Werner and Rosi Wanderlust

 I had seen a few internet posts about this place, and was determined to make a stop here on the way to Brac. It is definitely worth the detour. We ended up spending a second day wandering around the lakes and through the waterfalls. Coming into the national park from the north after leaving Zagreb, we started to encounter examples of the beauty that awaited us, as we passed through a town full of travertine pools and waterfalls. Plitvicka National Park is a larger area of forested hills, but the main attraction is a series of lakes, created by calcium deposits which form little dams and terraced pools between the trees and vegetation along the base of a canyon. There are three main lakes, but countless smaller pools in between. You can start at the top or the bottom of the area. By starting at the bottom you are always looking forward and up at the next waterfall. The first set of waterfalls is below the first lake. Got to take one of those "yes, we were here" pictures. Grea

 Made it to Brac, one of many islands along the Dalmatian coast. To get over to the island you have to drive or walk onto a ferry boat. . Ah, the sleepy little town of Supetar, the largest village on the island of Brac. It's October, past the tourist season, but you would think there would still be a few people here. The weather is mild, ocean still warm, but COVID travel restrictions killed their tourist business. We were the only tourists in a huge resort of probably 500 units. Pools were all drained, restaurants all closed, etc. The usually busy tourist options sat still, like this nice little boat that usually provides sailing tours. Ah, but the swim beaches were open. We practically had the entire beach and swim bay to ourselves. Water was still warm, so we swam around and watched the fish circle our feet and legs. Perfect opportunity to lay around in the sun and dangle your legs in the ocean. Spent a couple of days driving around the island to the other small villages. Not a

 On our way to the island of Brac, we took a ferry from the coastal town of Split. We soon discovered that Split is itself quite the tourist attraction. The center of the town is built around the remains of Diocletian's Palace, built in AD639. This ancient Roman palace covered an area of several square blocks, all enclosed by a multistory stone wall with multiple portals for entry and exit. Once inside you  wander through a maze of tiny allies which run between market squares, arcades, towers, churches and all kinds of architectural wonders. Some former palaces to Roman gods were later converted into churches. Below, one of these former palaces became a church, with a baptismal font in the center. Apparently "Game-of-thrones" was filmed in part around the alleys of Split. Due to COVID, like most other parts of Croatia, Split also was fairly devoid of tourists, so many of the market squares were partially empty and many of the restaurants were closed. That makes for a uniq