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We visited Plitvička Jezera in June, 2003, on our way from the Dalmatian coast to Zagreb. We knew nothing about the park before we stumbled upon it, but once there, we were very glad we had found it. Plitvička Jezera (Plitvička Lakes) is a national park and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Once there, we we stayed a couple of days so that we could take advantage of the area. According to one Croatian Tourist Board publication, Plitvička is the most beautiful and best known Croatian national park. The park contains 16 small lakes interconnected by waterfalls, thickly wooded forests and numerous species of animals (including the brown bear). The picture above shows a schematic of the lakes. Below left is a photo of two of the lakes with the waterfalls between them.
The park has done a great job making the area accessible to the tourist with minimal impact to environment. Good walking paths along side the lakes as well as wooden steps and bridges passing over the lakes provides easy access to most of the lakes. There are also a couple of trams and boats which allow the visitor to get to the farther reaches of the park. Below left is a photo form above showing several of the smaller lakes and falls with a winding boardwalk allowing visitors to easily cross the lake. As we were walking along the lakes, we didn’t see any bears, but we did see many beautiful blue dragonflies (below. right).
We walked around the upper lakes on the afternoon we arrived, then saved the lower lakes for the following morning. This allowed us to take our time an enjoy the walk in a leisurely manner. Early in the morning, we found the boat ride to be quite pleasant on the smooth water (below).
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The wooded forests surrounding the lakes provide ample shade for much of the walk. As we viewed the woods, we found ourselves reminded of the scene from Star Wars where the fighters were racing through the trees on their flying machines. We are sure that Lucas or someone on his staff used these forests as inspiration for those scenes.
On the upper lakes, there are many full falls, spilling the water from one lake to another. Above, right is a photo of Verna by one of the falls. On the lower lakes, Jim got his picture taken in front of the highest falls in the park (above, left).
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One of the amazing things about the lakes is their beautiful blue-green color. In the full sun you can get the best effect, as in this photo at right.
The water is so clear, you can easily see the many small fish swimming about (no fishing allowed!).
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The water is rushing everywhere and as you are walking, you are rarely in an area where you are not hearing the water rushing. Of course, the photographic opportunities are seemingly endless and Verna took more pictures than we could ever use. But around every corner, there was yet another interesting shot. The one above right was one of the many small falls where the water went splashing over rocks and around trees.
In the photo above left, the water was absolutely smooth and flat as it went over the low wall of rocks, creating a beautiful effect as it went from smooth and clear to rushing white.
In one area, there were some open caves that we walked up through, providing a cooling effect. At the base of the cave, someone’s boat was obviously no longer seaworthy, but simply laying on the bottom, easily visible through the clear water. This photo more than any other shows the true clarity of the water (above right).
Overall we found our brief visit at the lakes to be a pleasant respite before heading off to the big city of Zagreb. The park is full of tourists from all over Europe (as well as a few Americans), but it is so large that you rarely feel overwhelmed by them all. There are 3 hotels to serve guests and several casual dining areas where we enjoyed our freshly roasted chicken, frites and pivo (beer) for lunch. The only disappointing part was that you can lo longer swim in the lakes - that would have provided a refreshing afternoon break.
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