Plitvice Lakes National Park
A photo story
On my bucket list since I first saw photos of its waterfalls, lakes, limestone escarpments and natural beauty, I finally made it.
On the way we stopped off at Dubrovnik and Split but they weren’t the focus of our Croatian adventure. Plitvice was!
We planned to wake early, have a buffet breakfast, and head to the park by 8 am. We didn’t do too badly and were first in the park at 9.
We looked at the maps and decided we’d do the shorter lower circuit supposedly 3.5km. My health app registered 6.7 km but that included the walk from our guest house.
We walked down, down, down to the level of the lower lakes. I started taking photos but was making Erilyn anxious for my safety. I assured her I wouldn’t fall over the edge but she thought I was likely to drop my phone so she confiscated my phone until we reached a safer area so most of the photos are hers. I gave instructions, “Take a photo here. I hope you got a photo of that.” She took more than two hundred photos! It’s that sort of place.
It was a warm but windy day. I’m no lightweight. But I struggled to keep my balance on those uneven logs. I only slipped once. I was looking at the magnificence of the Big Waterfall and missed a step. I gave Erilyn a scare but I wasn’t frightened of falling into the water. It looked so clean and clear. I would have enjoyed a quick dip.
We walked along the board walk to the base of the big waterfall where a coach group caught up with us. They took photos and headed back the way they came back to the bus. Not enough time to experience the beauty and magic of nature.
The lakes were various hues of blue and green but so crystal clear tiny pine cones were visible on the bottom of the lake.
We sat down to eat our packed lunch — mandarin segments, dried figs and sugared lemon peel — and were joined by a tiny bird who wanted some of my lunch. Later, I saw a sign saying, “Don’t feed the wildlife.”
Soon after lunch we arrived at the Y junction. Do we try to do some of the upper lakes route or should we return to our starting point? We still had plenty of time as our bus to Zagreb didn’t leave until 17.15 and it wasn’t noon yet. But the coffee cup on this sign was the deciding factor.
And I’d skipped coffee this morning in my excitement to get to the Park early. I didn’t want to go back the way we had come, not because it was difficult but I like walking circular tracks.
Admittedly seeing the lakes through the trees was difficult, but look what we found instead. Nature is truly wonderful.
The greens of the lichens and mosses stood out against the stark white of the limestone rocks.
We discovered huge mushrooms and weird fungi growing on trees and logs. Even bench seats.
We even found a cave with no floor and no vault. (It had no bottom and no top) The information board told us it had started as a sink hole which then opened up vertically and horizontally and eventually the limestone dissolved and opened the tunnel to the lake. I love caves but we weren’t allowed in. I suspect it’s only accessible to experienced speleologists which I am not. I would like to have been though. I snorkeled through some caves in the Philippines and loved it.
Believe it or not I was more frightened on the walk back. The wind had reached gale force proportions. You can forget the wind was whistling through the trees; the sound of the wind in the trees was more like a truck roaring past you on the road. I’ve never heard that awful sound made by wind and was convinced a tree would come crashing down on us. Hence my my interpretation of this sign was “beware of falling rocks and trees.”
“No,” Erilyn said, “ it means don’t go too close to the edge or you may fall over!” She had been telling me that all day. She’s an intrepid traveller but a bit of a nervous Nellie when I get too close to the edge.
If you’re younger and fitter than I am, walk the top circuit as well. My spirit was willing but my body was weak.
Apparently, it’s much more beautiful in the summertime, but I loved it in winter — no crowds pushing past me. We had the whole park to ourselves most of the day which had a special feeling you won’t get in summer.
Please thank Erilyn for the photos. She was probably right. If I’d tried to take photos on that ricketty boardwalk, I would have lost my balance.
If you want to see what it looks like in summer, read Victoria Hydes’ story.
