To zagreb we go! Day 12

Last day on Krk! We spend some time at our beach near the apartment, then grabbed some lunch and headed to Zagreb, where we will fly out tomorrow. So sad!!! But it has been such a great time.
When we got to Zagreb, we found our hotel, parked, and headed into the bustling center. We had read about a brewery that had several restaurants in the city, and decided to try it out. They had some tasty brews (Magda agreed!). most of the beer that have been available have been the lager type, so it was great to try some other local flavors! We tried a wheat, a brown, a dark, and 'extra strong.' All good stuff.
1-6. Beachy time before we head to the big city!
7. Zagreb center
8. The tram!
9. At Pivnica Medvedgrad, yummy brewery/restaurant!
10. Magda was holding that giant glass by herself! She had a table of young men laughing at her beer drinking antics. Don't worry, the glass was (mostly) empty!!
11. Behind josh is a group of people dancing-it sounded (and looked!) like Irish dancing, but who knows??

Beach!! Day 11

Today we drove to the south end of Krk, to a town called Baska. It has a gorgous beach that we played on for awhile. On the way back, we stopped for josh to go wakeboarding on this cable line thing. He said it was very different than wakeboarding behind a boat, but fun!
1. In the baska valley, the have sculptures of the Glagolitic alphabet (the oldest known Slavic alphabet from the 9th century.) This is A. Nice!
2. Sun screen.
3-5. Gorgeous beach!
6. More sun screens.
7. Cable Krk-josh did his awesomely cool wakeboarding stuff here.
8. Magda loved playing on the porch, and with the doors, and with her little chair...
9. Another beautiful sunset.

Slovenia-day 10

Josh visited his homeland today! (Well, one of them at least.) We drove just a few hours to Sodrazica, Slovenia, the birthplace of his great great grandfather, and Zamostec, the birthplace of his great great grandmother. We visited the church where his great great grandparents were married, wandered around the towns and cemetary (lots of Orazems!), and knocked the door of a distant relative, who invited us in! Such a good time, and a beautiful drive!

Wineries! Day 9

Rainy day! Wandered around the island, including Vrbnick, which is known for its indigenous varietal white wine called Zlahtina. Wine tasting is always fun!

Lazy day-day 8

Good day to do some laundry, enjoy our balcony, and then take a ride to Krk town.
1. Dides cleaning their fish-and tossing the heads to the gulls
2. Lovely tiny streets
3. The park by the harbor
4. I love foreign grocery stores. I could wander in there for hours. Found magda a new cup, too, cause we seem to have misplaced the one we brought...
5. This looked to be a croatian version og britain's got talent, and this cool cat must be the studliest accordian player out there. Or at least he thinks so!
6. Magda figures out a straw

Krk island and bad rental cars...day 7

Another driving day! We went to the lakes again to take a few pictures from a higher vantage point-that place is amazing! Then we headed out to go to Krk island. Croatia has loads of islands, this one is actually connected to the mainland by a bridge-easier than figuring out ferries!
We had also been having a few problems with the rental car-first the check engine light was on, then the oil light too. When we stopped and josh checked, it was almost dry. Then when we were leaving this morning, the car wouldn't start. Seriously??? It had to be jumped, and then we had to make sure to park on a hill so josh could pop the clutch. Good thing we had a 5 speed! We talked to the rental car people who were minimally helpful, but finally agreed to meet us in krk with a new car. All's well that ends well!
1. Pretty lakes
2. The first route we attemped to get to krk-does that really say mines??? We turned around...
3. Good passenger!
4. Good driver!
5. Stopped for some food-they had yummy beet salad and bean salad!
6. Finally, our lovely destination!

Plitvice Lakes--day 6

Plitvice Lakes National Park is (according to the guidebook) Croatia's biggest single nateral attraction. It is an 8 km string of 16 lakes with waterfall, surrounded by hilly forests. The landscape was created by the movement of travertine--picked up by the river and deposited downstream. Over lots and lots of years, this formed a terraced sequence of barriers, behind which the lakes formed.
The park is very easy to wander-the pathes are basically boardwalks going across the lakes and along the shore. There are even boats that take you to different trailheads. It is beautiful! We walked around all day-a good 11miles worth!