Plitvice Lakes, Croatia

Our hotel claimed it had been fully remodeled in 2001.  Sue and I would beg to differ - it might have been remodeled in 1971, but that is about as current as we are willing to concede.  It was clean and in a great location just outside the park, but it was back to basics for 2 days.  As I mentioned earlier, Sue read about the Plitvice Lakes region online and thought it was worth a look-see and it sure was.  It was one of the most spectacular National Parks I have been to (and that is saying A LOT considering I have been to so many!)  We had the disappointment of a light rain on our first morning in the park, but in hindsight it was perfect because we had no crowds, cool temperatures and the rain stopped mid-morning giving us the chance to see the greenery with a light glimmer of dew.  The National Park is comprised of a series of wooden plank walkways that connect natural pools, ponds, creeks and lakes.  Seemingly, each body of water had a waterfall emptying into it which was surreal.  We decided to use our two days walking as much of the park as possible and I can honestly say that none of the pictures do it justice.  If heading to Croatia, the Plitvice Lakes region is a must see destination. 

We checked into the hotel shortly before dinner on our first night and thought we might actually be the only guests in the 35-room establishment.  Ha ha ha, we were wrong.  At some point after we checked-in a bus load of Japanese tourists also checked-in.  Since we had opted for full board (breakfast, lunch and dinner provided by the hotel) we shared a dining room with this hearty group for 2 meals.  It was quite an experience.  At dinner our first night we witnessed people stealing armloads of bottles off the drink cart and loading them into purses - presumably to save them for later?!?  There was also a ruckus rendition of Happy Birthday sung for one of the women in the group.  We were encouraged to sing along, which (of course) we did.  We ordered a few glasses of wine and took in the free entertainment.  After an hour or so we decided to retire to our room which luckily had 1 TV channel in English.  Who knew that McGyver is so popular in Croatia? 

The next morning we reconnected with our new friends over breakfast and decided it was imperative we get in the car and to the National Park before their bus departed the hotel to avoid the possible chaos that might ensue if they arrived before us to the ticket counter.  Since it was raining, I decided to run to the mini mart for a poncho while Sue finished getting ready in the room.  Somehow our lines got crossed and I was waiting for her in the car while she was waiting for me in the room and the damn bus got out of the parking lot before us.  We quickly rectified the issue by speeding to the park and running to the ticket counter while their bus was still parking.  PHEW!

Day 1 in the park started out a bit grey and foggy:

There is a huge waterfall behind me...

 

...that looked like this!

 



But it cleared up quickly and afforded us the opportunity to see sights like this:

Mossy formations dripping water into a pond

 

The main waterfall inside the National Park

 

One of the crystal clear lakes

(check out the people walking on the far side for scale)

 

My favorite view inside the National Park

 

We walked miles & miles of wooden plank walkways like this through the National Park

 

The waterfalls were endless...

 

After a fabulous 2 days in the National Park, we made our way back to Split.  We made a few more scenic stops on our return and I'll list them in the next post.