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| Plitvice Lakes National Park, Croatia |
I almost don’t want to write about this part of the trip, because if I write about it, I’ll be encouraging you to visit a pristine place, and I like that it’s relatively unknown. Plitvice Lakes is a national park in Croatia and has been in existence since 1949, but they haven’t even had 2 million visitors yet; their 1 millionth visitor arrived in 2011. In 2011 alone, Yellowstone had over 3 million visitors and the Grand Canyon had over 4 million visitors. Plitvice Lakes is stunningly beautiful, and it still looks like the pictures on its website, unlike other destinations where fellow tourists are thick as ants on a cookie crumb. We were able to walk for an hour at a time without encountering more than 10 people, or thankfully, any bears. There is a population of endangered brown bears that lives in the park, but I think they keep to the more densely forested areas away from people.
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| Plitvice Lakes National Park, Croatia |
In the 90s, Croatia was part of Yugoslavia and embroiled in a bitter civil war. When the war ended, Croatia, Bosnia Herzegovina, Slovenia, The Republic of Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia and Kosovo emerged. There are actually still unmarked landmines throughout the country; to avoid catastrophe stick to well-marked areas that have already been cleared. War tends to deter tourists, and they’re just beginning to come back, even amid the warnings to watch out for land mines. Many visitors, especially those from cruise ships, tend to stick to the Adriatic coast and avoid the interior of the country. Plitvice Lakes is not only located in the middle of the country, but also the middle nowhere.
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The wooden paths went right over the water; visible beneath my feet.
Plitvice Lakes National Park, Croatia |
Getting to Croatia seemed easy enough, but we got hung up at the border crossings. Our route took us from Austria, through Slovenia, and finally into Croatia. To drive in Austria and Slovenia you need two separate vignettes; window stickers valid for a period of time that serve as road taxes. Even though we had vignettes though there were still hefty tolls on the roads; road tripping through Europe is not for the weak of mind, stomach, and wallet. At the Croatia border we had to go through customs, and we got our passports stamped—YES! Instead of an airplane, the stamp had a car on it since we drove to the country. We visited on the 21st of May, and at that time Croatia wasn’t a member of the EU, hence the official border crossing. They officially joined the EU on the 1st of July and now has fluid borders with other EU member states.
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| Crystal clear water at Plitvice Lakes National Park, Croatia |
Croatian food is AMAZING!!! The region has been influenced by so many cultures throughout the ages, and the food reflects this. There were Greek and Turkish influences with a hint of Mediterranean on a base of more continental fare like pork and game meat. We had a baklava for dessert that was drenched with perfectly sweet honey, and it was to die for.
We spent the entire day (9 hours) in the Plitvice Lakes Park. The trail took us along the top of the river gorge and down to the water level. Sometimes the wooden-plank path would over a lake or waterfall and we could see the water rushing right below our feet. I could go on, but the pictures really speak for themselves.
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| Plitvice Lakes National Park, Croatia |
I would love to return to Croatia to explore more of the beautiful country and its delectable cuisine. Even though doing so will increase the touristy aspects of the country, I urge you to go to Croatia and spend more than the few hours allocated to a cruise ship shore excursion. It will be worth it. Just watch out for landmines and bears; stick to the well-marked path.
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