lakes

Waterfall heaven - Plitvice National Park in Croatia

The previous post in this series is here..

We had a full day plan to visit Plitvice National Park. This has been on the bucket list for a long time. So when San asked me what to visit in Eastern Europe, this was the first thing on the list. 

We met our guide at a pick up point at one of the gates in old town Zadar. She was a student learning English and History and could speak multiple local languages. She walked the group of 50 or so people to an empty parking lot near a busy street and we waited for buses to pick us up. There was a group going to another set of falls called Krka.. they were very particular about sorting the right folks into the right buses as it took some time. 

Plitvice is a 2 1/2 hour drive from Zadar. Zadar is the main city in the south and Zagreb is to the North and this park is in the middle. So we drove along a scenic route from Zadar towards Zageb.

We had a rest stop in between for some tea/coffee and restrooms (and for smokers!)

Once at the park, we had a guide who explained to us that the park is navigable by ourself as long as we followed the rules. Most important of which was not to drop anything even accidentally from our pocket like plastic , paper etc. This lake had 800 employees full time whose job was to make sure no litter of any kind got to the lakes. The ecology was delicate.

The waters crystal clear at depths of 50 feet! Hundreds of specific flora and fauna unique to this park. You had to watch your step everywhere. For a country where 1/4 people was lighting up a cigarette perpetually, inside the park, there is no smoking! So we thanked our stars for some temporary fresh air. 

It was a 10 mile hike around the park with a boat tour to get across a lake at one point, and a bus/train ride at another point. 

There are lakes in layers that come down from each level to the next in the form of a few hundred waterfalls.. we zig zag our way up and then come down partly and then by bus.

There are signs everywhere that show how many falls and the depth profile of the water..

You can see the fishes so clearly. The water is really deep. if you focus your eyes on the still water surface for a few seconds, it almost appears as though the fish are flying in air! 

San was very happy that I suggested this place. She enjoyed it as much as I did. 

We started walking at 10 and made it out at 2. We had to wait at the restaurant for the entire group to come before boarding the bus. Everyone was smoking there as soon as they came out of the park! No non-smoking area. We simply couldn't eat or hang out there. The irony of having such a beautiful place and fresh air only to see the people addicted to smoke come running out for cigarettes was sad to watch!

There were a lot of photos from that day.. it took me forever to select a few to show the beauty of the place and the happiness in our faces.. so, here are four slide show galleries.. 

*** There is a bug in Squarespace that is not allowing me to display galleries*** 

will update this post with the galleries once it is fixed. 

finally a video highlights reel.. yet another place where photos and videos will never do justice to the experience .. 

By 5 PM we were back in Zadar at the same point where we started. We decided to walk back to our hotel along the high wall get a quick shower and go see the rest of the sights in old town Zadar. 

The sun was still up.. we were up for an amazing evening!

Lake Louise and Lake Moraine

The previous post in this series is here..

Finally getting started on day 3 of our Banff trip posts. 

We had a rental car and this was our full day of planned activiteis where we were going to be on our own. The idea of having an entire days agenda under San's control, where I tag along without saying "No" to anything (part of the agreed terms of the trip) was scary. 

My idea of visiting a lot of places in one day, involves going to the Patel points, getting pictures and moving to next place. San has changed. She plans a 2 to 3 mile hike in every place from the parking lot to some place within the park at every one of these locations. Now that I got that out of my system, it is actually a good idea if I can keep up. The pictures are better, as is the experience (I am saying this on my own... she is not looking over my shoulder! really!)

We got up at 5 AM, drank some Wagh Bakri instant tea (we have started to like this tea on travels now) and started driving towards Lake Louise and Lake Moraine. Our plan was to go to the farthest point first which was Moraine. We drove all the way up to see a cop divert us. The parking was full apparently at 6:30 AM when we reached the place. "Lake Lousie still has some parking left.. if you go there you will make it".. is what he said and we zipped there.

We were in a long line at the vending machine. There were folks who were sending back people to go get the license plates of the rental cars as the machine asks you to enter it. I stopped a few of them and said "please look at your key from rental car.. usually the license number is written on it". This saved some time as the people were blocking the machine waiting for a person to come back with info!! American tourists understandably get a bad name in Banff.

We walked to the trailhead towards the lake and were just dazed by the view of the lake. It was just so serene and beautiful.

There were already groups of folks taking pictures at the lake front. We walked around the lake to a less crowded place and got some pictures.

 

After walking around the lake and looking at the giant hotel in front of the lake, we decided to head back towards Banff.

On the way back, surprisingly the cop said "we have two spots open. you can go to Lake Moraine!". It was our lucky day. So we drove from the main freeway to Lake Moraine parking which is a good 15-20 minute drive. Once there, the parking lot incharge says "we made a miscalculation. we let two extra folks in by mistake". We told him "we are here to go see the lake, take pictures and leave. Need 20 mins tops!". So he relented and let us park for 20 mins in the loading zone and said "I am going to stand here near your car. So please be back!". 

We ran in towards the lake, saw similar crowd, started walking around lake to the farthest point we could in 6 minutes and got some photos and ran back. While this lake is very similar to the Lake Louise in the way it looks, it has a more rocky feel to it. It is also a lot quieter. 

There are many trails that take you to the high points in the local mountains around.. so you get a birds eye view of the lake. We did not have time to do such a hike here. Going to Banff for just a weekend, limited us timewise. This was more of a sampler trip!

We kept our promise and started driving back.

Both these lakes are absolutely breathtaking. Plan to spend a few hours at each lake, go on a trail, do a little picnic around the place if possible!

Our next was supposed to be Johnston canyon and a long hike there.. but we were early. On the way out of Moraine lake, there is a hike in Paradise valley. We decided to hike this trail. 

will post that next..