Plitvice Lakes National Park

Our bus ride was about five hours and included a drastic change in scenery. As we moved north and inland, the sea became a distant memory. It was starting to feel a little more like driving to the North Shore in MN. 

We arrived at Entrance #2 to the park around 1:30 p.m. It was too early to check in to our Airbnb and too late to get some time in the park, so we decided to start walking. I didn’t mention that our Airbnb was about 2 miles from the entrance to the park. We were smart in packing for this side trip and just had one bag between the two of us and that was Paul’s backpack bag. Our Airbnb host in Split was nice enough to hold our other bag for us until we returned. 

We started our hike on the very busy, very narrow road back to our place. We found a place to stop and eat on the way, which we soon discovered was really the only reasonable place to eat for the three nights we would be in this area. Unfortunately, we could not get any service on our first try so we left and decided to return later. 

Our Airbnb was great, again. It was run by a really nice family. Sophia, the daughter checked us in and was pretty much the English speaker for the family. After getting settled we headed back to “the restaurant” to try our luck at some food. Success! There was a change in staff and all was great and would be for the rest of the meals we enjoyed there.

Our first full day in the park was on a Sunday, last day of a special weekend deal. On the North Shore every place you go costs more during the peak of Fall colors. Here they have a special during the peak weekend – two-thirds off! In Summer a day pass to the park costs 250 kuna. From Fall to Spring it’s 150 kuna. But this weekend only, it was 50 kuna! Needless to say, there were just a few people taking advantage of this offer. (insert sarcasm)

Sophia’s Father was kind enough to give us a ride to the entrance of the park. They were heading to Bosnia and Herzegovina to get a birthday cake for Sophia and her twin brother. You can’t say that everyday, “I’m going to Bosnia to get my birthday cake”. Actually, Bihać was the nearest big city, just over the border. We also got a piece of that cake the next day at breakfast!

So, did I mention there was special pricing for the entrance fee for the park? I think it was very well advertised. We did manage to easily get into the park and catch the boat across the first lake to start our exploration. It is hard to describe and I will let the pictures do most of the talking, but it was amazing!! We managed to find places to hike and explore that were not overrun with people and we knew we were coming back the next day, Monday – no admission specials, but we had the park pretty much to ourselves!

We were feeling a little homesick about missing fall in MN, but these three days filled my soul to the brim. The fresh air, fall colors, waterfalls, lakes, sounds of leaves rustling as we hiked were energizing. That two mile hike home after being in the park all day, was just extra. Paul found a better path on our last day that did not include the highway, so we had bonus scenery. You gotta love Google Maps!

We caught a ride with our host to the bus stop to catch our bus back to Split. We arrived in time for a nice afternoon walk and evening dinner before catching our early ferry to Dubrovnik.

[Still finishing up the photos!]

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