Washington D.C.-London-Croatia-Bosnia & Herzegovina-Bulgaria, Part 2
[ Part 1: Washington, D.C., and London]
Eventually Mom and I became too exhausted to enjoy the British Museum, so we went back to the airport and got on a plane to Zagreb, Croatia. I slept FOR A REALLY LONG TIME. Mom woke me around 2 in the afternoon, and we went exploring.
Zagreb Cathedral. The entire building is being replaced stone by stone; the right tower is currently under construction.
Mary standing on a pedestal with a bunch of angels. The original outer walls of the cathedral complex are visible behind the fountain. The walls used to be full of monks, I think.
I really really needed a picture of the golden angel with a pigeon on its head. :3
The cathedral doors. I do so very much enjoy Gothic architecture.
Cathedral doors, detail.
Inside the cathedral.
That evening we met up with the group. Mom and I caught dinner and a footie match with the rest of the single travelers; the next day we were on the road. Our first stop was an open-air war museum in the village of Karlovac. ...There were lots of bullet holes in the buildings.
I think this was a Serb plane they shot down?
Tanks!
Amphibious vehicle!
Airplane! Also, the Croats didn't really have access to a lot of fancy military vehicles, so they made their own. This is a converted tractor.
Mom, and a converted truck. Full of bullet holes.
I think this used to be a hospital.
The access ramp to... I think it was a military supply depot? Heavily shelled.
Next we visited this adorable fairy tale village sitting on top of a river. The river is split into dozens of little streams that weave amongst the houses and turn water wheels for milling.
I want to live here.
Or write a story that takes place in a village just like this.
Water wheel in action!
FAIRY. TALE.
Inside the village.
Millstone on vacation.
Our guides continued to convince us that Croatia is where fairy tales come from. Plitvička Jezera (Plitvice Lakes) National Park. Because Croatia is limestone karst country, water carves the stone in beautiful and fantastic ways. This valley has become a string of startlingly blue lakes and more waterfalls than you can shake a stick at.
Startlingly. Blue. (It's the calcium carbonate dissolved in the water.)
Most of the trail is like this: boardwalk, crystal-clear water burbling underfoot.
Waterfall.
Picturesque rapid-type thing.
Waterfall.
Waterfall, and Mom for scale. (Or, Mom, and waterfall for scale.)
Fairy tale boardwalk etc.
Much like the village, this park will maybe someday be a setting for a story of mine. Just. Guh. LOOK AT IT.
We are starting to become fatigued from looking at waterfalls at this point.
Ridiculously blue lake, boardwalk; now with caves!
John and Wendy take on the world's most awesome stair-stepper while Mom documents the event and my brother photo-bombs.
Hairy cave man surveys his domain. (Hairy cave man looks a lot like my brother. I wonder why that is.)
Caaaaaaave.
The cave is a thru-cave to the top of the cliff. Up at the top there were pretty flowers!
And a view of ridiculously pretty lakes!
Another breathtakingly beautiful water feature. Yawn.
FISHIES! These are a non-native invasive species; I know how that goes. ::sigh:: ...BUT FISHIES!
We get it. There are waterfalls here. We're very impressed. You can stop showing off.
WILDLIFE!
I display my penchant for sitting on precipices. ...As precipices go, this one's fairly scenic.
Anonymous wildflowers.
Ugh, we are so sick of waterfalls, STOP IT WITH THE WATERFALLS ALREADY.
Disappearing stream.
...And that's probably sufficient for this post. If you're not thoroughly sick of beautiful waterfalls yet, you're welcome, because I only posted about half of my waterfall pictures, and only took pictures of about half of the waterfalls that were on offer. Seriously, this place is R I D I C U L O U S.
TBC!
[ Part 3: Korana, Barac's Caves, and Krupa Monastery (Croatia)]
Eventually Mom and I became too exhausted to enjoy the British Museum, so we went back to the airport and got on a plane to Zagreb, Croatia. I slept FOR A REALLY LONG TIME. Mom woke me around 2 in the afternoon, and we went exploring.
Zagreb Cathedral. The entire building is being replaced stone by stone; the right tower is currently under construction.
Mary standing on a pedestal with a bunch of angels. The original outer walls of the cathedral complex are visible behind the fountain. The walls used to be full of monks, I think.
I really really needed a picture of the golden angel with a pigeon on its head. :3
The cathedral doors. I do so very much enjoy Gothic architecture.
Cathedral doors, detail.
Inside the cathedral.
That evening we met up with the group. Mom and I caught dinner and a footie match with the rest of the single travelers; the next day we were on the road. Our first stop was an open-air war museum in the village of Karlovac. ...There were lots of bullet holes in the buildings.
I think this was a Serb plane they shot down?
Tanks!
Amphibious vehicle!
Airplane! Also, the Croats didn't really have access to a lot of fancy military vehicles, so they made their own. This is a converted tractor.
Mom, and a converted truck. Full of bullet holes.
I think this used to be a hospital.
The access ramp to... I think it was a military supply depot? Heavily shelled.
Next we visited this adorable fairy tale village sitting on top of a river. The river is split into dozens of little streams that weave amongst the houses and turn water wheels for milling.
I want to live here.
Or write a story that takes place in a village just like this.
Water wheel in action!
FAIRY. TALE.
Inside the village.
Millstone on vacation.
Our guides continued to convince us that Croatia is where fairy tales come from. Plitvička Jezera (Plitvice Lakes) National Park. Because Croatia is limestone karst country, water carves the stone in beautiful and fantastic ways. This valley has become a string of startlingly blue lakes and more waterfalls than you can shake a stick at.
Startlingly. Blue. (It's the calcium carbonate dissolved in the water.)
Most of the trail is like this: boardwalk, crystal-clear water burbling underfoot.
Waterfall.
Picturesque rapid-type thing.
Waterfall.
Waterfall, and Mom for scale. (Or, Mom, and waterfall for scale.)
Fairy tale boardwalk etc.
Much like the village, this park will maybe someday be a setting for a story of mine. Just. Guh. LOOK AT IT.
We are starting to become fatigued from looking at waterfalls at this point.
Ridiculously blue lake, boardwalk; now with caves!
John and Wendy take on the world's most awesome stair-stepper while Mom documents the event and my brother photo-bombs.
Hairy cave man surveys his domain. (Hairy cave man looks a lot like my brother. I wonder why that is.)
Caaaaaaave.
The cave is a thru-cave to the top of the cliff. Up at the top there were pretty flowers!
And a view of ridiculously pretty lakes!
Another breathtakingly beautiful water feature. Yawn.
FISHIES! These are a non-native invasive species; I know how that goes. ::sigh:: ...BUT FISHIES!
We get it. There are waterfalls here. We're very impressed. You can stop showing off.
WILDLIFE!
I display my penchant for sitting on precipices. ...As precipices go, this one's fairly scenic.
Anonymous wildflowers.
Ugh, we are so sick of waterfalls, STOP IT WITH THE WATERFALLS ALREADY.
Disappearing stream.
...And that's probably sufficient for this post. If you're not thoroughly sick of beautiful waterfalls yet, you're welcome, because I only posted about half of my waterfall pictures, and only took pictures of about half of the waterfalls that were on offer. Seriously, this place is R I D I C U L O U S.
TBC!
[ Part 3: Korana, Barac's Caves, and Krupa Monastery (Croatia)]