Plitvice National Park

After our night in Llubljana, we headed south to Plitvice National Park in Croatia.  I loved our time in Split and Dubrovnik last spring, and this trip just added to my love for Croatia.  It was a few hours from Llubljana, so we didn't get there until after lunch time, but it was the perfect way to spend the afternoon.  

You have the option of buying a one day or two day pass because the park is so big.  We only had time for the one day pass, but I could see how some serious nature lovers (or photographers) could spend two days there.  It was beautiful.  They have all sorts of paths and trails for you to walk along and even in the fall, it was pretty crowded.  Because it's a national park, you aren't allowed to swim in the water, but I was grateful for that because it added to the ambiance and allowed us to see nature in it's natural state. 

The water is actually that blue!

There were tons of waterfalls all around the park, which I just loved!

There was tons of wild life throughout the park, which was fun to see. I'm always amazed at the different animals we see when we travel.

That lady behind me would. not. move.  She must have taken 1000 pictures.  We waited for a while for her to finish and then finally gave up.

We kept seeing little hints of autumn throughout the park, but overall, it was SO green!

The only way to get to some parts of the park are by boat.  We didn't have time (and didn't want to wait in line), but if we had come for a second day, it would have been a fun option!

Both of us were extremely impressed with Plitvice National Park and we're both beginning to realize how much we enjoy travelling outside of the city.  We spent the night in Zagreb, Croatia, which was a couple of hours away.  It was a great place to stay the night, but I enjoyed spending the day outside and surrounded by nature.  Oh, and Mike and I spent the majority of the time in the park talking about different Slovenia/Croatia itineraries.  We're ready to be your travel agents!

Team Hogan Kayaks the Adriatic!

As this gets posted, I'm going to be on a plane to the UNITED STATES OF AMERICA! I honestly can't believe it.  It's been almost a complete year since I've stepped foot in Target, Chipotle or Chick fil a, but more importantly, it's been almost a year since I got to spend time with the wonderful village of people who make me me.  To say I'm excited is the world's biggest understatement!  Hello, USA! It's been FAR too long!  I'll be sure to post about my whereabouts in the motherland, but for now, I'll catch you up on the rest of our Croatia trip.

 Since this was the Hebert's honeymoon and we were along for the ride, we let them choose what activities we did.  They wanted to go kayaking, which sounded fun, so,  despite the rainy and cloudy forecast, we all got up bright and early to begin kayaking.  Given our previous history as team mates in athletic events (Mike's desire for perfection and my less than stellar athletic abilities don't mesh that well shockingly), I didn't have high expectations that we'd be moving very fast (or forward) in our kayak. As it turned out, WE WERE AWESOME.  Guys, who knew that I could actually really kayak?  I mean, I'm not ready to embark on any long solo journey, but given that we passed everyone on our trip, I'd say we make a pretty good team.

It was pretty cool to see Dubrovnik, the city we spent the entire day exploring on the inside the day before, from the outside.  We got some great views of the old city walls and the surrounding islands.

The Heberts didn't have the kayak skills that the Hogans did.  We gave them a break and figured that's something you learn during your third week of marriage. ;)

We took some detours into some of the caves off of one of the islands.

About halfway through our trip, when everyone's arms were already sore and tired, it started to rain and the sun disappeared. And about ten minutes later, we were all over kayaking.  Thank goodness for wet suits and life jackets to keep us warm because without them, we would have been freezing.   The trip ended up being about three hours long and we all agreed that was about 2 hours too long. For inexperienced kayakers, it was a lot.  Our arms were SORE at the end of the trip.  It was really cool to see the city from the water and I'm glad we did it, but it was a lot of kayaking.

Despite our success, I don't think Team Hogan will be embarking on any kayak races in their near future.  Who knows, though?

A Birthday, Game of Thrones Tour, and Exploring the City Walls of Dubrovnik

Monday came quickly after our relaxing weekend at Le Meridien, but we were excited to head to Dubrovnik to meet up with friends.  Mat and Jordan got married the previous week and were spending two weeks in Croatia on their honeymoon. We figured we should let them enjoy the first week of their honeymoon without us, but couldn't resist the opportunity to meet up with them for a few days in Dubrovnik towards the end. We took the bus from Split to Dubrovnik on Monday, which ended up being a little bit longer than planned, but we were able to check in to our bed and breakfast before dinner time. We also found out that our friends Matt, Katy and Beau welcomed a sweet little girl, Adaline Hope, into their family that morning! I love watching our friends become parents.  It's one of the most endearing things ever, especially watching all of these tough guys fall in love with these little babes.  Apparently, Addie already has Matt wrapped around her (very small) finger. 

Happy birthday sweet Adaline! Sending lots of love from the other side of the world!

Over the next few days, we did lots of fun things with the Heberts, one of which was the Game of Thrones Tour.  Neither Jordan nor I watch the show, but Mike and Mat are BIG fans and loved every minute of it.  Since a lot of GoT is filmed in Dubrovnik (and Croatia as a whole), most Croatians have seen the show, but our tour guide was a huge fan.  He's seen every episode at least four times and the newest episode that was only two days old twice.  He had pictures from the show to help you picture what scene and episode each location was from.  Jordan and I enjoyed the tour despite our lack of GoT knowledge.  Learning about the filming process, as well as some general Dubrovnik history was fascinating.   Most of the pictures below mean nothing to me, but you GoT fans will probably get a kick out of them...

Knocking on a brothel door?

Mike and Mat enjoyed yelling "Shame!" on these stairs.  I don't get it, but couldn't help but get into the spirit and shamed a few people myself.  Apparently, there's an app that does it for you.

The tour guide was really good at incorporating general info about Dubrovnik throughout the tour.  We also got to see a lot of the old town, which was great because none of us had done too much exploration.

The honeymooners

And to end the tour, the boys got to sit in the Throne.

After the tour, we hung out at a swimming hole.

We also walked the walls of the old town.  Thank goodness we went later in the day because it was h o t.   Definitely worth it for the views though!

We ended the day with dinner, although I think we'd all agree that Split wins the prize for the best food. We found a cute little wine bar that let us do wine flights! Hooray!  The waitress was so kind and her dad is the one who owns the vineyards, so she was able to tell us all sorts of fun facts about the wine.  Such a great way to end the day!