Plitvice National Park, Croatia

We arrived in the region of Plitvice National Park. Over only a few days we needed to get from Selcuk in Turkey to the airport in Izmir to fly to Istanbul. We had a night in Istanbul, then up early the next morning for our flight to Zagreb in Croatia, where the awesome Mav and Smythe met us with a DIY sign written on toilet paper with a sharpie. Couldn’t have asked for a better way to be met at the airport!

Driving through Croatia from the airport to our accommodation, a few hours away, we noticed that it’s much greener than Turkey. And definitely not as densely populated. The houses are cute; cottages with potted flowers on their window sills.

We checked into our cute as a button home in the little village of Seliste Dreznicko and settled in for an evening of catching up. The place had a wood fired BBQ, so we (by “we” I mean everyone except me) fired it up and later cooked a much needed home cooked dinner.

Our home, for a few days at least

How many backpackers does it take to start a BBQ?

In the morning we headed to Croatia’s largest national park, the Plitvice Lakes National Park. It is UNESCO World Heritage Listed and is almost 300 square kilometers. We arrived keen and ready. Then we saw the line up. We waited in line for over an hour! Later I read that over 1 million visitors visit the national park each year, and I can see why. Plitvice Lakes National Park is full of lakes, waterfalls, caves and a lush cover of green forest. We spent most of the day here, exploring the area and having a picnic lunch in a nice spot near the water.

Our picnic spot 

You can’t swim in the national park, due to it being a source of water for the towns, so after our big day in the park we wanted to find somewhere to swim on our way home. This proved more difficult than expected, driving around the towns for up to an hour or so. I didn’t mind, because the area is just so pretty. Yards and paddocks are full of white wild flowers, everything is so lush, and the houses are cute! We eventually found a spot to swim though!

 The view from where we parked to walk down the hill to the swimming stop

These wild flowers were everywhere

The lush walk to the swimming spot. I didn't actually take a photo of said swimming spot. 

Selcuk - Pammukale and Ephesus

After Fethiye we headed to Selcuk (pronounced sell-chook), which was maybe a 5 hour bus trip from Fethiye. We stayed at a place which was about a 10 minute drive away from the town, so we were picked up by the hostel's shuttle service. For the afternoon we settled in and went for a swim and hung out by the pool at the hostel. Later we had dinner at the hostel, which was cooked by the owner's mother. They have a big communal table where all the guests sit and eat dinner together, which was nice to meet other travellers, since we haven't really been able to communicate with other travellers since arriving. Up until Selcuk, we hadn't come across many English speaking travellers, so it was great to just have a conversation with other people. 

The following day we walked to Ephesus to see the ruins of the ancient city, built in the 10th Century BC. The walk there was really lovely. We had to walk through the back of the hostel, cut through a bit of someone's farm, which led to a dirt road that we followed for about half an hour until we reached the main road and another half an hour later we'd arrived. Ephesus is one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World and is an ancient Greek city. 

Along the walk to Ephesus

The views as we were walking to Ephesus

 Naycha brah! 

 Oh a sprinkler! 

Quick cool off before finishing the walk to Ephesus

Sah many people!  

 Cats of Ephesus

Stop looking at our chins please

Our next day was spent mostly on a bus. We caught a 3-4 hour bus to Pammukale, which means cotton castle in Turkish. This is the perfect name for this place because the area has hot springs and terraces of minerals which are left to accrue by the flowing water. It is a World Heritage Site. The terraces are made of travertine, which is a sedimentary rock from the hot spring's water.  The water temperature is around 35 degrees Celsius. There are some sections that cannot be accessed, and an allocated area for swimming. We took a swim with the hundreds of other  people who all come here to see the cotton castle. You can scoop up the white sediment on the bottom of the water and use it to cover your body for all its minerals. It is said that it takes 10 years off your age. I'm not so sure! 

 Embracing the minerals

The selfies were almost as good as the views. I wanted to document all the hilarious selfies. But then I thought that would be creepy. 

Cotton castle 

The sediment at the bottom of the water

Just a quick wedding selfie, as you do 

The next morning we caught a train to Izmir, then flew to Istanbul, stayed overnight, then off again the next day on a flight to Zagreb in Croatia to start the next part of our trip!