Monday 10 October

Monday 10 October
We caught the bus at 830am from Split to Plitviče to visit the national park. We arrived at one of the entrances at 1.00pm about 2km from our hotel. Doh! The hotel didn't have transport until the evening but told us we can leave our bags at information and visit the park, with the husband to pick us up once we had visited the park. This worked well for us and we left our bags at Hotel Jazera for a small fee, had a coffee in their bar and then headed out o the national park. As we only had about 4.5 hours until dark, the ticket seller advised us well of the best walking path to take. So a bus took us into the park to a point where we could walk out, rather than doing a loop. An excellent design.

The park is breathtaking. Dozens of waterfalls, crystal clear, and I mean CRYSTAL clear lakes, thousands of fish which you could see swimming around, Croatia even threw in a rainbow at one stage with no hint of rain to top off the fantasy land that was the national park. The forest was thick in the canopy, but not so dense on the ground so you could see deep into the forest. It was something out of Robin Hood.

We spent 4 or so hours walking the eco-friendly raised walkways over creeks, lakes, ponds, past waterfalls around every corner just in awe of this magnificent place. The Croatians made it a National Park around 1870 and have preserved it with great care. It was UNESCO World heritage listed in 1970.

Dinner at the only place to eat near our accommodation, a pizzeria, once again just before closing, then home. The room was nice and the host lovely, but the drains in the bathroom had a South East Asian 200 year old drain smell.