Zagreb-Plitvice Lakes-Split

Our trip to Plitvice Lakes was by bus, as that is the main mode of travel in this part of the world.  It was suppose to take 3 hours but it took 5 hours. Plitvice Lake National Park was a real gem.  I have never seen anything like before.   It is a series of 12 lakes at different elevations with waterfalls spilling over from one to the other It is really spectacular. There are great hiking trails throughout the Park, most going over the water. The afternoon we arrived we got caught in a rainstorm while hiking and got quite wet.  We waited  for the tram for 45 minutes with an interesting Russian family.  We got up the next day to a beautiful sunny day and finished our hike before catching our bus to Split which took another 5 hours.
We met two young backpacking girls (20ish) on the bus to Split.  They had been traveling for 2 months. One was from B.C.Canada ( Megan) and one from Miami ( Christy) a photographer. Christy had to go back to the States to attend her brothers Wedding in a couple of weeks, I got the impression that if she thought she could skip it she would have kept on traveling.  Megan said she was going back to the U.K. where she had a job with Direct Ski.com, a British Company where she could ski in Chamoinix France for the winter months and watch a few kids that come in for the weekend.  Kate this is something like you did at LBSU a couple of years ago.
Split is just beautiful!  It was  a warm 75 degrees.  It is the second largest city in Croatia.  So far this is our favorite spot......this could change tomorrow!
In the beginning Split was the retirement home of a Roman Emperor Diocletian.....a really bad guy!  He built a Palace to match his ego!
What is known is that he passed his retirement years in Split having Christians captured, tortured and put to death.  So many were martyred in fact, that Diocetian holds the record for Saint creation............ including St Lucy.  Fighting Chritianianity was a losing battle, however only two years after his death in AD 316, the Milan Edict legitimised the Religion.  Ironically the site of his former tomb is now the City's Christian Cathedral.  The majority of the people of Croatia are Catholic.  It is also the same for the Czech Republic, Austria and Hungary.

We spent the day touring on our own, looking at churches, palaces and shopping....although I can't buy anything as I just don't have the room in my suitcase.  We really did have a wonderful Anniversary there..... and we are still together in Split!  The second day we went for a day trip to the island of Hvar..  It is a 2 hour Ferry ride from Split.  We had a delightful day looking at all of the Ruins and having the best lunch over looking the Adriatic!  The water is so clear, just like Lake Tahoe!  We originally wanted to go to the Island of Korcula that day which was sold out, so we could not go.

Now , I am going to tell you about Marco Polo!  He was born on the Island of Korcula, Croatia on the Dalmatian Coast near Split.. It was rumored that he was born in Venice, Italy. A congratulations to Kiara, Haley and Megan for getting back to me on Marco Polo.  You are right he did travel the Silk Road. which runs from China to Istanbul.  Did you know that the Silk Road is on my "bucket list"! Dick is not interested so I will have to find some other adventurist person to go with me.
We were reminiscing the other day as to how many countries we both have traveled to so far. When we are finished with this trip I will have over 40 and Dick will have over 45. Remember that he traveled half way around the world before he was 4 years old, since he was born in Burma  O.K. here is a new question for the Grand kids.........What do they call Burma now??????.
We are in Medugorje now (more on that later) and off to Dubrovicnik tomorrow by bus again.  We will be there 2 nights and then flying back up to Zagreb to catch the night train to Venice on the 28th.