying the sunset.

Croatia is a beautiful country. We both highly recommend it to anyone who wants to see Italy and Greece at the same time but for a little cheaper. As far as natural beauty goes it was probably my favorite country we visited. If you want to go, go now because it is growing in popularity and getting more expensive each year. We hope to go back and see Dubrovnik and Split some day as well. As you have probably gathered we had an amazing time visiting this country. -- Ben

The Most Beautiful Place on Earth

When you are going to one of the most beautiful places on Earth (according to Forbs magazine) you better be prepared for an adventure. We got up early to drive to the Plitvice Lakes National Park, Croatia's most known and unknown tourist attraction. It was granted UNESCO World Heritage status in 1979 and since then has been growing in popularity. Croatia may be gaining recognition for its beaches, but inland this park has a lot to offer. We drove there from Porec, which took about 4 hours. We arrived around 11 a.m. and got a quick lunch before a big day of hiking. The park is easy to navigate with wooden bridges, boats and buses. The majority of the park consists of walking--so be prepared. 

We walked around the park for a little over 4 hours, which we felt was a sufficient amount of time to see things. However, if we had children with us the walking pace would have been much slower. I was impressed with the number of strollers I saw throughout the park. After a full day of picture taking and hiking we were ready to go home. The only problem was that our GPS apparently was not ready to take us home. It recalculated a million times trying to get us out of the park. It led us on a wild goose chase through the forest--places I'm not sure any vehicle should travel on. Paved roads turned into gravel roads, which turned into dirt roads. Had we met another car there would not have been any room to pass each other. Lucky for us the "Off Brand Garmin" finally found its way. Just in time too because the sun was starting to go down and I didn't relish the idea of spending the night in the forest...even if it is beautiful. 

When we reached civilization again we took some random pictures of the road. I almost wanted to kiss the paved road after being lost for an hour on a dirt road. We ate a quick dinner by purchasing sandwiches at a gas station--gas station food is actually pretty good in Europe (random travel tip for you).  We got home late and exhausted, but seeing the so many natural wonders and taking in a place so majestic was worth it. If dinosaurs or fairies exist, I'm sure they live at Plitvice Lakes National Park.

These signs represent everything you can't do in the park.

The water is crystal clear. 

There are 16 lakes and countless waterfalls that connect
to each other throughout the park. 

Ben walking around.
Be careful not to push the path isn't too wide.

Fish swimming around. Too bad fishing is against the rules.

Here I am enjoying our first big waterfall. You could feel
the spray coming off of it, which really helped in the heat.

The waterfall was called, "Slap waterfall." 

When walking across the wooden bridge it almost feels
like a scene out of Jurassic Park. 

The park was not too crowded. At times the pathways were
packed and at other times you felt like the only people there.

A great panoramic view of the park. 

Ben's shirt matches the water perfectly. 

Ben next to a waterfall. 

The lakes were the most vivid colors of blues and greens.

One of the boats that takes you to the next waterfall spot.
These boats got crowed towards the end of the day with
everyone leaving.

Beautiful may not be a strong enough word here.

Ben made me very nervous taking this picture. As you can
see there is no railing. 

A random little cave walk through. 

Ben next to the biggest waterfall at the park.

Another beautiful lake. We found this lake while trying to leave
the park. 

The GPS was hard at work--"recalculating" is its favorite word. 

Back in civilization again.

Traveling the highway towards home.