Plitvice Lakes
Plitvice Lakes deserves its own post. I was a bit skeptical of Plitvice as a worthwhile stop since Seattle has great access to beautiful nature views, but Plitvice proved itself to be incredibly remarkable.
We took a bus to get to our AirBnb which was located in Mukinje. Getting bus tickets was made simple thanks to the FlixBus app (which I would definitely recommend). There was also a “autobusni kolodvor” conveniently nearby Zagreb. Also, I only realized much later that it literally translates to “bus station”.
There was a bit of daylight left, so we decided to try our luck and see if we could get tickets to the lakes for that afternoon. From our AirBnb, we walked through a wooded trail that I thought felt magical, like Narnia? without the snow.
It turned out to be great timing, as we had just enough time to walk the upper loop trail. After a short walk down from the entrance, I was completely stunned by just how crisp and translucent the lake was. You could see straight to the bottom and watch as fish and also crawfish (who were affectionally called Mr. Krabs) meandered through crystal clear water.
Map of the different lakes.
There is a well designed ferry system that takes visitors across a lake to the rest of the trails where planked paths sat only a few inches above trickling streams. There is something incredibly beautiful and rejuvenating about clean water splashing over moss covered boulders.
this wooden post made it look like the picture is warped. Nothing is photoshopped, I promise
MR. KRABS!!! And yes, I think it’s a crayfish sorry
We loved the feeling of walking right over the water
Waterfall, aka, SLAP
At the end of the trail, you can choose to take a walking trail to finish the loop or hop onto a shuttle service that conveniently takes you back to the start.
The next day, we slept in a bit since it was forecasted to rain, but it turned out to only be a light drizzle. Going back in the rain, the landscape changed quite dramatically as clear wanters became a deep teal. There was also a larger waterfall along the lower trails, but it was still the lakes that were the most eye captivating.
A classic view of the lower lakes
Other things of note: a cave you can walk up through, mediocre lunch (chicken very dry, but soup was great, also can’t complain it’s a national park), a really cute stray(?) dog that showed up for a picture, dino nuggets!!, and great pizza!
This dog showed up out of nowhere! and then posed for us
POV: you’re eating at Plitvice
Sleepy, waiting for the bus to take us to Zadar!