Pltivice Lakes National Park was added to the UNESCO World Heritage register in 1979 and is one of the oldest in Southeast Europe. Pltivice Lakes is the largest national park in Croatia with 16 waterfalls and is the nations pride and joy.
But first, the road to Pltivice Lakes took us through Medak village. The Medak Pocket was the site of a military operation in September 1993 by the Croatian Army against the Serbians who had self-proclaimed control of the area. I'm no war historian so I won't go into detail but the remnants of the attack can still be seen in Medac with many of the houses being left with pock marks from the bullets.
You can see from the photo below, the yellow building has been restored but the building to the left still remains pockmarked as evidence of the fighting. I can’t even imagine how frightening it would be to have this occurring on your doorstep.
After lunch we arrived in Pltivice Lakes National Park and spent three hours exploring the park including a couple of boat trips on the lakes and about 6 km of walking. The sun gods were shining down on us yesterday. We were told that only 1 in 10 trips were in in good weather so we were extremely lucky to have a sunny day for the lakes. We were told that only 1 in 10 days provided this kind of weather and to prove it I woke up to rain this morning. (I would have loved to have spent another hour or so in bed dozing to the sound of the rain but being on a tour you get up when you're told. Most days the wake up call is between 6 and 7 am.)
The falls were not at their heaviest as Spring has long been and gone. But the lakes were lovely with their blue / green waters so crystal clear that you could see to the very bottom. I love being in nature but again one of the cons of a tour is that the pace is reasonably fast. Photo stops needed to be very quick and there was no time for quietly appreciating the beauty of the lakes. The timber footbridges were narrow in places making single file a necessity for the throngs of visitors - I would hate to see how busy it would be in the Summer peak season!
Timber footbridges in Plitvice Lakes National Park
Caves in Plitvice Lakes National Park
It was a great day and would definitely like to come back on my own time to fully appreciate the national park and lakes.
One of the 16 waterfalls
