(Mis)Adventures: Plitvice Lakes National Park, Croatia

Tuesday morning, we left early to catch our bus and so we wouldn't have to stand the whole ride as we'd seen people do yesterday to Zadar. The ride was about 3 hours and, of course, we had to stop for a 20 minute break 20 minutes from the park. Oh the bus drivers in Croatia. They love to stop for 20 minute breaks when they're almost to a major drop off point. The drive had been nice but a bit scary at some points. The bus drivers love to pass people on blind turns on small mountain roads. Finally, we arrived to the park and most of the people filed out of the bus. The air was noticeably chillier than Zadar. Before going to the park, we stopped in one of the hotels to find out if there was a luggage storage area nearby. They were nice enough to let us leave our stuff in their storage room for free for the day. Free of our heavy bags, we headed to Plitvice Lakes National Park.

The park costs around 15 Euros to get into, less if you have a student ID, and you get to wander around all day from 8 am to 7 pm. There are 16 lakes that form cascades and large waterfalls all over the park. The National Park was founded in 1949 to protect the lakes. It sits near the border with Bosnia. Most of the waterfalls are created naturally by the build up of moss, algae, and bacteria to form a travertine. The great thing about the lakes is how the color of the water can change from clear to green to blue to dark blue all depending on the angle of how you see them.

At this dock, you take a boat across the river and decide to head north or south. There are long lines and the park authorities have no idea how to handle masses of people. The docks are sound but look a bit questionable when there are tons of people standing on them. There are boats to take you to another place but you have to fight to get into the line. While those of us who observe line etiquette line up up the steps, the others who arrive just jump right in and cut people who've been standing around for a while. The guys who run the park could care less.

The name Plitvice is said to come from the Croatian word for shallow. The basins there are all small and shallow when filled with the water.

Most of the trees in the park are beech, fir, or spruce trees. The forest around the lakes is one of the last places in Europe where you find brown bears and wolves. We didn't see any though.

Just a lot of ducks and fish.

Here's a great picture. Any ideas whats going on?

We walked towards the Large Waterfall. Here, you climb up the side of the mountain to get a view of it and you also get a great view of the rest of the lakes.

After we finished our first walk, we went back to the dock where you cross the river. We had some time before the bus came and we wanted to walk north a bit. Some of those lakes are so clear. It's unbelievable.