Croatia Day 7

Wow and Then Wow Again

Our morning dawned early but I give the girls credit for rallying to get up and out the door a bit before 7:00. I had done the research about the best way to see Plitvice Lakes National Park and knew we wanted to enter on the first hour of timed entry. I also figured on the hiking route we should do to optimize the hours we would have before the tour busses started showing up around 10:00 and the boardwalks got clogged up, this meant an arrival by no later than 8:00 AM.

By the time we arrived, we were thrilled to see the heavy clouds from yesterday were gone and the light cloud cover today was rapidly clearing. We were also thrilled that the temperature was just right for our 5 mike hike. 

It was a short drive to entrance 1 and as we entered into the parking lot, past an empty bus lot and into the car park that only had a few dozen cars at most in it – I was happy with my decision.

Within minutes of entering the park, we were greeted with the first panoramic view leading to audible gasps. We could see the boardwalks below and were happy to see they were mostly devoid of people. We all thought it just magnificent and could not wait to start our exploration.

We descended down to the lakes below and began our hike to the base of the largest waterfall in the park. The scenery was spectacular and we loved how the boardwalks seemed to float on the turquoise water.

We traversed the entire lower lake region remarking how peaceful it was with the birds singing and the solitude of it all. 

We had been told the route we were taking was a 4-5 hour trek but we were surprised by the time we had reached the point where we needed the boat to cross the largest lake in the park.

The upper falls were also truly magnificent but in their own different sort of way – not as grand but rather mystical – Jenny said she felt like she was looking for Tinkerbell.

By the time we had reached the entrance, we were floored at all the people, lined up on the boardwalks below – the place had basically been ours three hours prior.

I had read about a spot, outside of the walking trails, where you could get an incredible birds eye view of the main waterfalls, so we set the GPS for the location where we thought it might be. As it turned out, I was spot on and the easy hike down to an overlook was spectacular – the same view that is used in many publications. Jenny and I agreed that in all our travels, Plitvice certainly ranked in the top with most beautiful natural scenery.

Back to the car, traveling over hill and dale for an hour or so, we reached the border control for Bosnia & Herzgevonia – another stamp in the passport as we were now leaving the EU. We had chosen to take the route that would allow us to see more of the country instead of the more direct, shorter route. The drive time was clocked at five hours going this way and we all had a good laugh about why it was going to take so long as we made our way through small side streets.

It was not long after crossing the border that we came upon our first mosque – Jenny was thrilled- Bosnia and Herzegovina is 51% Muslim; Islam having been introduced in the 15th and 16th centuries following the Ottoman conquest.

At one point we rounded a bend and saw some guys fly fishing. Jenny and I both said we needed to pull over and take a picture for Billy. As she and I walked out to the shore and I was snapping a phot, this guy that had been standing nearby said, “It is forbidden to take pictures.” Jenny quickly nudged me to put down my phone and then the guy started laughing and said, “I am just kidding.” Phew….

As we continued on, we were gobsmacked by the beauty of the country – it was truly stunning -who knew?!?

We drove for hours through a verdant valley, surrounded on both sides by immense mountains. It was wild as we passed hundreds of abandoned houses with only a few here or there that showed signs of life. All relics left from the war that ended here less than 30 years ago. We have never traveled to a place where war had been raged so recently and the evidence of it still so clear.

By the time we reached our destination for the evening, Mostar, it was a bit after 6:00. After quickly changing we headed out to find the restaurant Jenny had read about, one that specialized in Middle Eastern foods. Our dinner was delicious and we had the added bonus of listening to the call to prayer as we dined.

Mostar is a medieval town, charming in so many aspects, but like all the other charming places, it has been discovered. Its bridge is famous, having been built in the 15th century and then destroyed during the war that tore the former Yugoslavia apart. It has been rebuilt under the guidance of UNESCO as a symbol to show that “shared heritage can be a basis for social cohesion, inclusion and citizenship.”

Our introduction to Bosnia was fantastic. we were all so pleasantly surprised by its incredible beauty. Jenny and I put it up there with the top five most beautiful countries we have been in – wow, wow, wow