Plitvice Lakes National Park

 


Wow!  What a day!  We are staying in a hotel in the middle of the Plitvice Lakes National Park. We began at 9:00 with our local guide explaining on a big map about what our day was going to look like. It started out cool this morning (13 degrees) and we were grateful as it was perfect for hiking. This park is one of the oldest and largest National parks in Croatia. It is also on the UNESCO World Heritage list due to its outstanding and picturesque series of tufa lakes, caves, connected by waterfalls.

We took a shuttle up to the highest lakes and then hiked down 5 km along the lakes, admiring the beautiful colors of the lakes and the numerous waterfalls. As we walked our guide used the whisper headsets to describe the geology behind the formations. 

Just as we were close the finishing the upper portion we had a mishap.  Margaret tripped on a tree root and went down hard, dislocating her shoulder! 😫 Our TD and guide were very prompt in arranging help.  The park rangers came to take Margaret out to the hotel.  An ambulance came to the hotel and the EMTs were able to “pop” her shoulder back into place.  She has her arm in a sling and is taking pain killers but hopefully she will be fine.  

In the meantime, the rest of us carried on with our TD since the guide accompanied Margaret.  We got to the end of the upper lakes where we got on a boat and cruised across one of the lakes to an area where there were bathrooms and a couple of cafeterias.  We had a quick lunch and then continued our hike along the lower lakes, another four km.  The final km was all uphill and by then it was 23 degrees,  plenty warm!  It was also VERY crowded so it did test our patience but it was all worth it!!

We took the shuttle back to the hotel and arrived at 3:30.  A cold beer certainly tasted good after our 9 km hike!  

We all enjoyed the 3 hours to rest or socialize until we left again at 6:30 to go for dinner.  This time we headed up the mountain on a narrow, winding road.  Steve, our bus driver, is a very competent driver.  

Our dinner was in a unique restaurant and we were served very flavourful local cuisine.  We arrived back at the hotel at 9:00 pm.































































































 

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