To the lakes it is!

Yesterday evening the wine got to me I guess coz when my alarm clock went of in the early morning, the only thing on my mind was to stay in bed for the rest of the day, but when I suddenly realized that today was the day of the lakes, I got a bit more enthusiastic, got over it, and a quick shower later I was ready to go. Not in the least interested in food, I just grabbed a sandwich so that I could enjoy it when I was more awake!

The bora winds which are so common for this country, were blowing fierce since last night, but now with a little bit of sunshine the winds are clearly not gone. Luckily we have a trusty bus that can handle things so at about 8am we were all ready to go and see some beautiful things.

2.5 hours into the drive we had a quick stop at a gas station for the use of the toilet as well as the much needed coffee break and I was a happy camper again. Together with the sandwich I grabbed earlier on, I was more than ready to tackle the day and a long day on the road it was going to be!

Unlike the past couple of days today we were driving alongside the highway in the direction of Zadar and Zagreb passing several vast areas like the national park of Krka which seems to have a lot of lush green trees, scrubs and so on with the usual rocks who pop op once in a while. In the far distance the mountains are never far away and it seems besides the many birds and small animals who live here there are also the larger ones like the lynx, the wolf and even the brown bear.

It must have been 1.5 hour later when we had another stop in Korenica for a quick lunch. We stopped at the roadhouse Macola and big was our surprise that the roadhouse houses also 2 sad looking brown bears. What the purpose of the animals are nobody knows, but we all wanted to take them with us and release them near the Plitvice falls and lakes where we arrived about half an hour later.

Upon our arrival, our guide for the walk, Stephania awaited us at the entrance and after a quick hello we could start our walking tour towards the big falls. But first we had a quick explanation of the area and its significance which is not only a touristic one.

After walking down a trail for about one kilometer, we arrived at Mozjak lake, which has surprisingly enough crystal clear blue water with ducks and all. You could even see the small fishes on the shores of the lake.

In order to get to the falls, we first had to take 2 small boats and lucky for us, the tourist season had not yet arrived at this place of interest. The weather wasn't all that good, maybe this had something to do with it is well coz we started our walk with a light drizzle and luckily during our boat trip we missed out on a light rain shower as well. Still dry and eager to go for the 5K or something hike, Stephania gathered all of us at the gift shop and as soon as we were all ready, some even with souvenirs included, we were on our merry way.

Needless to say, our group fell apart very quickly not only because we had a few slow walkers but there were a few enthusiastic photographers as well, me included! It didn't bother me all that much because it is hard to get the wrong turn here in this place and on my own, I enjoyed the walk watching all the small falls, the green plants and the stone mountains.

Apparently there are thee sorts of stones here at the NP of Plitvice which are dolomite, travertine and limestone, this together with the altitude of 600 meters and rain from the gods makes it an ideal combination for the hundreds of falls or "slaps" like they want to call it, which you can find here at the park.

Stephania told us that you can hike here for several days and never get bored, but unfortunately we don't have time for this, so we have to make due with a few hours and a small walk towards the main attraction of the NP and I must admit, when you arrive at the scene, it doesn't disappoint at all. The big waterfall or Veliki Slap as it is called by the locals is just huge, with its hight of 78 meter it is really impressive!

Sadly enough we had to leave all these beautiful landscapes behind us and slowly walked towards the entrance and carpark again were we arrived around 5PM. Luckily the drive to our stay tonight wasn't that long. We were going to the rural place of Otočac which weirdly enough reminded me at a village in Austria.

The fierce bora winds were back again and the air felt so cold that a walk towards the center of the village was out of the question. Instead I just relaxed in my room till it was time for dinner. Since we were in a remote place with not too much eating facilities, we had dinner at the hotel and this wasn't too bad either when you were with a group of friends. Needless to say the evening went by so quickly that early hours appeared and most of our group decided it was better to catch a few hours of sleep than none at all.