We met the group in the lobby of Hotel Dubrovnik to begin our first full day together. Leaving the city behind we were soon surrounded by rolling hills dotted with clusters of tile roofed villages. On our way to Plitvicka Jezera (Plitvicka Lakes) we stopped briefly at a military museum to view some of the equipment used in the war. The jet fighter is a Russian made mig 21, the armored vehicle in the foreground is a tractor covered with steel from a local ship building facility. Walking around in front of the tanks gave us an eerie feeling. We were grateful we have never witnessed them invading our city.
Back in the vans, we soon arrived at our destination. Plitvicka is the oldest and largest of Croatia's national parks established in 1949.
There were many people both Croatian and tourists visiting the park. Initially, we followed the crowds down to the lower lakes while our guide explained how the 16 lakes were formed. The lakes are constantly changing as the water flows through them. The walls that separate the lakes are created by the waterfalls and made of tufa or Travertine, a sedimentary rock created from calcium carbonate. The calcium carbonate in the water gives it the spectacular turquoise hue. We hiked down to visit the base of the largest waterfall then retraced our steps to the top of the lower lakes where we enjoyed a catered box lunch and left the crowds behind as we began our hike around the upper lakes. Hiking around the large lake we marveled at the early fall color of the smoke bush and were entertained by the diverse flora along the trail. We wound our way back to more falls, Big Splasher and Little Splasher before boarding a bus-train hybrid for a ride down the windy, narrow road to the parking lot.
It was a short ride from the park to our accommodation in a local village on the Korana river. Our apartment was upstairs in a wooden house with some creative joinery which Mike admired. We all met in a local home for a satisfying dinner of bean stew before turning in for the night. Looking forward to our cycling adventure the next day.
