Day 12: Wed 21st – The Resort of Rijeka & Plitvice -Croatia

Sunrise 6:52am – Sunset 6:56pm

Weather Forecast:   15 or 22 & partly cloudy

Steps:     8,771     6.05 km

I was up early this morning and took a photo of some guys fishing.  

and these are from yesterday afternoon.

We have a late departure today, which is lovely, after yesterdays relaxing day for me.

The wake up call came in at 7:15 this morning but as I wanted to get the blog finally up to date (I have been having internet problems off & on for a couple of days) I was up at 6am and finally managed to get all the photos uploaded. I was hoping to get a photo of the sunrise reflecting on the windows of the houses over the other side of the bay, as it look fabulous yesterday morning but there was too much cloud this morning.  Went down for breakfast around 7:45 and finally checked out and we departed at 9:40. 

Turned off the highway at 10:10.

We passed through the the border into Croatia at 10:41 and had our passports collected and stamped.

We arrived in Rijeka and were off the coach at midday for our lunch stop.  We had an hour.  Once back on the coach, we then went up to the Trsat Castle for the views,

not the visit. In the end we did visit, as they were not charging any admission price today.

The Trsat Castle represents a strategically embossed lookout on a hill 138 meters above sea level dominating Rijeka. It was mentioned as a parochial centre for the first time in 1288. At this same site there was a Liburnian observation post from prehistoric times, used for monitoring the roads leading from the hinterland to the coast. This location served well to the Romans to establish their defence system, the so-called Liburnian limes, whose starting point was the Tarsatica fortress town – which was situated at the site of today's Old City of Rijeka.  The plateau of the Trsat Castle offers a magnificent view of the ruins of these limes situated on opposite hills, Katarina and Kalvarija, as well as of the whole area of the Rijeka's Old City. The Trsat Castle is one of the oldest fortifications on the Croatian coast which preserves the features of the early medieval town construction.

Back on the coach at 2:15 and on our way again, heading to Plitvice National Park, a scenic wonderland of 16 interconnecting lakes, flanked by waterfalls and primeval forest.

Lovely views of the Adriatic, as we travelled along.

We had another 1/2 hour stop at Senj and headed off again just before 4pm.

Arrived at the hotel around 6 and then met for pre-dinner drinks for the Bon Voyage Club and then a 4 course dinner that was far better than the last dinner I had at this hotel.

I'm looking forward to our walk through the park tomorrow.