National Park Plitvice Lakes

The next two days are relatively uneventful. We drive early in the morning to Ljubljana, return the rental car, then walk to the bus station and book tickets for the next bus to Zagreb. Upon arrival in Zagreb, we search for and find our accommodation, do some shopping, and cook something. The next morning, we pick up the rented car in Zagreb and drive towards Plitvice Lakes National Park. There we have booked a small holiday apartment for 3 nights and tomorrow we want to explore and hike around the famous national park with the Plitvice Lakes.

As so often when we have planned a day trip, the alarm clock rings early. 5.30 in the morning, and that on vacation... We don't really enjoy getting up at this time either, but the experiences we have made in the last few months always wake us up early. So today we won't regret getting up early either. But step by step.

Since the national park opens its gates at 7 o'clock and is said to fill up relatively quickly during the day, we wanted to be overpunctual. Planned and done. With overcast skies, we are the first paying visitors of the day. On the Internet, we have selected a route for our exploration of the park today that deviates slightly from the usual paths, but seems just right for us. We start with the shorter tourist routes while the park is still sparsely visited, walk around the large lake on foot, and avoid the boats populated by Asians that shuttle between the shores of the lake.

When we take a break around noon, we realize how crowded it has become. It's hard to imagine that it will be even more crowded during the peak season in summer.... Thanks to our early wake-up, we have already seen all the highlights by noon and start the return journey after a long break.

In the meantime, the sun has come out and we treat ourselves to an ice cream. After almost 17 kilometers, it's about time for that.

I won't waste a word on the landscape at this point, but let the pictures speak for themselves ;)

Actually, we wanted to visit the national park again the following day, but due to acute tiredness, we could not motivate ourselves enough. The 17 degrees and the overall gray, rainy, and uncomfortable weather probably had something to do with it (the coldest daytime temperature of the entire trip!!! ).

And yes, that's complaining on a high level... :)