Venezia
Welcome Back Italia
05.09.2011 - 06.09.2011
25 °C
Well, we made it back to Italy... Our second day in Zagreb wasn't really spent in Zagreb at all. We took the advice of the Lonely Planet Croatia book and went to item #1 on the list of things to do/see in Croatia - Plitvice Lakes National Park. A 2.5 hour bus trip in each direction gets you there (about halfway between Zadar on the coast and Zagreb). It's a reasonably steep entry fee considering it's a national park, but what the hey, it includes a short ferry and train (bus) once you're in. Now don't get me wrong, the colour of the water within the lakes is incredible and it's an amazing place, but we are spoiled in Australia for natural wonders so you'll have to excuse us for not being totally blown away by it. (read more here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plitvice_Lakes_National_Park ). The boardwalk that runs throughout the part is very Robinson Crusoe and a little dodgy in a couple of spots. It's much nicer however when you take the longer route and get away from some of the annoying German tourists and the nonna's attempting to stroll around in sandles ( inappropriatefootwear.com is a site India and I have always vowed to start up one day ). All-in-all it was nice to get some fresh air and a bit of nature before hitting the cities again and it's worth seeing, but it doesn't really deserve to sit at #1 in the Croatia attractions list when you have the likes of Hvar and Dubrovnik in the mix.
After our day out, we returned to Zagreb for a quick shower and change, a long dinner to kill time and then onto the overnight train to Venice. We paid extra (50% room rate) to have the hotel room until 8pm so that we could leave our bags etc safely and shower etc before the train. Best money spent so far we decided!
The train trip was underwhelming... Being an overnight train and not having to spend money on a nights accommodation, we had splashed out on "first class" tickets rather than just seats. Having out own little "couchette" with bunks was good. Somewhere to be horizontal, clean sheets and a small pillow where definitely welcome. However, the trains themselves are not quite up to the "western europe" standard and I'm sure are NOT designed to be travelling at the speeds we were reaching in some spots. I guess they need to travel so fast because you spend so much time stopped at the border stations going through passport and customs checks etc. A few disrupted hours of sleep were had by both, but we were both suffering a bit of "train-lag" the next day. FYI, "breakfast included" means your choice of instant coffee sachets, an orange juice popper (at room temp) and a pre-packaged egg, salami and pickle 'sandvici'... Needless to say we left that untouched and headed for the first espresso bar once we reached Venezia.
We're about to head out for our second evening in Venezia now, stay tuned for India's thoughts on Venezia still to come.
Posted by AndrewR 07.09.2011 09:14 Archived in Croatia Tagged venicetrainplitvice
