Return to Croatia

After a fascinating and sobering visit to Bosnia & Herzegovina while on a 2012 tour to Slovenia, Croatia and Bosnia, we returned to Croatia to visit its gorgeous Plitvice Lakes National Park. Located in a very mountainous area, the park consists of roughly sixteen lakes connected by rivers, streams and loads and loads of waterfalls. The waterfalls mostly flow over travertine and they are every place you look. Although humans have lived in the area for thousands of years, the park was never fully conquered by them.

We rode in our tour coach to the edge of one of the lakes and then took a small ferry boat that was pulled across the lake (no motors allowed). From there, you walk on dirt paths next to the rivers, lakes and falls until the paths disappear and you are walking on suspended paths of wooden logs over the water.

At one point on the wooden path, the waterfalls were cascading down towards me on the one side and dropping way below me on the other. With railings being somewhat intermittent at this point, this made me a tad nervous. But I took a deep breath, said a few prayers and kept going. The whole park was incredibly beautiful. I kept taking photos and videos as we continued moving ever further down into the valley.

Finally we reached the valley floor where we were completely surrounded by the mountains, the waterfalls and the pools of water that then dove underground. How did we get out? A switchback trail up one of the mountains. It rose gradually, so it wasn’t too difficult to climb. We also stopped at several points along the way for more photos. At the top, we were met by our tour coach and taken to our hotel, which was located within the park. Unfortunately the restaurant within the park had burned down that morning, so we needed to leave the park to get some dinner.

The next day we headed for the capitol of Croatia, Zagreb. Settled by the Romans, Zagreb has been continually inhabited ever since. It was quite far inland in a mountainous region. In 1094, the settlement was named Zagreb and its Hungarian ruler began building its cathedral.

We took a walking tour of the Old Town. As we reached the Stone Gate, we found a lovely statue of Saint George and the Dragon. We continued up hill to Saint Mark’s Square. The centerpiece of the square is the 13^th century Saint Mark’s Church. The south portal contains several Gothic statues. The roof is decorated in colorful tiles.

The Croatian Parliament building is also located in the square. A short distance away is a plaque dedicated to Nikola Tesla, who was born in a small town in what eventually would become Croatia.

Now we were going downhill again. As we neared the Tower of Lotrscak, we encountered some girls dressed in the Croatian national costume selling flags and other souvenirs. I bought a flag for fun. It was May Day, which is like Labor Day in Europe. The tower dates to the 13^th century and was part of the fortified walls that once surrounded the part of the city that was at the top of this hill, including Saint Mark’s Square. A cannon is fired from the top of the tower at noon daily. This was a real cannon, not a recording of one.

From the wall at the foot of the tower, we had a great view of the lower part of the city. Going down some stairs from the wall, we found restaurants below to have some lunch. Then we went on to Jelacic Square where a political rally was taking place. The square was laid out in the 17^th century and was the main square of the city.

We spent the night in Zagreb and then headed back to Ljubljana the following morning. That was our last day of the tour.

Next time – the start of another 2012 trip – this time to the Baltics and Scandinavia. 2012 ended up being my last year of taking multiple trips in the same year. I changed jobs at the end of the year and the amount of vacation time I had coming to me each year also changed.