Very early the next morning we set off for the Plitvice lakes so we could beat the crowds and try to make the most of the day. You can buy either one or two day tickets into the park but we only had the one day before we were setting off again. So, in our heads we thought if you can buy a two day ticket there must be enough to do for two days, so we better go early and get as many hours as we can. As it turned out we had ample time in the one day and we did the second longest walk around the park, so I am so glad we didn't go for a two day ticket.
Driving to the park we inadvertently missed car park number one which is lower down the hill and ended up higher up at car park number two. Which actually turned out to be a very good starting point for touring the lakes although when we got there the car park was mobbed. There were people milling around and queues to get into the car park. As we drove through the car park, passing people who had already parked and got out of their cars, I realised that so many were in very sporty Lycra outfits and were doing strange warm up movements. A bit extreme , I thought but also what am I letting myself in for? I also felt slightly under or over dressed, not sure which, but casual walking gear and sandals was not cutting it with this crowd. Getting out of the car we threaded our way through the people to the ticket booth where there was a large poster advertising that a marathon race was being run there that day. Typical the day we chose not only had lots of runners but also family members supporting them , although to be fair once we were out of the car park we didn't see any runners until we were heading back to the car.
Walking out of car park two you need to cross a bridge and walk down to the entrance of the park. At this point there is a board which has a list of walks you can choose to do, telling you how long on average it would take to complete it. You then continue on to catch a little boat which takes you across one of the lakes to where you can either walk around that area, or catch a bigger boat to take you to the lakes in the lower area. As we were doing one of the longer walks we decided to explore the upper part first.
The park is absolutely stunning and turning around every corner there were amazing sights to see. The water was so clear with lots of fish, there were also dragonflies and frogs around.
To start of with we were basically alone but as time passed and bus loads started to arrive we gradually began to be caught up with crowds.
A lot of up and down hill walking is involved but it is worth the effort . There were several people there walking the dogs which seemed a bit strange they are definitely more dog friendly in mainland Europe. We often saw dogs in tourist attractions and restaurants on our travels, which in Britain would mainly be frowned upon.
The lizard in this picture ran right in front of us.
At some points there were just holes in the ground where the water had worn away the soil making large plug holes for the water to run through.
There was water cascading and waterfalls everywhere.
We climbed these big steps which led up to a cave.
This is the tallest waterfall in the park.
We had a great day there and went home hot and weary from our exertions. On the way we decided to treat ourselves to an ice cream, a wee treat as they say. Arriving at our lodgings we passed the elderly couple who run it, who seem to spend the day sitting on their porch watching the world go by. We were in our room for about ten minutes when we had a knock at the door, the lady owner was there with two ice cream sundaes for us, which was absolutely lovely and went down a treat but I must admit we didn't really need it after our earlier ice cream.
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