A walking holiday in Croatia
There are thousands of steps in the Old Town of Dubrovnik (some said as many as 4,343 while the city walls has 1,080, including the Jesuit Steps where important scenes of ‘Game of Thrones’ were filmed.
Admittedly, I only walk more than 10,000 steps a day when on vacation abroad. Thankfully, my family loves to walk as well. I walk fast and many tease me that I can compete in race walking. While we are all aware of the health benefits of walking, many do not get to walk as much when all we do is drive to work and sit behind our desks.
That’s the reason why we would much rather go to cities where people walk more than drive when we go on vacation. It is also a great way for us to observe up close and absorb the local culture. Cities with advance train systems are also good options as they encourage tourists to commute rather than drive.
Crucial to a walking holiday, of course, is a good pair of shoes. Never wear a brand-new pair. It would be better to wear running shoes that are comfortable for several hours of walking. Flats and slippers, while comfortable for lounging and short walks, strain my muscles when I walk with them the whole day.
Walking in King’s Landing
AirBnb does not only provide great options for apartments, I also use them to book “experiences.” It was through this that we met our tour guide Jelena who gave us a grand tour of the Old Town of Dubrovnik, which in 1979 was included on the list of United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) World Heritage Sites.
There are thousands of steps in the Old Town (some said as many as 4,343 while the city walls has 1,080) including the Jesuit Steps where important scenes of Game of Thrones were filmed. Our walking tour took three hours and if you would like to walk up the city walls to get a bird’s eye view of the city then that would be another two hours.
We also walked the nearby St. Lawrence Fortress where we learned more about the history of Dubrovnik, as well as the additional scenes filmed there. There are steep steps to access the fortress, but the views are amazing.
In the group of 10 who joined the walking tour, I was the only one who has never watched a single episode of the popular HBO series. Now that I have seen the site, I just might watch from the very start. We heard that aside from the series, Dubrovnik was also the location where scenes of most recent Star Wars movie were shot, as well as the soon-to-be-released film.
A similar walking tour is offered in another UNESCO World Heritage Site — the Palace of Diocletian and the historical complex of Split. The palace was originally for the Roman Emperor Diocletian at the turn of the 4th century. The two places, Dubrovnik and Split, have different medieval charms, which earned them film location rights.
Walking in Plitvice Lakes National Park
The drive from Split to Zagreb is around four hours so we decided to split it up by visiting Plitvice Lakes National Park. Plitvice Lakes is a massive 295-square-kilometer forest reserve that features 16 terraced or cascading lakes, a lot of waterfalls and a limestone canyon. Plitvice made it to the UNESCO list in 1979, the same year Dubrovnik and Split were included.
While beech, spruce and fir trees abound, 1,267 different types of plants have been identified within the national park. It is reported that the forest has 50 species of mammals including wild brown bears and wolves.
There are eight hiking routes. The shortest require about three hours, while the longest will take eight hours. We took Trail B since we arrived at 3 p.m. and still had to drive another two hours to Zagreb. We finished the 4-km. in three hours inclusive of a boat ride on Lake Kozjaka and a short bus ride. That is even inclusive of a lot of photo taking stops.
Trails A and B include tours of only the lower lakes and their waterfalls. Trails that include the upper lakes will take anywhere from four to six hours. Most people go through the lower lakes so if you have a lot of time and would like to avoid the crowds then use Entrance 2 to see the upper lakes first then the lower lakes last.
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