I was told when I rented the car that the best way to get to Plitvice is via the highway, as it cuts through the mountains via tunnels, and if there is snow, at least it is often cleared regularly on the highway. However, tolls are charged on the highway and is very expensive.
I've been travelling on country roads all this well, which been very scenic and had completely no idea what it would look like on the highway and how much it will cost for me to get to Plitvice.
Wanting to reduce my cost I looked at alternative options to getting on the highway and decided on taking the country road all the way to Pazin before hitting the highway from there on.
That was a good decision because I got to see some of the smaller villages on the country roads and it was more scenic and also because the tolls from Pazin to Rijeka costed me HRK 44 (about Euro 6).
The road to Rijeka was quite heavy with traffic and about 30 minutes to the town centre I changed my mind as I didn't like what I saw from the streets from a distance.
Rijeka is the third largest city in Croatia and it was also the first time I saw tall buildings again since leaving Germany. However the scene looked very gritty and not very pretty at all.
It was already about 12 noon. The good thing about technology is the ability to look for a restaurant nearby. I found one (Seafood Restaurant "Girica") with very good reviews that was just 5 minutes drive away.
It was a quaint little restaurant and there were already a couple of guests enjoying their meals. The English menu was a little brief and so I picked an easy option - a mix fish platter with calamari, and a glass of wine.
The food was amazing... Seafood extremely fresh that I devoured it cleanly leaving just bones!
Wine was dirt cheap too, equivalent to €0.80! Strongly recommend this restaurant to anyone in the area.
Back on the highway towards the next stop Rastoke. At one point of the highway, we had to go through a 5 km long tunnel and I was very surprised the moment I got to the other end of the tunnel, as it opened up to a complete view of white!
Snow had fallen, and it looked like a winter wonderland. This landscape on the highway continued on for the next hour before Google maps asked me to exit at Ogulin - that was another HRK 49 (€6.50).
From Ogulin, it was mostly country roads, and was a very stressful couple hours drive, as I never expected to be driving in the snow in Croatia!
Also, a number of the country roads were so narrow, that it looked like it meant for just a single vehicle to go through but in actual fact, it allows for 2 way traffic. Even though there was very little traffic possibly due to the low season, I still had to keep extremely vigilant for possible oncoming traffic, and figure out how both vehicles can get by safely.
The next pitstop was Rastoke, which is supposed to be famous for some waterfalls. However when I got to the marked spot in Google, it didn't seem like the right spot. Nevertheless I didn't bother to venture far from the spot due to the snow and also it was getting to almost nightfall.
My final destination was just 20 mins away, so I went on, and finally reached House Antonia just in time before it completely got dark.
A nice cosy room for the next 2 nights! So exhausted after today. But last thing to do is to get a quick dinner before calling it a night.
Not many places were opened because of the low season, so I just randomly went into the nearest place I could find - Restoran Grabovac.
I was the only one in the restaurant and I ordered a pizza. It was amazingly good especially that pizza dough - chewy but still a little crispy, and the ingredients were just a perfect combination! Not what I would expect in a small town like this, so I was extremely pleasantly surprise!
Now for an early night to get ready for tomorrow!
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