Plitvice National Park

It's pouring buckets and that settles the question, I have to do Plitvice NP today. There's no point walking around Zadar in the rain. It might be raining less in the NP because it's inland, and besides, water is the main feature of the park and more water should enhance the beauty. That's the theory anyway.

Plitvice is on the road between Zadar and Zagreb, slightly closer to Zadar, under 3 hours by bus. This part of Croatia was occupied by rebel Serbs during the war, not for the NP, but because it controls the road between Zagreb and Zadar. In fact the first two casualties, one on each side, were in a shootout near the NP. Along the way I kept a lookout for remnants of the war. I think I spotted some abandoned houses and some warning signs, perhaps about land mines? I am not sure of the second. One would think that 12 years after cessation of hostilities, the areas near the main road would have been cleared.

However I did witness an odd incident. At a rural bus stop, the driver picked up a woman yet studiously ignored an old man in neat country garb who was trying to flag the bus down. The man waved his stick and yelled but it was as if he were a ghost and didn't exist. Why did the driver do that? Was he one of the hated "others"? Was he the well-known local crazy? Another little mystery.

Fortunately even though the rebels trashed the buildings in the park, they did little damage to the natural environment and the park is open to tourism again. It's one of the biggest tourist magnets in Croatia. There were tour buses a-plenty in the car parks. But the park is big enough to absorb all of them. You could easily spend days enjoying the trails. There are hotels in the complex. Unfortunately I have to make do with one day.

Like Krka, the landscape is formed by limestone. Travertines, sink holes and waterfalls abound. In addition, the lakes are beautiful milky shades of green and blue, depending on the minerals (rock flour) suspended in them and the angle of the sunlight.

Where the water is not churned up, it is crystal clear and you can plainly see fish and calcified wood in the lake.

Wildlife here enjoy a tranquil life and these ducks were quite unafraid of visitors, though of course one is not allowed to feed, let alone molest, them.

I guess the ducks are vegetarian and don't eat the fish.

Water, water everywhere.

Isn't that an incredible colour?

More cascades.

I

'm glad I went in a downstream direction because this is a good finale.

And finally, a map of the lakes.

The clouds had been looking extremely ominous and on the way back, the rain started sheeting down.

Today has been the top experience of the trip so far. I snapped pictures with abandon because the scenery was absolutely terrific. Fortunately I have brought enough memory cards to see me through the trip.

I decided to give Croatian pizza another chance for dinner. No go, still not tasty. I did an experiment: first I removed the cheese, that tasted better. Next I removed the some of the sauce and that was an improvement too. Extrapolating, I can predict that if I remove the topping and the crust, I will end up with the best Croatian pizza of all.