Some of the beautiful lower lakes at Plitvice Lakes National Park.
Day 10: Travel to Plitvice Lakes, Croatia
Travel Day
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At the top you can see we need to spend our Polish coins, and at the bottom that we should save 100 HUF for the toilet tomorrow. Otherwise, CC was good. This multi-page itinerary for our whole trip was what we received from Peter at the beginning, rather than him posting a sheet in each hotel's lobby. Worked great!
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Image of the DaysThis picture shows a lot of what makes Plitvice Lakes so special. Crystal clear and amazingly blue-green water. I've never seen such a colors! And the Waterfalls! Plitvice has a lot of waterfalls, and some of the boardwalks allow you to walk over them on your journey through the park. And of course all different types of vegetation, from the water plants, to the plants that grow with and on the rocks and waterfalls, to the trees and flowers. Plitvice is a truly special place that I hope someday to make it back to. I would spend a whole day there!
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Lunch Break!
We stopped along the way during our drive from Budapest to Plitvice at a countryside location for lunch and a break. Our hosts laid out a delicious buffet spread for us, and then we had time to wander the grounds a little and enjoy the sunshine before hopping back on the bus and continuing on our journey.
We stopped along the way during our drive from Budapest to Plitvice at a countryside location for lunch and a break. Our hosts laid out a delicious buffet spread for us, and then we had time to wander the grounds a little and enjoy the sunshine before hopping back on the bus and continuing on our journey.
Hotel Plitvice ~ Plitvice Lakes National Park, CroatiaOur hotel was in the actual park and we arrived in the evening before dinner, were given our room assignments, and had a little time to freshen up before meeting back in the lobby to head to a buffet dinner at a neighboring park hotel. The rooms were good, though I feel I should warn you that the park hotels generally don't have air-conditioning. The views from the rooms and the back deck of the hotel just off the lobby were great (I actually booked our upcoming RS tour to Sicily from that deck), and the very large breakfast room with buffet was excellent.
Pro-Tip: To combat the stuffiness of our room we kept only the bathroom light on, opened the windows, and when in the room but not sleeping we kept a shoe wedged in the door to draw air. |
Entrance, our room, our room's view, and the breakfast room.
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Day 11: Plitvice Lakes National Park & Travel to Rovinj
Plitvice Lakes ~ Upper LakesOur group started out with Peter guiding us from the upper lakes down. Of course Brett and I in our usual way, along with a few others, stopped more frequently to marvel at various views, vistas, plants and fish. We also stopped often for pictures. I can't help it. The main part of the group got ahead of us, but Peter had told us as long as we were at the boat dock by a certain time it was fine and we could linger longer where we wanted to along the way. We wandered along the boardwalks marveling at the amazing beauty every which way we turned. At the boat dock Peter was waiting for us, having sent the rest of our group ahead on the previous boat to enjoy a break and snack at a little rest stop area within the park.
Map in the RS Croatia book of the Upper Lakes. We started at the WC and walked down and around the lakes.
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Plitvice Lakes ~ Lower LakesAs I mentioned above the second half of our journey through Plitvice involved a boat ride. Peter was waiting for the 5 or so of us who lingered longer at the dock and we hopped on the next boat to the Lower Lakes section of the park. When we got off there was an area with food, rest rooms, and shops that the rest of the group had taken a break at. We freshened up, grabbed a bite, and hit the trail with our group intact again. Of course, those of us who lingered during the first half also lingered the second half, but Peter assured us as long as we were back to the parking lot/concessions area by the time he gave us we would be just fine. There were a lot more people in this section of the park heading the opposite direction of us. Definitely a good idea to start at the Upper Lakes.
Map in the RS Croatia book of the Lower Lakes, where most people start, but we ended. This half we started by the WC/P3 on the edge of the lake and ended at Entrance 1.
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T-B & L-R: Some of our group on the boat ride to the island, lobby entrance, heading towards to the lobby to learn our room numbers, the central courtyard of the resort, palm trees and a fountain in front of the restaurant, buffet area of the restaurant, seafood dinner, dessert, steps down to the boat dock back to the mainland.
Evening Stroll
After our buffet style and quite delicious group dinner at our hotel we decided to take an evening stroll around the island before turning in for the evening. There is a wonderful brick walkway you can circle around the island on, and some amazingly stunning views of old town Rovinj on the mainland. When the lights started to come on you almost couldn't look away, it was so magical!
After our buffet style and quite delicious group dinner at our hotel we decided to take an evening stroll around the island before turning in for the evening. There is a wonderful brick walkway you can circle around the island on, and some amazingly stunning views of old town Rovinj on the mainland. When the lights started to come on you almost couldn't look away, it was so magical!
We used the brick pathway to walk around the outside of the island, we enjoyed views of Rovinj's Old Town and met a new friend, the lights started to come on across the water, we explored the swimming areas of the hotel, and admired the view of Rovinj's lights for quite some time.