Plitvice National Park

Who doesn't know the phenomenal scenery from the film adaptation of Karl May's 'Der Schatz im Silbersee'? However, the film was not shot in the Indian hunting grounds in the western United States, but, like the Winnetou films, in former Yugoslavia and today's Croatia. Today, the Plitvice Lakes are Croatia's largest national park and, along with the holiday resorts and the historic city of Dubrovnik, also the biggest tourist attraction.

This fact also makes visiting the park a certain challenge, because the tourist crowds that are shuttled along the paths and wooden walkways every day during the holiday season are gigantic. Since some friends had already given us very good tips in this regard, our strategy was to go to the park as soon as we arrived and stay until closing time at 8:00 p.m. when the large crowds are already gone. A hotel right at the park entrance is part of the basic preparations. The next morning, it means getting up very early and starting the visit to the rest already at 7:00 a.m. And that's exactly what we did, and we thank everyone for the valuable advice, considering what was about to happen around 9:00 a.m. Another stroke of luck was that coincidentally, acquaintances were in the park on the day we arrived and they gave us their day tickets for the evening. The cost is around CHF 35 per person and there are no two-day passes available. Of course, the next day we bought our day passes and only used them for a good two and a half hours, so we believe we fulfilled our obligations.

The park consists of cascading lakes, of which 16 are visible. Apparently there are also underground lakes. The lakes are separated by natural barriers formed of travertine, and the water always finds new paths to the underlying waters. As a result, the face of the landscape is constantly changing. The result is a breathtaking landscape with thousands of small and larger waterfalls (the largest, Veliki Slap, 47m). The paths lead along the crystal-clear lakes or over wooden walkways across the barriers, so that you have completely new perspectives every few minutes. One of the most impressive and beautiful things I have ever seen. In the evening of the first day, we decided to visit the upper part with several cascades and also took a hiking trail high up in the gorge. The special bonus was that at this time we were practically alone, and in the end, completely alone. However, you can only reach the upper part by electric ferries, which had of course already stopped running by the time we returned. So we had to walk a short distance back and add a few extra kilometers on a park road around the lake, but it was more than worth the effort. In the end, it was pitch dark and we just made it to the hotel buffet for a late dinner.

The next morning, we also visited the lower part with the big waterfall, more boardwalks over the cascades, and a panoramic trail along the ridge of the gorge. Fantastic. We were already done shortly after nine, and that was a good thing. Back at the entrance, we saw the crowds waiting for the shuttles, and it had already become somewhat irritating beforehand. As is usual nowadays, we saw bearded men with their Barbie girlfriends who had to take pictures of the Barbies in 27 positions before each natural highlight, then themselves, then themselves as a couple... Then the radiation-saturated Asian teenagers who were blasting the national park with a Bluetooth speaker in their backpacks, and the self-confident modern individuals, families, travel groups, giants, dwarfs, jumble of everything, who are basically alone in the world and always claim the entire available space for themselves. But the most worrisome thing was that even in this wonderful and protected ecosystem, plastic bottles were floating in the reeds and litter was being thrown away on the paths. I think a full day in the park at peak times would bring out a considerable potential for violence in me. So it's time to go!

The high frequency of visitors is also the reason why swimming in the lakes has not been allowed for a long time. I can hardly imagine anything more beautiful than jumping into one of these turquoise blue lakes, but if a few hundred sweaty and sun cream-bathed visitors did that every day, the system would probably collapse in no time. Let's ignore the downsides and take a wonderful impression and many photos of a truly wonderful place.