Today we knew we had a big day ahead of us. A 4.5 hour drive from Opatija to Trogir, via Rijeka and then Plitvice Lakes.

We took off early and it was only a 10 minute drive to Rijeka, where Lid's family all came from before the war. We had the address of Nonnas house and the GPS took us straight to it.

We didn't know exactly which house, but Laila's cousin told us number 3, so we took a few photos of number 3, the houses around it and the park across the road. It was pretty emotional for Lid, thinking about her family walking around those streets and Nonno doing shady deals in the park.

We spoke to an old guy living at number 3 and he was able to talk to Lidia in Italian, but didn't remember any Valcovichs, which isn't surprising.

After this we got back in the car for the 2.5 hour drive to Plitvice. It turned out to be 3 hours, due to the slow traffic on the one lane road for much of the journey. It was a bit harrowing at times because here the drivers have no patience or courtesy whatsoever and so if you are travelling behind a truck and it is your turn to overtake, other drivers behind you try to overtake you and the truck as well, which almost caused an accident a couple of times.

We finally made it to the Lakes. So many people! It was a Monday, but still very crowded. We had allowed 2 hours to see the lakes, which are comprised of 7 lakes in the mountains with waterfalls cascading between each of them. What with the line to get tickets, the crowds along the trails and having to wait for boats to take us across the lakes, 4 hours slipped by really quickly.

The lakes were stunning though, with beautiful vibrant blue waters and fish seeming to float in air in the crystal clear waters near the shore. There were pools of clar water with petrified trees in them that looked as though they had been there for thousands of years.

The largest waterfall in the park was called Veliki Slap, which was named because someone left a tap on at the top of the cliff. They then called it "The Leaky Tap", which over the years became "Veliki Slap". Of course, I may have made this up, since it actually means "Big Waterfall" in Croatian, but I like my theory better.

We had told the AirBNB host that we would be in Trogir at 4:00 and it was 4:00 when we left Plitvice with a 2.5 hour drive ahead of us.

I rang the host and he said it was fine. I'm glad he was understanding because it actually took 3.5 hours to get there. Once we got into Trogir we hit a nightmare of a traffic jam.

Trogir is a tiny, fortress town on an island. The island is joined to the mainland by 2 bridges, one on each side. There are no traffic lights or roundabouts at the bridges, so with heavy traffic at either end trying to turn both left and right on and off each bridge, it makes for an absolute mess, with every driver for themselves.

We were crawling at snails pace for 3 kilometres before the bridge, which took an hour to get to. To make matters worse, our GPS was wrong and sent us over the second bridge to the mainland on the other side. We were actually staying on the island, so we had to turn around and brave the traffic a second time to get back onto the island to meet our host.

It was very stressful, but we eventually made it and the accommmodation, although small, was ideal, exactly in the middle of the town, with restaurants and bars all around it. There were massive yachts lining the island and a real party atmosphere.

The town is really quaint with cobblestone alleyways and very old buildings lining them. Heaps of little boutique shops which Lidia loved.

We had dinner at one of the restaurants near or apartment and the waiter recommended a local dish called pasticada, which was a beef marinated overnight and served in a thick gravy with gnocci that would have made an Italian Mama cry in envy. They were so soft and delicious.

It was still stinking hot, so after a couple of beers (pivos) and a wander around the old town, we went back to our apartment to finish off the night with a couple of cans of apple cider we had bought in Opatija. Lidia had left them in the freezer to cool down and they had turned to icy mush, which was lovely since it was so hot.