Last updated: October 2026
The work papers had to be done in Zagreb. We got up very early, took the first Jadrolinija ferry from Suđurađ, at about five in the morning, and in Dubrovnik the company had a van ready and a driving authorisation in my name. I drove from Dubrovnik to Zagreb, and since we went past it, we stopped at Plitvice.
Plitvice Lakes National Park is Croatia's oldest and largest, declared in 1949 and a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1979. It is a system of sixteen named lakes and several smaller ones, each at a different height, cascading one into the next over natural barriers of travertine. You walk it along paths, steps and wooden walkways, climbing and climbing, from one lake to the next. The water is crystal clear and each lake has its own depth and its own colour. We went as friends, took far too many photos and had a great time. It is a paradise.
In Zagreb we saw nothing by day: we went to the police for the stay-and-work permit, the «dozvola za boravak i rad», which the MUP issues against an employment contract and which lasts as long as the contract. The company paid the fee. At night we went to the centre, Ban Jelačić Square, with its old blue trams, picturesque for the tourist (I am not sure locals feel the same), and to Tkalčićeva, the pedestrian street of bars and restaurants, where we had dinner and a beer.
The next morning we drove back. We stopped at a shopping centre to eat, meant to stop in Split, which is on the way, and did not. We went straight to Dubrovnik and caught the last boat of the evening to Šipan.
Keep reading: forty CVs and a resort →
The stories run in order: this is what happened around this one.
