Pletvice Lake National Park

Yesterday we had a long drive day. We drove from Rovinj on the coast to just outside of Plitvice National Park. We stopped at an abandoned medieval Isterian hill town called Dvigrad. It was devastated by plague and malaria in the 17 century and was located at the interface of the Venetian and Austrian Hungarian empire so was not a great place to live. The town was pretty neat as the roads, some gates buildings and a church with some towers were preserved. Everything made of stone. We wandered around impressed with the building prowess of stone and wondered what life was like back in the 17 century. Probably not so good as they were all dying from plague and malaria.

Our next stop was just where we left the Isterian peninsula was a town called Opatija. Op was historically where the aristocracy from Eastern Europe and the Hapsburg empire went for leisure. It seemed a little more ups ale than Rovinj with many older buildings. We walked along the waterfront and it wasn't too busy but one could tell the preparations for the summer had begun. Some nice mariners and restaurants. We ate our lunch looking out at the Adriatic. As far as one could see, the coast was developed for tourism.

After our lunch we kept driving. Relying on Google maps, one can never quite be sure where one will be taken. We travelled on some hwys at 110 kph, toll roads at 130 kph and many back roads at 50 to 90 kph. Andrew did the driving. It is nice to be able to spell off the driving with Andrew. I am also getting used to his driving. Google maps took us off the main highways to come down north onto Plitvice lakes ntl park. We must have driven 50 km through the middle of nowhere pretty close to the Bosnian border. We hit a stretch of road over 20 kms where many of the farmhouses appeared abandoned and destroyed. The land didn't appear great so I didn't think of it. It wasn't until we came to a small village where all the buildings were abandoned and partly destroyed and there were large chips on the walls of the building consistent with bullet holes that the coin dropped. These houses had been damaged in the Yugoslav civil war during the 90s. This is the first evidence in 2 wks that we have seen of the civil war.

Our final stop of the day was Rastoke. The small village of Rastoke is located in the town of Slunj, about 30 minutes from Plitvice Lakes National park. The village lies at the confluence of the Korana and Slunjčica Rivers, creating forks in the rivers that developed calcium deposits, forming 23 waterfalls that flow through the village. The calcium gets deposited on the river bottoms preventing erosion and preserving the waterfalls. The village was built amongst and on top of the waterfalls. I am not sure how often the houses get flooded out but it sure looked neat. In hindsight it would have been fun to have stayed in the village and been lulled to sleep by the sound of the running water.

We stayed just 10 km north of Plitvice Lakes Ntl park in a very nice guest house. Rick Steves had made the area out as isolated wilderness but there were restaurants and markets close to our accommodations. We had brought a bakery supper so we didn't have to eat out. One has to wonder how often these travel guides get updated.Read more