Tammy slept in a little later today, so Don took the opportunity to catch up on writing. After we made coffee (everything comes after making coffee), we invested some time into booking upcoming hotels in Croatia.
When we eventually left the apartment we went to the Central Market in Rijeka and just caught the tail end of it. After deliberating a while about what to with our day, we decided to drive to Risnjak National Park about 45 minutes inland.
Since we started late, we chose to hike a short trail (5 miles) - we went to the trail on the bottom sign, which is to a mountain hut. Notice how the sign gives time not distance...
The first part of the trail is pretty steep and rocky, but then it levels out and is just a steady climb. There are interesting rock formations everywhere - it is travertine and erodes along the crack/veins to make these formations.
To inspire young imaginations and share the Croatian heritage, there are signs that tell folklore progressively along the trail.
I read them to Tammy while she sat down to take breaks.
The trail is well marked with these blazes on trees and rocks the whole way...
...and plenty of bees and butterflies too!
After we reached a crest in the trail, it began to descend then we could see the cabin - how picturesque!
It looked like we may be forced to hike down the valley and back up to the cabin, but fortunately the trail followed a narrow ridge across the gap.
The hut was huge but unfortunately closed up so we couldn’t see inside.😞
The views were beautiful on all sides!
And the trail was nice and shaded most of the way. After we spent some time around the hut, we made our way back to the car, then drove further up the dirt road. We followed the increasingly sketchy road until we felt like it make get too bad to continue (or we might get lost), then turned around and headed back to the highway.
We followed the back roads into Rijeka, which was nicer than the highway, happy to have gotten a good hike in and see another facet of Croatia. We made it back to the apartment in time for a relaxing dinner together while watching another couple episodes of our Netflix show.
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