Croatia: Part 8 - Day 7: Drive from Makarska till Plitvice

 Here is a summary of what is spent on Day 7

7/8 Day 7: Drive from Makarska to Plitvice. Started 10am and arrived at 5pm.

Cost

(1) Toll EUR2,40

Accommodation

(1) Apartment in Plitvice Lake National Park, 5 nights (from Airbnb) - Shared room EUR600 for 3 persons, EUR200 per person. On hindsight, we should have a stop along the way to stay for 2 nights as 5 nights in Plitvice were too long. There were limited activities to do after the first two days. 

Food
(1) Breakfast at Smile Coffee Bar EUR10,60 - Croissant avocado EUR6,90, Cappucino EUR3,70

(2) Fruit from market - Peach (1 each) and nectarine (1 each) EUR5 per kg - EUR8

(3) Lunch at Restaurant Ero EUR9 - Cevapcici with bread EUR6, Hidra orange 500ml EUR3

(4) Honey from the roadside - 2 small 450g jars for EUR16

(5) Coffee at Antonio Bistro, Plitvice - EUR3

(6) Snacks at Robni Center grocery store EUR5,69 - Shared 2 packets of nuts EUR12,32, 2 packets of chocolate bread EUR3,90, banana 522g EUR0,86

(7) Dinner at Antonio Bistro, Plitvice EUR25,50 - Pljeskavica (hamburger steak) stuffed with cheese EUR18, lemon Schweppes 250ml EUR3,50, shared tips EUR12

The Story

07082025: Today, we leave the coast and enter the inner of Croatia. Sad to leave the blue and warm Adriatic sea. First agenda of the day is to a morning dip before breakfast. At 8am, there were a number of tourists lazing on the beach chairs! So early but I suppose there are more tourists than beach chairs so it is important to book the beach chairs. Book chairs, I suspect, are for the hotel guests. 

The water is warm and it was so lovely with a morning dip. I did not rinse myself after the dip and let my body be preserved in salt the whole day. Well, salt water kills bacteria so I hope to think I am clean. Haha! 

There are beach train services offered in Makarska for EUR10 for one way and EUR15 for a return. Seems like fun for kids. It is not a long distance. 

 

We walked along the harbour and saw advertisements from boat operators that offer EUR50 for a day's activity that includes lunch. We missed these offers as we did not walk along the harbour upon our arrival. 

We walked to Makarska's Old Town and found a recommended cafe. Quite expensive cappucino compared to the one we had yesterday evening after our return from Sumartin island.

Along the way back, we passed by a flight of stairs to the town's church and I did my 'sit-on-stairs' pose. 

The flight of stairs are next to a morning market. We bought 3 peaches and 3 nectarines. The fruits were huge! I don't know if the price per kilogram is expensive as I do not buy peaches and nectarines. I rarely eat these fruits too. Eventually, I found out that the price per kilogram is expensive when we arrived at Plitvice and we went into a grocery store to buy snacks and I saw that it costs EUR3,28 per kg. Scroll down further to read when we arrived at Plitvice.

We checked out at 10am and started our drive towards our next stop - Plitvice Lake National Park. It was a long drive. We stopped for lunch at Vrlika town. There were not many customers in the restaurant and I had my usual cevapcici. The Hidra served here is the cheapest so far for EUR3. I had my first Hidra on Sumartin island for EUR4,30 and again the next day in Makarska for EUR3,90. One of the advantages of being in a small town. 

Then, we stopped by at a river which is nearby for my travel companions to take a dip. I did not want to take a dip as it was deep and I am not good in the waters unless I can touch the bottom. Also, I was informed that the water is cold but refreshing considering how hot it is. We had our peaches here. It is a giant peach in my hand. 

After the dip, it was my turn to drive. 3 hours driving and my neck was beginning to stiffen. We changed drivers at a stall by the roadside that was selling honey and cheese. We could not buy the cheese as we did not have a cooler bag. So, we got the honey instead. The honey is a local produce from the flowers of sage and pine trees. I really would like to know how does the bee farmers know which plants that the bees have been to determine the source of the honey. The colours are similar either dark and light. So, I am really curious. 

Pine on the left and sage on the right. I did a quick research and the honey costs EUR17,80 per kilogram which is about SEK195,60. That is slighly costlier as the Swedish honey in our local grocery store (Willys) cost SEK186 per kilogram (the most expensive one). Maybe selling by the roadside for passing cars cost more. It might have been cheaper in Croatian grocery stores. 

We reached our accommodation in Plitvice at 4.50pm. There is no signboard for incoming vehicles from the south but there is a s sign for vehicles from the north. We arrived and I asked if this is the Lady by the Lake Bed & Breakfast. While waiting to be checked in, I saw a sign on the reception desk that the room price does not include breakfast! I felt so cheated as breakfast was the reason we booked the accommodation. We saw photos of the breakfast in Airbnb's website and the place is even called Bed and Breakfast! Breakfast costs an additional EUR10. I was very annoyed. I could have taken another place instead and prepared our breakfast which we did for three days. According to the staff, bed and breakfast is a category used for more than 20 rooms. Lesser than that is referred to as something else. Anyway, it is so ridiculous. Lesson learnt from this! Do not be fooled by photos and enquire.

After checking in, I had coffee and my travel companions had beer in the restaurant opposite the accommodation. It is the only plus point I can think of for this place. We do not need to drive out if we wanted a quick meal. We did drive out as we wanted to try different variety of food.

Then, we drove to a grocery store in Plitvice. It is called Robni Center. They have many stuff to cater for tourists who have their own kitchen. We bought snacks for our next day's walk in Plitvice Lake. 

These were the peaches I was referring to in the earlier part of this post that it is cheaper here than the one in Makarska.

Even beddings too.

Back at our accommodation, we chose to have dinner at the restaurant opposite our accommodation. We did not have to drive anymore for the day. The restaurant did not sell Hidra so I had a bottle of Schweppes lemon tonic. I was getting tired with fries and grilled meat. 

Our waiter offered us a small glass of local fruit brandy, known as rakija. It was unexpected and he said that it is a treat from him. So, we tipped him.