While in Croatia, my goals were to at least visit Dubrovnik and the Plitvice Lakes national park. Achieving the latter goal turned out to be a little bit more difficult than I expected. From Dubrovnik I took a 5 hour bus ride to Split, a larger coastal town around central Croatia. The bus ride was beautiful, winding along the coast with great views of the bright blue water. From Split, my plan was to take a night train to the capital city of Zagreb, where I could take a bus to and from the lakes and still make it back in time to make it to Budapest that same night.
A ridiculous plan? Yes, but it was necessary for me to save a day on what has somehow become a trip with too little time.
Earlier in my travels, I received some advice from some friends that I should reserve a sleeper car at all costs on overnight trains in Croatia. While I attempted to heed their advice, there was a small problem. A fire along the tracks meant that I would be taking the train from Split for a couple hours before hopping on a bus that would connect us to another train on the other side of the fire. That meant one thing: No bed. Come to find out, an armament shed had blown up and scattered grenades and explosives all over the tracks. Of course. So after the 2 hour dirt road bus ride, we finally got on the next train around 3am. As the crowd traveling the opposite direction exited the train, it was clear they had just returned from some kind of soccer match. Waving flags and holding beer cans, they all came stumbling out of the train leaving behind cabins littered with beer cans, cigarette butts, and, somehow, muddy floors. Luckily, I found an empty cabin that was somewhat clean and got a few hours sleep before the train arrived in Zagreb around 7:30, one hour late.
That one hour was just enough time for me to miss my bus to the lakes. Hopping on the next bus meant I would only have a couple hours at the park, which was a little disheartening, but I was determined to make it work, especially since I already had my hostel booked in Budapest for that night. Once I arrived at the park, I was only able to explore about half of it, but it did not disappoint. Turquoise lakes of varying sizes are situated at different levels throughout the park. Waterfalls big and small connect the lakes with the big waterfall (a few hundred feet tall) below the last lake. While the water flow was lower than average due to the dry summer, the park was still very beautiful and worth the effort to get there. Though I was rushed a bit, I was still able to take in and appreciate the natural beauty surrounding me.
Getting back to Zagreb was another adventure as the bus decided to just not show up. After convincing a few people to go in on a taxi together, I made it back with just enough time to grab my bags and catch the train to Budapest.
Somehow, someway, after grenades, dirt roads, delays, and no shows, I had accomplished everything I had set out to do. I might think twice about planning that many connections again…but probably not.