Well, we survived what I have been the most nervous about for the whole trip: driving in Europe. We managed to navigate signs in German, Czech, Croatian, and Italian over the past few weeks. Czech wins for being the most confusing (the confusion mostly thanks to Google maps not having the best information on their street names…) and Germany for having the most polite driver, even when they are passing you at 150 km/h. These three weeks were a whirlwind of breathtaking cathedrals and castles, windy and scenic drives, ancient architecture, and a whole lot of local food, coffee and wine. While we may have overloaded ourselves over the three weeks, I’ll spare overloading you in tales and photos and just focus on one place per post! I’ll start with one of my new favorite countries, the stunning Croatia and its Lake Plitvice. (It sounds nothing like it’s spelled and no I still can’t say it correctly)

After seven hours of driving, with sore legs and sore glutes, we pulled into our little AirBNB, a mere 1.5 kilometers from one of the gates into Lake Plitivice. This is a national park where the lakes slowly cascade one into the other, creating tiers of waterfalls stretched over several kilometers through a canyon. It was a place I had seen in some internet list before and put on my bucket list, as you all should as well. It is a place of unreal beauty.

 

There was still a few hours of daylight left after we settled in so we decided walking to the park was reasonable, and our legs needed some stretching. Arriving in the evening was perfect. We bought a two day pass so we could return in the morning and started at the north end of the falls, opposite from the largest waterfall. It’s quite organized to handle the crowds of people it gets during these summer months. There is a wooden walking path snaking over the lakes, along the ravine, and even down some of the milder cascading waterfalls. This is super cool. Walking right next to and even on top of a waterfall, going down right along with it, is just something you don’t do too often.
I kept losing Oliver on these parts because the child in him was so fascinated watching the water he turned into a snail each time. The snail combined with my determination to get to the BIG waterfall that evening, led to us pushing our luck on making the last bus – the bus that would save us from over an hour of walking in the dark through the woods back to our little abode. Thank goodness the park was nearly empty, because we were forced to cap off our hike with a 15 minute run back up the pathways and then an attempted sprint up the cliff back to the bus stop. Oliver snapped a few photos that look like a very sad attempt at a lulu lemon ad of me running through the park. This was when we were still thinking “oh what a fun lovely run along these gorgeous lakes” and not huffing and puffing and cursing our lack of intense cardiovascular activity on that last race against the clock up the cliff. We made it on time, but the bus was thirty minutes late. Go figure.

The next day we returned and experienced it again alongside the crowds. It’s a bit different when you are moving along in the throng of families and tour groups. You try to take in the sites while dodging way ward children, selfies, and the more professional tripod.

They are very insistent about staying on the path and not getting in the water. There are signs routinely reminding you of this, and while it seems to not be monitored, any tour guide who is bound to walk by in a few minutes will promptly scold you into getting out.

Oliver and I had enough self-restraint to not be the ones getting shamed back onto the path, but we witnessed it. And I’ll admit it, there is part of me that cannot stand this rule. The water is so inviting and I start to think “I’m just one person, so really how dirty am I going to make it?”. Sometimes I crave stumbling upon these areas in a bygone age before there were crowds and the rules they bring, and I could indulge the whims of my heart. But alas, I’m not, and then I remember that the rules are why this place remains so pristine. (or at least why they still have fish*) I have no more right than anyone else to be in that water, and I doubt I am the only one who shares those whims. We all should have a right to enjoy it. So I suck up the fact that enjoying this level of natural beauty comes with a price. I guess not cannonballing into the water seems like a pretty small price to pay. I mean just look at these pictures. If I was a better photographer you may be more impressed but just google it for some of the high quality pics and then even the staunch Libertarians will accept some government restriction for this thing of beauty.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After walking along with the crowd for awhile on the southern end of the park, near the biggest waterfall, I noticed a little set of stairs winding up the cliff face. We took it and found ourselves away from the crowds and on a scenic hiking trail along the top of the cliff, it was here we found the best viewpoints and were able to sit and soak in the magnificence that rushed before us. Sometimes you got to explore off the main path, which is really what this trip is all about.

 

*Apparently the restriction came about because the sunscreen was washing off people’s skin and killing the fish in the lakes. They are considering lifting the restriction if a sunscreen is developed that will not harm the fishies. Fair enough

 

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