“We made our way to a lake beside the tree, with salt in the air and sand in our feet, we felt the sun as it touched our skin, these memories will stay with me…………….
....Now I’m far away, and, these memories are all that remain.”
On the evening of 30th May, 2018 five of my friends and I were all packed to start our journey to Croatia from the Frankfurt station. On reaching Frankfurt from Schweinfurt, Germany, our first task was to find the tour bus that would start our holiday. The plan for this holiday, booked through the "AMtoPM" website was to cover the beautiful destinations of Lake Bled and Ljubljana in Slovenia followed by Zagreb and Plitvice Lake National Park in Croatia along with a pub crawl through Zagreb one evening, which was notorious for some and a simple pleasant night for the rest of us.
Having boarded the tour bus, our guide introduced herself in the most animated but loving way possible. This started off the journey with a fun spirit. We introduced ourselves to our fellow travelers, who to our surprise were mostly Indians, just like us. All connecting from different parts of Europe only to explore the excitement for the same end destination.
The six of us got on to play a few friendly matches of “Mini Militia” before we hit the sack. We had a long journey ahead for us.
The next morning as we woke up we realized we had almost reached “Lake Bled” in Slovenia. This was our first stop. We got off the bus, quickly freshened up and went our way exploring the town. We only had two hours to absorb the entirety of this place and dint want to waste a minute of it.
We reached the main attraction "Lake Bled" which was an emerald green mountain lake with an iconic beautiful white church. The view was breathtaking. It felt like I was looking at one of those picture postcard - when you look at it and wish to be there someday. The different shades of nature all complimenting each other – the blue from the sky, greenish water and the bright green from the trees. It was perfect.
We walked back with a sense of calmness and a smile on our faces to take our seats in the bus and headed off to our next stop: Ljubljana, the capital of Slovenia. We started off with a city tour on foot followed by a boat tour of the charming old city full of artists, museums and galleries. We even saw the Dragon Bridge.
The best part of the day included trying out different flavors of ice cream and trying to solve a puzzle created by a very charming citizen who claimed it was “an extremely useful waste of time”, oh and it was!
After the various emotions we went through with the puzzle we were on our way to Zagreb, Croatia. We were taken to the hostel to freshen up. The six of us shared a room that had bunk beds with two fellow travellers.
Our next move was to explore the city on foot. We saw people and groups singing and dancing. Other prominent sites included the "Zagreb Cathedral" and "Tunel grič Zagreb".
After this we hurried back to get changed for the "pub crawl" that was organized for us. I remember “Tulsa Time” being played by a very talented band as we started off the night. The night got colder as we walked from one stop to the next, the final stop being for burgers before we headed back to bed.
The next day was the most awaited day of our journey. Everyone was dressed to take their best pictures at "Plitvice Lakes National Park".
The national park has sixteen lakes with beautifully interconnected water flow, all arranged in cascades.
It felt like I was in a dream at one of the world’s most beautiful water destinations. I was literally prancing, visualising and inhaling the colors green and blue. The freshness of it all was so overwhelming.
The path on the lakes was so carefully and precisely created, some more narrow than the others but completely safe to cross. We made our way through the entire National Park feeling content and with a truck load of memories.
Finally, we settled in the bus feeling euphoric but calm, tired from the exciting journey here, ready to head back to Schweinfurt.
