Croatia Day 1-Plitvice Lakes National Park (Plitvicka Jezera)

So as mentioned in my Vienna post, I was invited on a trip to Croatia with Oliver (my host in Vienna) and a group of his friends. The journey started on Wednesday night when I hopped on a train to Maribor, Slovenia. The group would meet me there on their way to Croatia and give me a ride. The train got in sometime around midnight and since not much was open at that time I grabbed a Kebab and waited outside the station. Then I got a text from Oliver with bad news. Two of the people had forgotten their passports after having already drove about 2 hours. One of the cars would have to go back and the other car would meet me and we all would wait in Maribor. So the trip started off with some unexpected challenges but after the group arrived, grabbed a bite to eat, and we toured around Maribor a bit we were back on the road by 3am. This actually worked out OK because it meant we would arrive to Plitvice Lakes National Park around 6am, just before the gates opened at 7.

I slept a bit on the car ride but was certainly pretty tired when we got to the park. The weather was much colder than expected and so we all bundled up and walked over to the main attraction. The park wasn’t open yet and no one was around so we just walked through to the viewing area. What was saw is pictured above.

So this spot is sort of the main attraction but is really just a small part of the whole park. After viewing this for about 1 minute we were told we had to leave since the park wasn’t open. At this point half the group decided they were going to continue on to our final destination, Zadar. The other half, including myself, wanted to stay to hike one of the trails through the park. I was so happy others wanted to as I couldn’t imagine getting all the way there and not spending more than a minute enjoying it. We chose to do the shortest hike which was marked as 2-3 hours. This one didn’t hit the spot shown above but it was filled with just as many beautiful sights and we were not disappointed.

The entire trail is a boardwalk so you are literally right in the middle of everything and for the majority of the hike you’re surrounded by crystal clear aquamarine water. It’s really hard to believe that this place is real and I found myself pondering over the existence of a higher being. If you’re like me and haven’t come to a decision on what you believe, a place like this will push you closer to believing that there must be something out there greater than all of us. Places like this seem so intentionally designed.

I don’t really know what more to say so I will let the photos do the talking. They really don’t do the place justice but they serve their purpose. The only downside to the visit to Plitvice is that swimming is not allowed and it truly is torturous to be surrounded by PERFECT swimming holes and ledges made for jumping.

By the end of our hike we were all pretty tired but we grabbed a strudle on the way out to refuel and continued the drive to Zadar where we had rented a house. A special thank you to Oliver who drove the whole way, hiked 3+ hours on no sleep and then drove some more. I felt like a jerk every time I dozed off in the car but it was close to impossible to keep my eyes open!

Part II will be coming soon.