Even rainy days are beautiful.

Greetings again, I apologize for the delay in writing. Until today, the sunny weather certainly discourages indoor activity

We left Pula fairly reluctantly, our homestay was very comfortable and we made a visit to the beach our second day...which was certainly enough to encourage anyone to stay forever. It was not the same sort of beauty as Zanzibar (stiff competition, to say the least), as almost all beaches in Croatia are far more rocky and rugged. The water in Pula was a deep blue fringed with turquiose and bright green; we stretched out on a fairly flat bit of the rocky beach, soaking in the sun and scenery...entirely content and wonderfully lazy. The rocks may not be the most comfortable, but the beaches seem utterly pristine, and the water is absolutely crystal clear. *sigh* After seeing such beautiful beaches in my life, how will I ever live in landlocked oklahoma again???

I was absolutely set on seeing the out-of-the way (but totally worth it) Plitvička National Park, near a hub called Karlovac. We were unfortunately unaware that Karlovac was so tiny...with no internet, no public transportation, no reasonably priced hotels, and no tourist office after 12 in the afternoon. We arrived, exhausted, at five. Damn.

Karlovac was fairly charming; I was hoping to get in some rafting (too cold, and unfortunately the off-season), or to visit the Medieval faire at an actual medieval castle just outside of town. But time was flying, so we went ahead and left for the park.

In a word, AMAZING. In two words, COMPLETELY BREATHTAKING. Here's the website for a sneak peak of just how beautiful this place was:

http://www.np-plitvicka-jezera.hr/cpage.aspx?page=default.aspx&pageID=87

As the most-visited national park in the country, we were suprised to find that all the tourists were Croatian. In fact, our host family said we were the first Americans they'd encountered in over three years...(I hope we made a good impression!)

The park is an awesome natural wonder of several lakes connected by lliterally hundreds of waterfalls and turquiose lagoons. Every bit of water was intensely blue-green and totally pristine; we could see to the bottom of nearly every lake! I think Porter is working on posting the pictures to give you a better idea. I've never seen anything quite like it. We walked all afternoon, opting for the 4-6 hour route around most of the park. Absolutely worth the trip!

The next day, we caught an early bus to Split, the largest and oldest coastal town in Croatia. Even more interestingly, this is considered one of the earliest 'resort' towns, as Roman Emperor Diocletian built his retirement palace here, (which now makes up 'old town', with much of the structure still standing). We were exhausted upon arrival, because the bus ride was about 2 hours longer than it needed to be due to unusually lengthy stops in random towns, (I suspect the driver was a pack-a-day kind of guy, there was no other justification!).

After settling in, we explored a bit of the town - totally in awe of the many ancient pillars and remnants of roman civilization throughout the town center. We spent most of today lounging on the beach, enjoying the cool adriatic and a very warm sun. We were hoping to do a bit more exploring of the actual city once we were sufficiently sunkissed, but it is now torrentially pouring for the first time in our trip. Thus, because the city is still beautiful regardless, I imagine we'll find a (covered) terrace cafe, sip some wine, and wait away the rain.

We hope to visit Hvar tomorrow and do some diving...weather permitting. If worst comes to worst, I suppose I could do some shopping instead...