Our first riding day ... always exciting to set out into the unknown ... the sense of anticipation and wonder ... all senses alive .... especially when venturing into a new country ... and especially with Pam in the back ... precious cargo!
We had a great ride out of Split, heading straight east into the Dalmatian mountains, which tower like a wall all along Croatia’s coast. After climbing for a while, we found ourselves on the other side, riding through beautiful winding roads ... great green fields and mountains and valleys all around us.
Our first goal was to find the “Eye of the Earth,” the spring that is the source of the Cetina River which, according to Google Maps, was on our route to Plitvice National Park.
Except Google sent us to a couple of off-road spots along the Cetina River, but not to where the Eye actually was. We finally asked someone camping by the river, and they pointed us in the right direction.
What a sight .... incredibly clear water coming up from a deep blue hole in the ground ... with deep hues of green and blue ... nature! After taking it all in, we headed off to a nearby restaurant for lunch.
We did not realize that this weekend was Croatia’s Independence Day holiday, so a lot of places were closed and there was very little traffic anywhere. Nice.
We arrived at our lodge for the night with great anticipation for our visit to the world-famous Plitvice National Park the next morning. We went for a swim in the pool, then took a nice walk through the surrounding green meadows to an old cemetery, where all the inscriptions were in Cyrillic.
Later, we had dinner with everybody. And yes, Armando and Monica were finally able to join us, after riding in from Austria to be with us for the rest of the trip. All together at last.
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