Plitvice

Every so often, God seems to spend a little extra time on an area of the world just to wow us humans. Certainly Yosemite comes to mind as one of those special places. The Grand Canyon is another. Well what ever God did in Yosemite was just the warm-up act for Plitvice. This where all the stops have been pulled out to create an unrivaled natural national treasure. The national park of Plitvice is built around a stunning water feature of cascading lakes that have been damned up by natural accumulation of travertine through the deposit of calcium over centuries of time. We rented a car and drove for about 3 hours from Split to reach this special place. Once we arrived, we boarded a shuttle train up to the top of the first main lake. It took us the rest of the day hiking down well laid out paths and across boardwalks from one lake to the next. Each lake emptying into the other by stunning waterfalls cascading over the steep travertine. The water is so clear, you can always see the bottom of the lakes no matter how deep they are. Trout look like they are suspended in air swimming around fallen trees that lay on the lakebeds. This is a land for digital photography, were you are allowed to take as many photos as your memory card can hold. You begin to wonder how may photos of these incredible falls you need until you see the next one and your finger migrates once again to the button on the top of the Nikon. If you think I have oversold this place, I haven’t. Yeah it is that beautiful.