The Lakes District

Yesterday was sort of a taking care of business day for us.  No photos were taken.  It was our last morning in Split, so we headed down to the Riva for some breakfast.  We then packed our things and said goodbye to our host Ivan, and his friend David drove us to the Split airport.  On the way, he pointed out a 1700 year old Roman aquaduct, which is still in use today.

Once at the airport, we headed to the car rental desk to pick up the Volkswagen Golf that we had reserved.  They informed us that they upgraded us to a larger vehicle for no charge.  We waited in the lot, thinking about what kind of car we might be upgraded to, the 3 of us deciding we would probably be getting a VW Jetta or maybe a Passat.  The driver then pulled up in a brand new black Mercedes B-Class.

Holy shit, we get a Mercedes?

The valet informed us part of the upgrade is because we requested an automatic transmission, and this Mercedes was one of the few they had.  We did a quick inspection, loaded up the Benz and were on our way up the coast to Zadar.  Kelly wanted to stop in Šibenik to look at the UNESCO St. James Cathedral.  When we got there it was difficult to navigate, there was no parking and rain, thunder and lightning, so we decided to move along.  We further headed up the coast and in no time approached Zadar, our home town for the next 2 nights.  After a bit of a stressful drive around town, we finally found our apartment, which is big and spotless, brought to you by purple Ikea furniture.  After settling in, we grabbed a cab to the old town where we had a very late dinner, then headed home for bed.

Today, we got up and hit the road for Plitvice Lakes National Park.  It's one of those natural phenomena that always shows up on "Most Amazing Natural Wonders" lists.  It was an easy 2 hour drive from Zadar, and thanks to clear signage we parked the car, bought our tickets and walked in.

WARNING:  Lots of photos of waterfalls ahead.

For those who are unaware, Plitvice Lakes National Park is Croatia's oldest and most popular national park.  Like Dubrovnik, it was crowded with tour buses full of people, poking their dumb heads into a great shot you've spotted.

There are 16 terraced lakes in the canyon which are connected by a series of waterfalls.  There are several different hiking routes you can take around the lakes, from a short 2 hour hike connected by a tram, to a 6 - 8 hour one.

SCIENCE! - The amazing colour of the water is due to a few factors, including the high calcium carbonate content in the water, which turns everything to limestone - there is no mud on the lakebeds, it is all rock.  

Because the limestone is such a 'soft' rock, the water easily cuts through and forms new paths - locals brag that you never see the same park two days in a row.

Many of the paths don't have safety rails, and bridges are made from meager planks, but we all agreed it was such a cool authentic experience.  We also bemoaned the fact that if these lakes existed in North America, it would only take 1 asshole to not follow the rules and fall in the water, then sue the park and the country, and then the government would rope off trails and build invasive safety rails.

The cave area also is the home to over 100 different species of birds and butterflies, 20 different kinds of bats and the increasingly rare European brown bear.  The lakes are also full of fish (we even saw a snake in the water.  Judy was unimpressed).  We walked along the high path for a good hour, which eventually lead down a steep hill to the lakes themselves.

After a planked bridge, we came to a boat launch, with the park's electricity-powered passenger boats gliding silently across the still and creaseless lake.  We got on one of the boats and enjoyed the peaceful ride and scenery.  We remarked how neat it was to go from our apartment in Zadar with its Mediterranean climate to Plitvice with its mountain climate.  We could feel the chill of the fall air and happily breathed the mountain air.

Once on the other side of the lake, we were encountered with a plank staircase which was literally built over the waterfalls - if you got too close to the one side, you would get wet.  It was nice feeling the water's spray on your face.  The leaves have just started to change, and we all imagined had we come a few weeks later, the colours would have been magnificent.

Park rangers say that the colours of the lake waters change depending on the time of day/season.  We saw emerald green and azures.  We were happy that the lakes are as vibrant as they are in photos.

One more fact about the War in '92 (I know, I said it was over.  I lied - it is here that the first shots were fired and the first casualty - a park police officer.  The Serbs held the park for the duration of the war, and it became lush and overgrown until the war ended and all the tourists came back.

After getting plenty more shots of more of the lakes, we headed back to the boats for our transfer back to the lower lakes.  A note on the fashions seen - people were wearing everything from full on hiking gear to a 3 piece suit, to short shorts.  It's not a difficult hike, but it's not easy either.  I suppose whatever you are most comfortable in.

We had a bite of lunch at the boatside bistro, then headed back up the trail.  5 hours after we had started, we were back at the car and ready to head back to Zadar, thrilled and impressed by what Plitvice had to offer.

We had read that on the road to and from Plitvice, keep an eye out for bombed out houses, as these residences belonged to Serbs who fled during the war and never returned.  We drove through one of these villages - all the houses were in ruins and the church had been destroyed.

Once back in Zadar, we changed our shoes and decided to hit the old town for dinner.  Kelly had read about a very unique feature of the Zadar seafront - a sea organ.  More about that later.

The old town is walled into a peninsula right on the Adriatic.  It was built by the Romans and housed many churches and monastaries.

With its beautiful old world charms and polished pedestrian-only walkways, it reminded us of Dubrovnik, but smaller and less crowded.

World War II hit Zadar hard, and they had to quickly rebuild the town, complete with a boring and ugly cement seafront.  In 2005 a Croatian engineer designed and built the Sea Organ.  Under the long flat steps of the marina, he installed many polyethylene tubes in a resonating cavity which interact with the waves and wind to create random but harmonic sounds.  It was as cool as you would imagine.

We watched the waves and the sunset and listened to the ocean's music.

Soon, the sun was down and it was time for us to find some dinner.  We ended up at an Italian place nestled in an old Roman courtyard, and after our fill of pizza and beer, called a cab and turned in for the night, charmed by the nature we had experienced.