Thursday, 18.Sept. 2014.
We rode the bus to the Plitvice lakes. What are they?
``The Plitvice Lakes National Park, Croatia’s most popular tourist attraction, was granted UNESCO World Heritage status in 1979...The beauty of the National Park lies in its sixteen lakes, inter-connected by a series of waterfalls, and set in deep woodland populated by deer, bears, wolves, boars and rare bird species. The National Park covers a total area of 300 square kilometres, whilst the lakes join together over a distance of eight kilometres." (Quelle)"
It's also the oldest park in Croatia. If you want to skip the narrative and just look at pretty pictures, you can go here.
The weather in Zadar was beautiful and, as we rode slowly into the mountains, it got darker and foggier. In spite of this, it stayed dry that day (and between 17 and 21 C).
The entrance was half as much as we expected. That was cool. So, we went in and looked at the park map and the routes:
We were standin there, discussing routes (in German), when a guy stepped over to chat with us (also in German). He asked if we knew which routes/paths were closed --- the reason for the half-price ticket being this, due to high water.
We went back to ``Informacije'' and asked which routes were closed. It took asking two different people to get a clear picture, but once we knew the (basically one) route we could take, we set off.
What you first see (the first lookout point):
[and later, same spot]
Later, it wasn't so foggy and you could see a small house atop a waterfall:
The tours through the park were there in the same window of time as we were. It would be nice if one could be there earlier (i.e, you'd need a hotel there).
The tour guides were easy to see, because they always had a colorful umbrella, lifted high, so that the group could follow them.
The second view point - the wooden walkway which can be seen there is exactly one route that was closed a (many visitors, as you can see in other pictures, went through anyway):
This next view had a really pretty tree in the middle:
There were many signs like the following-- which said (1)the name of the lake (Kozjak), (2) heigh above sea level (535 m), volume (82 ha), depth (47m):
I thought it was cool that the roots were placed to the side and quasi-knotted/braided. I suppose that was intentional and not somehow accidental:
The entrance fee includes a ferry trip. I think the ferry was electric. It was very quiet and the water was surprisingly still. The lake-view:
Where we got off the ferry:
An example of Tourist-traffic jam:
Naturally, because it was especially pretty there, it was chock full of people, tour groups, etc.
Thankfully, we got a few seconds to take a pic here:
I was not a fan of the tours -- the pushed me around and seemed always annoyed. Since we didn't do a tour, we could go slowly through the park, take breaks, and eat food we'd packed. It was nice.
There were of course photography lovers who made for traffic jams and who hogged the best locations to snap a big shot, sometimes with a giant tripod.
It was nice to be there at the beginning of Autumn, with all the leaves starting to change:
The water was roughly turquoise-colored, but not due to be glacier water.
The water level was high and the water sometimes flowed over the wooden pathways and steps:
More lovely waterfalls:
We got very close to that right edge and got sprayed with water:
A calm lake view:
More fun autumn colors:
During the return trip, the weather was really great. Without the fog and clouds, you could see the surrounding mountains quite well:
I saw this bridge from the bus -- which is called the "old Maslina Bridge":
We were too late to see the sunset in Zadar, but caught some of it from the bus:
I have one more post to write about Croatia - St. Donatus church and the end of the trip.
Gorgeous!
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