Plitvice

26 June

We had been advised not to arrive at Plitvice National Park when the tour groups descended in droves around 10:30, so we made a leisurely start. The drive up was interesting as the landscape changed moving from the coastal barren steep rocky hills to much greener, but not particularly fertile, high plains with more rounded hills.


The park service runs a shuttle "bus" service from end to end of the lakes consisting of a Unimog bus towing 2 trailers with steering designed to track the tractor.  The road is very tortuous and at times the front of the contraption was going in the opposite direction to the rear.

The lakes are set in an area that is in the natural state with spindly woodland and scattered undergrowth. This undergrowth is quite different to ours and very pretty - not dense and there is lots of leaf litter. Despite the nature of the deciduous leaves that make up this detritus  there is still not a lot of top soil.

The lakes are a series separated by wide waterfalls over travertine ledges that are constantly building up.  The lakes are in the region of 11-15 m deep and have a beautiful deep blue colour which is even more vivid when the sun is shining.  The walkways are made of trimmed branches laid across a frame a couple of feet above the water.  With no handrails we wondered how many visitors end up in the lake when the pressure of numbers builds up in the high season.  We opted to do a circular walk around the top lakes and then go down to the lower lake to view the highest waterfall. This park is surely a fairyland on earth - looking at the little waterfalls which are big ones in the making is amazing. Often water will disappear through a sink hole! To reappear further down as a waterfall all of its own.These waterfalls amaze us - they fall from a variety of heights, often around vegetation which is growing robustly despite the torrents of water that tumbles around them.


There are all sorts of fish swimming in the lake - they seem to have their own territory and their own markings.They are quite small - much smaller than those we saw in Krka.

We walked on board walks - as Stephen said ( above) I have renamed them as trunk and branch walks - few boards in sight and lots of views of the water / swamp / etc below your feet  between the so called boards! All very rustic but uneven. You really need to watch as there were step downs without warning and Stephen did a few 'whoops! Didn't see that one"

I was on the look out for 'wild life!" the brochures mentioned lynxes - I saw a cat!  They showed pictures of bears - i found several small reddish/brown mice who were scavenging for food. Really
cute but a poor substitute for a bear. however - one little mouse has the instincts of a survivor - he was collecting peanuts that had been dropped by a human ( they walk at 100 miles an hour and pause to take a photo or two and then  power on as they have to 'DO" the Plitvice lakes! which are several kms in distance and then they surge onto the shuttle to get back to where they started! I sound cynical but... walking slowly -as I have to these days -has meant we have seen lots of little details - e.g. trees that fall into the lakes over time are covered with fascinating calcification.
I hope the photos will fill in the gaps - this was a wonderful adventure and so unique. 


Around the top lakes the falls varied between cascades and streams of water falling through the vegetation over a width of over 100m.


After leaving the national park our GPS delivered us  perfectly to our accommodation. Stephen did it again. Built after the war (the 1991-5 civil war that is) it is a typical Alpine looking house. The ground floor is a beautifully appointed kitchen and a variety of chunky / Alpine styled  tables and chairs where our hostess cooks a wonderful breakfast from 7.00 - 10.00am. Thereafter she said she does the cleaning! The attention to detail and the quality of the construction is amazing - every surface sparkles and our hostess was on hand with helpful advice. We were right at the top of the building and I relished leaning out of the window - drinking up the view of the green well tended slopes, the fruit trees and the sheep (white and brown with horns) that Stephen told our hostess were goats!! Such peace and quiet - ignoring the sounds of traffic in the very distant distance.

We trundled off to dinner to a restaurant our hostess recommended - and after  huge and gorgeous last Croatian feast we heard "Hello Gillian, it is you!" A teacher from my PAI work was on holiday with hubby and friends. there followed a lovely catch up / isn't this amazing / where have you been/ where are you going etc!

We returned to our accommodation and fell into conversation with an amazing couple. they are Dutch authors and illustrators of children's books as well as composers. We exchanged email addresses and it would be nice to hear from them again - Stephen posted an email to them -so we might hear back.