Plitvice Lakes National Park

Plitvice Lakes National Park is a 2 hour bus ride from Zagreb. The guide books all indicated that this was a Croatian jewel and worth the special effort to get there. Mike and I are getting proficient (well adequate) at finding our way around. There are a number of bus companies that will take you there and they all have different designated departure and return times. The guide books warned that it is easy to get there but if the bus is full on the way back or the driver chooses not to stop, you may be stranded overnight. Could this be? We opted for an early return bus and false security.

We met a delightful Australian couple, Denise and Barry, on the bus to Plitvice and the time passed quickly. Once there, a park bus drove us up past about 4 levels of lakes all connected by wide waterfalls some as tall as 70 meters. From there we walked back down about 2 hours on a well maintained path of  packed earth or more impressive rough hewn boards past torrential waterfalls, deceptively peaceful lakes, rushing streams. We crossed over cascading lakes and gushing streams on board bridges or stone stairs. It was a beautiful Sunday and there were thousands of visitors all there to enjoy the scenery and fall weather. The guide book also recommended October for the "deciduous woods enriched with fabulous autumn color". The leaves were brown or still green.  However the color of the water was an exquisite blue green from the limestone continuously dissolving and precipitating. The floor of the water beds was a pale putty color and reflected the light off the bottom back up through the water. There were schools of fish all swimming happily with no fear of being caught. Azaleas grow wild here and I can only imagine the beautiful color of the park in spingtime.

We were dutifully early for our homebound bus. When it arrived we found out it was a different bus company so we settled in for another 45 minute wait. We all made it safely on the correct bus and back to Zagreb to pack for our return trip to Dubrovnik the next day.

We were pleased to find out that Denise and Barry were on the same flight. They are experienced travelers had been on vacation for several weeks including Paris. They shared great advice and some Paris Metro tickets they still had. They assured us that the Parisiennes will appreciate our attempts at greeting them and will be very helpful. So we will smile and greet everyone with "Bon Jour". At least that is the current plan.

Denise and Barry bravely travel and often book hotels and flights or even change their itinerary on route. That's experience-bred confidence!

We all shared a cab from the airport to Dubrovnik, stored their suitcases at Tiha 9 and gave them a brief orientation to the old town.  We met up with them them after several days and had wine at our now favorite D'Vino's bar and dinner at the Tah Mahal featuring Bosnian food. We said good-bye regretfully. Maybe we will meet up with them in the future.

Hope you are all well.