We had our last breakfast in Split with Ken and Cathy. We said our goodbyes with a promise to keep our WhatsApp conversation alive for the remainder of our now divergent trips.

Since we had packed the night before, we were ready and on our way to pick up our rental in record time. The traffic was terrible, and it was a surprisingly long ride (duration, not distance). Finding our way to the office and then the dirt parking lot was a bit trickier than expected. Thankfully, the car was ready for us when we arrived.

We had directions to the nearby mall in hand. With continuous rain in the forecast, I was still interested in acquiring a real rain jacket. We also needed a charger for our iPads to replace the one that had somehow been forgotten during our departure packing in Vancouver.

It took us three tries to get it right. The first time we shot right past the mall and ended up on the highway. The second time we arrived at what ended up being the wrong mall. We did not know this until we went inside and used the map to try to find the non-existent Apple store. We did try a few other electronics stores, but none of them had what we needed. Finally one of the clerks recommended we go to the other mall down the street to ‘iStyle’. This had been our original destination; iStyle is the local Apple rep.

There were some good outcomes from our unplanned stop:
1) I found a perfect rain/running/cycling jacket in Nike for less than I would have paid at home. The entire exercise took less than 10 minutes.
2) We stopped into Spar, a sort of a small Walmart with goods in one section, e.g. sheets, shoes, hardware, etc., and groceries in the other. We picked up some water and car snacks, including Flips! This was an exciting discovery. Flips are the delicious puffed peanut snacks we were first introduced to in Israel. We had the bag ripped open and were busily munching before we even left the parking lot. This did raise a few challenges as Rick was driving a standard Opal.

On try number three we arrived at the right mall, which was only about 1.5 km away from the first. This seemed weirdly close in such a small city with only two malls. We parked, walked in, and iStyle was directly at the bottom of the first escalator. We were in and out in minutes. Based on the picture on the box, we thought we were getting the North American version of the plug. We ended up with the European version. Of course that is completely logical given that we were in, well, Europe. Of course the North American version would have been more broadly useful.

Ten minutes later, hands already greasy with Flips, we were on our way. We were prepared for the tollway, so that went went off without a hitch. Then we were motoring along the highway at a good speed, following the signs to Zagreb. Our driver takes his responsibilities very seriously!

The road went through some rather rocky and barren landscape. Tunnels and bridges were abundant. One cool thing we noticed was that each tunnel had its name and distance noted on a sign at the entrance.

We passed through a crazy rainstorm as we approached the mountains, reinforcing the value of my recent my rain jacket purchase. I had hoped it would create some weather goodwill, in the way that carrying an umbrella seems to ward off the rain.

The rain started and stopped and sputtered away for about an hour and a half. We stopped briefly at a rest stop for a coffee, which was quite good, and a piece of cherry strudel which we shared. It was less good.

Not too far down the highway, we arrived at the mountains and passed through a 5.7 km long tunnel. When we emerged on the other side, the rain was gone, the sun had come out, and the scenery was entirely different. Arid, rocky mountains had given way to bucolic fields of sheep and cows, old stone churches, petite villages, and a host of honey farms and cheese stands.

I was completely taken with the lovely little honey stands and we pulled into this one at the last minute. The owner greeted us in about seven languages before landing on English and asking where we were from. We tasted his honey, purchased a small jar, and also bought a pretty little bottle of his pear brandy. We did not anticipate that there would be much to do once we arrived in Mukinje, where we were staying in a small AirBnB for the night, so why not?

It was not much longer before we arrived in Mukinje, a tiny village filled with large hotels and apartments devoted to putting up visitors on their way to Plitvice. It looked a bit like a slightly ramshackle Swiss village.

We stopped at the wrong apartment, but were off again a few moments later, making a slow loop through the town. Our host, Marija, was waiting on the side of the road and waved us down. She had just begun to get concerned about where we were.

Marija showed us to our apartment, simple but with everything we would need, and just steps away from the only market in town. She took the time to explain everything in the suite and, with map in hand, to recommend the best route through the park.

After happily lounging about for a bit and listening to the rain, we made the two minute commute to the market by foot. (Well one of us was lounging the other one was writing this email – though Ricky did do all the driving so perhaps that was fair.) We were in need of something suitable for dinner tonight, plus breakfast and lunch for tomorrow. By all reports the food in the park is expensive and terrible, so I was fine with that.

The market was small and oddly shaped, but surprisingly well equipped with a variety of food, a teensy deli and a similarly sized bakery. Our bag of groceries cost about $20 and wouldl keep us in fine form with sandwiches, snacks, yogurt and fruit. We were content to stay put for the evening, as we knew tomorrow would be a full day with loads of walking followed by another drive.

We had the option to leave our car at the apartment for the day, or move it closer to the entrance in paid parking. Since we planned to go on to Ljubljana, another 3 hour drive, we decided that we would move the car, pay for the ease and proximity of parking, and be done with it.

I have one more comment about our experience in Croatia that has not yet been said. I simply hate the towels. Everywhere we have stayed they have been the same; small, thin, poor quality and likely washed a thousand times. This was the case on the boat, here, and even in our lovely hotel in Split. I wonder why this is? I guess it doesn’t really matter, they all get the job done in the end….

A pear brandy toast good night!

One P.S. I have apparently been sending our travel emails to the wrong email address, thinking it was Tyler’s. After almost two weeks the anonymous recipient sent me a very nice email telling me that he was enjoying my travels, but I may want to find the right e-mail address. I confess to being rather pleased that he actually read them for two whole weeks.