Day 2 in Croatia - What a day ! Caught the bus to Plitvicka Jezera National Park at 8.30. Took 2 hours to get there, met a lovely japanese couple on their honeymoon on the bus. Saw the real Croatia on the way, little old towns, abandoned farms, still a little war evidence around, the occasional houses/buildings that haven't been rebuilt & a couple of rusting old tanks. As we got closer to the park the scenery changed to forests & snow speckled mountains, very nice.
Arrived at the park & headed for the Info booth. Map in hand I found out that the upper part of the park was closed.... very disappointed. Using all the charm I possess I begged the park bus driver to take me to the top & I will walk back. "You must stick to the Road, it's too dangerous up there now" !" OK OK I said.... hehe
The Japanese couple jumped on as well, I tried to make them understand, it's a long way back & you don't have the right sort of shoes, but they came any way, up for the adventure.
On the way up my breath was taken away, this is the most beautiful (natural) place I've ever seen ! Arriving at the top we started exploring, the top lake was huge & on this clear fine morning reflected the surrounding mountains to perfection.
Venturing off the road, hey you knew I would, we found a nice big patch of snow, so had my pic taken. I then noticed some tracks in the snow.... very fresh big bear tracks, ok, so the warning was for a reason ! we moved on with a bit more pace. Decending down the trails we discovered more crystal clear lakes all connected by waterfalls, absoluty magic.
Some paths were blocked by snow or smashed by fallen trees, but we made our way around most obsticles. The old wooden walkways, made by hand, when they passed close to the falls were ultra slippery some even completly covered in ice. Going was slow, but so worth it.
I lingered for a while at one of the falls to contimplate just how amazing this place is & how fortunate I felt to be here. After a few mins I hurried to catch up with the Japanese kids, couldn't find them ? but saw their tracks in the snow every now & then so knew they were ok & hadn't been eaten by a bear. I tracked them back to the road (I so felt like a hunter looking for signs of my prey, "be very quiet, I'm hunting Japanese tourists" (Elma Fud style) hehe, so felt OK to leave them to their own private adventure.
I wound my way slowly down hill taking a huge amount of photos & some video as well. Every turn held a another amazing view, I only slipped the once, when I got too confident, another lesson learnt. The day was turning a bit cold so I headed back to the road to get back to the main/open part of the park. My friendly bus driver found me & took me back to the start.
It was around 3.00 by this stage & I still hadn't seen the big falls, so I hurried further downhill passing even more waterfalls & lakes. I reached a section of stairs that passed very close to the falls & slipped falling hard onto my bottom (my parents are reading this) I then slid down quite a few steps, coming to a stop when I grabbed a passing branch, whoa... that was a close one !
With renewed mega caution I carried on, not having seen another person since the driver dropped me of I realised just how serious this was, if I fell in I would probably not be found. I went back to road.
Made it to the big falls as daylight faded & the temp was dropping fast. would have liked to go down again but wisely, I think, I stayed on the high path. Made my way back to the bus stop with 20 mins to spare & found the honeymooners again shivering in the bus stop. We took photos of one another as I took swigs of my emergency Jack Daniels supply (liberated from the initial plane flight getting here). I've never been so happy to see a bus & was alseep within a few minutes in this warm haven.
My feet & legs will be sore tomorrow but, What a day !!!
