We ate breakfast
at the hotel, then our driver Mitja picked us up to transport us a few miles to
the park. Plitvice Lakes National Park is one of the oldest (founded in 1949)
and largest (covering 73,350 acres) national parks in Croatia. It was added to
the UNESCO World Heritage list in 1979 because of its outstanding natural beauty
and its travertine dams. The national park is famous for its interconnected
series of 16 lakes arranged in cascades that result from the confluence of
several small waterways and subterranean karst rivers. Natural travertine
(tufa) dams formed by layers of moss, algae, and bacteria continue to grow with
time, separating the various lakes into upper and lower clusters. The lakes are
renowned for their distinctive colors, (ranging from azure to green, gray, or
blue) that change depending on the minerals or organisms in the water and the
angle of sunlight. The highest waterfalls are the Large Waterfall (255 feet) at
the end of the Lower Lakes, and Galovacki Buk at the Upper Lakes (82 feet).
After our 4-hour
trek throughout the park (including the boat and bus rides), we had enough time
to enjoy lunch at Licka Kucka Restoran, which is located adjacent to the
park. Then, we began our journey
from Croatia into Slovenia, with the Hotel Slon in Ljubljana as our final
destination. To break up the long journey, Mitja stopped twice, the first of
which was a brief stroll through the village of Rastoke, about 30 miles from
Plitvice.
