Today we headed to Plitvice National Park in central Croatia. It is the oldest and largest national park in Croatia, founded in 1949.
We were here in mid-November with daytime temps in the 40s and a layer of fog that didn’t let up all day. So thick jackets and real shoes for all instead of our usual hiking gear of flip flops.
Parking was free in the off-season and the lots were almost empty. Entrance fees were reduced to 60 kuna ($8.89) an adult and 30 kuna ($4.44) for kids 7 to 18 years of age.
The first view point isn’t looking too good for us. Ha. Thankfully it clears up a lot once we get closer to the lakes.
Plitvice Lakes National Park is famous for its lakes arranged in cascades. The visible sixteen lakes appear due to confluences of small rivers and have natural travertine dams.
Dan and I actually visited Plitvice back in the summer of 2008. Such a different experience 11 years later here in the off season. Falling leaves, bare trees, thick fog, cold temps and only a few handfuls of people around.
Careful hiking on the wet wooden paths.
Only one of the four hiking trails were open for us today. The other three were undergoing maintenance.
Hi. It’s us. Thanks for the photo, Ava.
Hi, fish.
Woah. Lots of fish.
We didn’t see any mammals on our mid-day adventure but we did see great tits (yes, it’s an actual bird name), eurasian nuthatches and these mallards.
Luka watching the ducks.
The hike that was open today included a trail, boat ride and a tram ride as well.
First on the boat.
Saying hello to the ducks again.
Luka giving the evil eye to the other passengers who were barking at the ducks and feeding them gummy bears. “Not cool, people. Not. Cool.”
Thanks for being a good junior ranger wherever we go, buddy.
You know it’s cold when Dan busts out his beanie.
Waiting for the tram to pick us up.
Hurry. Up. We. Are. Freezing.
Didn’t expect a brand new Unimog to pick us up. Nice!
Found ourselves back in the dense fog while walking down a trail that will hopefully get us back to our van.
Mila pretending to be Santa Claus.
Quick selfie so we don’t fall too far behind on the hike because with this fog we might lose everyone.
Oh no.
Found them. Phew.
Only ones parked in the oversized vehicle parking lot.
Here is a little video I created for Instagram stories that I will share here as well. It will eventually get replaced with the official vlog Dan has yet to create.
Thanks for following along on our adventures,
Marlene
0 Comments