So today I left the coast of Croatia and indeed the coast altogether as i shall not be returning to see the sea. I was a little bit excited, as Plitvice National Park, has been on my radar as a place to visit for a long time now. Unfortunately the bus trip from Split is a good 5 hours (we’d have got there sooner except the bus driver stopped for lunch, 10 kms before the NP entrance). Some crazy people were doing a day trip and returning on a later bus that day.
The national park has hotels, and for my 50 euros i’m very happy with the room I have. When you add in to the fact that I can reuse todays ticket tomorrow, because i’m staying here (a day ticket is about 15 euros) and also the fact I get breakfast, its really not that expensive. Generally places like this charge hundred’s of whatever the going currency is.
Plitvice NP
The bus driver also dropped me off 2kms down the road from where I wanted to get off. Very annoying with two bags, but one of the national park buses gave me a ride to the hotel.
I walked down and around the lower lakes towards the big waterfall. The lakes are crystal clear yet also a beautiful shade of blue. There are natural mineral deposits in the water that give off the colour, plus calcify anything in the water, except for the fish. look in the water and you’ll see fish. sometimes a big fish sometimes a little fish, but the shorelines are full of fish. There are no fishing signs everywhere as well 🙂
Plitvice NP
The park is quite big, so sometimes it got a little crowded especially where the various paths met at toilets and refreshment stands. But usually the crowds thinned out as you walked. At the big falls which are not that big there were quite a lot of people. These falls oddly enough are not part of the lakes themselves but another creek that creates the falls. Most of the rest of the falls are in between a series of lakes and the water cascades down mossy rocks to the next lake.
The sheer beauty of the place is difficult to describe. Apparently there are abundant wildlife like bears and wolves, but i’m guessing the abundance of people means spotting one would be a miracle. Fortunately i have another half day tomorrow to explore the upper lakes before catching a midday bus to Zagreb.
PS. feel free to email me and say hi or ask questions. Sometimes Its good to hear from back in Australia.