Plitvice Lakes- Croatia Sept. 2013

The bus journey to the Plitvice Lakes was longer than I imagined, we arrived after lunch. When the bus arrived at its last stop we alighted looking around checking our paper for the address of our accommodation. The bus driver gestured to us to look at the address and pointed to us to get back on the bus and then stopped outside the place we were staying, which was at the previous stop.

We were greeted by a man running down the path eager to take our bags to our accommodation. The House Samardzic was very picturesque and the woman who ran very friendly and helpful. She showed us to our room which was basic and clean with all the usual amenities including free Wi-Fi.

We left our bags in our room ready to go to the lakes; our hostess said her son would drive us up there as he was going out anyway. Offered to cook us dinner there that night (obviously to be paid for) to which we heartily agreed as it would save us looking for a place,

One of many waterfalls

So we were off to the Plitvice Lakes National Park, the park has numerous lakes and waterfalls. The many lakes are formed from the sediment formed from the calcium carbonate from the water. It builds barriers along with algae which causes various separate lakes to form. We managed to complete one walk that day marveling and the beautiful scenery and waterfalls. The water so clear that even in the deeper sections fish could be seen swimming on the bottom.

Pristine and clear water of the lakes

We walked back to our accommodation along the main road, not the safest way to go as there was no actual ‘footpath’ space on either side, which made it rather scary when cars and buses whizzed by.

We had a delicious dinner our meal was three course with cold meats and olives to start and delicious fish main and cake to finish with. We were plied with rakia which was quite potent.

The next day we were up early to have breakfast, ready to face a whole day at the lakes. We did a different walk which took us longer, everywhere one looked was spectacular, and even though there were a lot of people there it didn’t spoil the experience. Many of the paths are on boardwalks as the ground in places is quite marshy. We went on a boat ride across one of the lakes and walked along the banks. By the time we finished walking all day we decided to make our way back to our room. Before leaving we pre-bought our ticket for the bus the next morning.

View of the Lakes

We were lazy again and had our dinner at the guest house, a meat meal this time, though I thought the fish meal was better, but it still was a homely nourishing meal.

The next day we were up early for breakfast as we were catching our bus at 9.30, but were lucky as the bus stop on the main road was just opposite the pathway from the guest house.

We were thankful to see the bus as it arrived a bit late. We were now on our way to Split. One bizarre thing that on the way there is part of the road about 7 km which goes through Bosnia, so we had to have a customs check. This road was probably constructed when there was a Yugoslavia and not separate countries so the route of the road wouldn’t have been an issue.