A couple of action packed days in
Zagreb, one of former Yugoslavia's more modern cities, provided us
with a great starting point for comparing and contrasting what the
rest of the region would entail over the next week or so.
After being dropped off at the Zagreb
airport, we picked up our rental car and were on our way, until we
noticed we had no GPS despite requesting one. A quick dash back to
the rental car counter, and the saleswoman advised me that she had
assumed we had our own GPS due to a conversation about smart-phones,
and then advised us that if we were going to Bosnia, it was highly
likely that the GPS would offer any real assistance with directions,
and that a paper map would be much more beneficial. Had this advice
come from someone else, it would have been easy to thank them for
their advice, and proceed to rent a GPS anyway, but given it was the
saleswoman herself telling me, I took her advice.
Our first day of driving was
hassle-free, however (although I did instinctively go to change
gears with my left hand as opposed to my right a couple of times), as
we made our way to Plitvice Lakes National Park. By now many of the
adjectives I'd use to describe the scenery have surely lost any
meaning, but the combination of sprawling lakes, waterfalls and forest of many different hues combining gave an insight into why the
park is one of the most beautiful and renowned in the world.
In trying to see more of the park than
what was recommended in the time we had available to us, we missed
the last bus back to the car-park, which resulted in a slightly
creepy, yet tranquil, walk through an almost dead-silent park after
nightfall, but we were both in agreeance that if you had to miss a
bus and get stuck walking somewhere after dark, it was probably the
most picturesque place to do so.