CROATIA: Plitvice Lakes National Park

Plitvice Lakes National Park, in central Croatia, is the country's largest and first national park, created in 1949.

It is 30,000 hectares (over 74,000 acres) for a total of 300 sq km  (116 sq miles).

It was granted UNESCO World Heritage Status in 1979.

For those of you that are Spaghetti western fans from the '60's you might recognize some of the scenery. A number of the movies, American and German, were filmed here. One they are particularly proud of is "The Treasure in Silver Lake." 

The park has a chain of terraced lakes, joined by 90 waterfalls through a limestone canyon. They cover a distance of about 8 km. The lakes are grouped by the Upper Lakes and the Lower Lakes.

The lakes are a crystal clear. This is because the water runs through limestone and is supersaturated with calcium carbonate. 

The colours range from azure, to green to grey or blue. The colours are constantly changing depending on the sun, time of day, angle of light, and the minerals or organisms in the water

The largest waterfall is Veliki Slap, at 78m tall. Needless to say, everyone wants their photo taken on this rock. 

It is quite a well used park and they limit the numbers to 10,000 visitors per day. Fortunately we went in October, so it wasn't as busy as a hot summer day. 

They have about 8 km boardwalks which you have to follow through the park. There are a number of well marked different connected trails so you can make your visit as long or as short as you want.  

They have done a good job of winding people through the park and cover great angles for photography. It is not rugged, but, it keeps the people contained and protects the natural wonder of the area. 

There is an electric boat on the largest lake, Kozjak, that links the 12 upper and 4 lower lakes. 

I wondered why they specified an "electric" boat. Then we took it in the morning and it was wonderful it was so quiet and just glided across the lake peacefully. 

We took advantage of the beautiful sunny day and had a great hike in the park. 

It could be argued that it was necessary to walk off those extra calories consumed for John's birthday.

Happy Birthday John.