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Day 28 – Zagreb

Posted on July 24, 2017

If someone steals your Tesla, is it now an Edison?

Today was our day trip tour we had booked to Plitvice Lakes, which is a massive national park with eight main lakes. We left Zagreb at 9am, with a small group totalling fourteen, led by our guide Tomislav. We had an hour and a half drive by bus to our first stop, a small milling village called Rastoke. On the way, Tomislav told us about the region, about the country and its history, including its recent wars in various towns we drove through. Very informative and interesting.

We arrived in Rastoke and had a short while to look around, as well as get a coffee and have a bit of a break. It’s very small, but has some really cool waterfalls and streams and interesting to see the mills.

After our short stop, we drove another thirty minutes or so to get to the Plitvice Lakes. It was insanely busy and crowded there. The line for tickets alone was hectic, but luckily as we were with a tour, we had our tickets pre-booked and were able to go right through.

Inside the national park (which is 100 square miles in size), there were fairly narrow trails leading through, which made it very difficult to walk through and see the sights properly, as there were just people everywhere. The views however made up for it. When you first enter, you’re treated to a great outlook where you can see some of the Lower Lakes as well as the Big Waterfall. We then followed the trail leading down, around the lakes, down to the waterfall itself. The water there is amazing, super clear and has a great aqua-green colour which you don’t see too often.

After our long walk around the Lower Lakes, we arrived at a place to have lunch and a bit of a break before continuing to the Upper Lakes. Again, super crowded, and only two restaurants, so we had some long waits for some pretty average food. Then it was off on a boat to take us across one of the lakes, towards the trail for the Upper Lakes.

Once there, we once again walked around the trail, essentially in a large circle, seeing the lakes and waterfalls in the surrounding forest, before returning to the dock area to catch a short boar trip to another place where we could catch a bus back to the exit.

After a long day of walking, we finally returned to the bus to make our two hour journey back to Zagreb. Most people had a nap on the way back, and by the time we arrived, it was around 9pm and actually had been raining a bit. We said goodbye to the others, and decided to grab a bit of dinner before going back to the hotel, as we had had a nice rest and wanted to try a Japanese place we had read about.

The place was called Time Restaurant & Bar and was only a five minute walk away. It was a really nice place, kind of fancy, but an inviting atmosphere. They had a bar area as well as a restaurant with tables, where we sat and ordered Miso soup, spring rolls and sushi. The food was good, but we were too full to try the dessert which is a shame, because it sounded really good. We might come back tomorrow to try it.

After that, it was back to the hotel for some well-needed sleep. Tomorrow is our last full day here in Zagreb, and here on our holiday. We probably won’t do too much – just spend the time locally in the city.

Day 16 – Monaco

Posted on July 12, 2017

Who you think you kidnapped? Chelsea Carter?

Today we travelled to Monte-Carlo in Monaco (by train) to spend the day and look around. Oh did I say train? I meant hellish-sweat-box. Once we were reacquainted with oxygen, we went and had lunch at Valentin, where I had some delicious roast chicken. From there, we went down to the coast, where there is of course the Monte-Carlo Casino and some surrounding nice areas. It’s definitely a rich city, with a lot of people driving around them fancy million-dollar cars. But nice to visit and check out the area.

There was also a nearby Japanese Garden randomly, which is sort of just there among the city, which is a pleasant calm place, if you ignore the sounds of traffic.

After that we decided to head back to Nice, so we could get our laundry done and have a rest before going out for dinner. Which is precisely what we did.

Mum wanted to try a Lebanese restaurant tonight, which I was happy about. I found a good one near Old Town, about 15mins away. It was in a nice street, with a good atmosphere, some old buildings, the setting sun and a bar next door with live music which we were able to enjoy too.

We ordered a few dishes to share (their menu had so much choice – all the classics), and were soon eating some quality Lebanese food, which I didn’t realise I had missed so much. A great day for food.

Then we walked home, stopping briefly to watch the street performers, including a sizable group of people doing what I think was dance-fighting, which was cool. Tomorrow will be a less interesting day I predict, as the women want to spend it shopping, so I will likely sleep in and take it easy. Maybe go somewhere new in the afternoon? We shall see.

Day 15 – Nice

Posted on July 11, 2017

Very Nice.

The first half of our day was fairly uninteresting, involving us packing and travelling from Cannes to Nice via train, then checking into the hotel etc.

We did however walk around the local area to get a sense of the location and city, as well as stopped for lunch at a café. The main street in Nice leading to the city centre reminded me a lot of the main street in Dublin – a very wide road, with trams running down the middle, shops and restaurants either side, people everywhere. Nice definitely feels larger and more spacious than Cannes, which had tighter streets, and felt a bit more residential.

After our little local venture, our rooms were ready and we were able to check in and have a bit of a rest. Mid-afternoon we headed back out (Cherri wasn’t feeling well so stayed behind) and went to a park in the city. It was nice to walk through and was a refreshing change from the surrounding city.

From there we continued on towards Castle Hill, which is a larger park, situated on a hill overlooking Nice, with panoramic views of the city and coastline. It took some time to find the right way and then climb all the stairs up, but we were treated to some pretty awesome views.

We spent a bit of time up there, before heading back down to find somewhere to get dinner. There is apparently a lift which you can use to avoid all the stairs, but it was closed.

No matter – back down we went and found a nice looking restaurant which was incredibly busy, which is always a good sign, so we sat down and ate there. I didn’t see the name of the place, but it was tucked away a bit in a small street, so didn’t seem like an obvious touristy place.

We enjoyed our meal as the sun began to set, and had a pleasant conversation with a young couple sitting next to us who were travelling from London.

We had a chat ‘n’ a laugh.

Day 5 – Glendalough

Posted on July 1, 2017

I climb higher and higher, I climb until the entire sun shines on my face.

Another road trip today! This one was a bit shorter though. We drove south to a small seaside village named Greystones, along the east coast of Ireland (about forty-five minutes from Dublin). We had breakfast there at La Creperie, a french cafe overlooking the water. I opted for the Banana and Chocolate crepe.

Once we had finished eating, we drove to our main destination, Glendalough, another forty minutes south. It is located in the giant Wicklow Mountains National Park. We were fortunate with the weather today, and actually had some sunlight and warmth!

When we arrived and parked the car, we began following the hike trail leading up the nearby mountain. There was a short detour to the Glendalough Monastic City, which has some old buildings, ruins and cemetery.

After looking around and taking a few photos, we continued the hike to the Upper Lakes, which was supposedly a 14km hike. The trail winded through beautiful forest and led us further and further up the mountain.

We had been walking for an hour or so when the others decided to head back down, so my sister and I continued on our own to try to reach the top or find a nice outlook of the area.

We managed to find a clearing in the trees after another half an hour or so and took a bunch of photos looking out over the lake. It is quite stunning from up there.

It was hard to tell how much further we had before reaching the top or the end of the trail, so we started heading back down, as we wanted to ensure we got back to Dublin with enough time to get everything organised for our departure tomorrow. We were also pretty hungry.

We met up with the others when we reached the bottom and had lunch at a nearby restaurant. I had a burger (always a reliable choice) and copious amounts of water. Then it was back to Dublin for some rest and final organisation. It’s always a bit sad to leave a country, and Ireland will be no exception, though it’ll be a nice change to have some warm weather for the rest of our trip. Probably too warm, but we shall see.

Tomorrow we fly to Bordeaux – probably a less event-filled blog, as we will be mostly travelling, and won’t arrive until the afternoon, but I will try to do something a bit interesting at least.

Until next time Ireland.