Plitvice Lakes National Park
May 20 – 21, 2011.
With GPS, maps, and a packed lunch in the car, we’re ready for another road trip. Our destination was Plitvice Lakes National Park, about 5 hours from Pula. True to form, our GPS took us there by the scenic route. We’ve learned that’s not necessarily a bad thing as we’re seeing parts of this country that many Croatians probably never see.
This trip was over and/or through some tall mountains. Sometimes we were reminded of West Virginia with narrow valleys between the mountains and sometimes we felt like we were in Germany with wide valleys between the mountains, or in Colorado with the barren mountain sides. All are very picturesque in their own way. On this winding road we saw evidence of the war that was fought here in the early 1990’s. It was very sobering to see small stone monuments erected where once stood houses. These monuments were often placed at the top of steps that once led to a house. Other houses on this road still have bullet holes all over the sides of the houses with the concentration of damage surrounding the windows. I just can’t imagine what life must have been like living in the middle of a war zone like that.
On the way back to Pula we went on different roads and came upon a large monument to those who lost their lives during World War II. It was quite sad as the site was overgrown with grass and weeds. And right behind this monument, a shepherd was trying to get his sheep to move further up the slope and not having an easy time of it.
Okay, enough of the road stories. Now on to the beautiful Plitvice National Park with water, water everywhere. 400 waterfalls, but we stopped counting after 179…don’t worry, I restrained myself and didn’t take pictures of all of them…but it was tempting! And the absolutely beautiful lakes in between the water falls with their deep waters of a shimmering green. I’ve never seen lake water the color that it is in this park.
To give you an idea of the size of this park, we walked for 6 hours and still didn't see it all. Lots of walking trails, a few caves, a short boat ride to get from one side of a lake to the other, and a “train” ride too are all included in this park. The train is actually 3 small bus-like vehicles attached together. We were enjoying the day so much that we decided to walk back to the beginning instead of taking the train. And we’re so glad we did, as that’s when we saw so many more beautiful spots in this park. And it wasn’t crowded like the regular trails and the boats.
A 12 second video of some of the waterfalls.
On our way out of the park we stopped at the souvenir shop and finally found some things that are made in Croatia. So, another goal met! We now have a few small trinkets to remember our time here: a small vase with a hand painted scene from the park, the standard refrigerator magnet to add to our collection, and a small “bottle” that is made from pine cone seeds with another hand painted picture of another scene from Plitvice Lakes National Park.
Enjoy the photos. I promise I didn’t take a photo of all 400 waterfalls! But I did have a hard time deciding which photos to include in my online photo album and managed to stop at 21 photos.
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