PLITVICE LAKES NATIONAL PARK: We came, we saw, we conquered!!:)

MADE IT!!:)

Plitvice Lakes (pronounced pleet-veet-seh; however, after mispronouncing it for a year I’m not sure I will ever say it correctly myself;))…the pictures do all the talking and they are all saying the same thing: Hello, GOR-GE-OUS!;)

I read that on a busy day Plitvice Lakes National Park can greet up to 10,000 hikers, most of them being from Croatia or other parts of Europe. Americans are still more or less oblivious to Plitvice and it’s hidden appeal (however, I credit Pinterest for the wide-spread interest in the national park and increased travel desires in general;)...For the record, the water REALLY IS as clear-blue as depicted on Pinterest and/or Google images, no photo-shop necessary!!)

Before making the journey to Plitvice I did some researching and decided to turn to the Internet and none other than Rick Steves himself as resources for further advice and information on this much-anticipated destination of ours. In his own words, Plitvice Lakes National Park is a “European Niagara Falls, diced and sprinkled over a heavily forested Grand Canyon” and a “watery wonderland few Americans find” (man, he’s good!;)).

Hello, Plitvice:)

Whether it was it's beauty and charm, it's mysterious appeal that most Americans have yet to discover, or the idea of experiencing one of Europe’s most exotic hikes…Kathryn and I were determined to find and conquer this watery wonderland for ourselves.:) 

After a two and a half hour bus ride to Split and a five and a half hour bus ride from Split to Plitvice, when we reached our stop (in a state of delirium) that appeared to be in the middle of nowhere on the side of the highway we weren’t thrilled with our hostel’s less than helpful directions.

"Fishies!"

However, after walking along the side of the road like true hitchhikers (sweaty, enormous backpacks, and all) for 30+ minutes we found the extremely random location of our one-night’s stay that we would be sharing with an equally as random mother-daughter pair from Finland.

After indulging in two pizzas at the only restaurant open in the tiny off-season ski resort ten minutes outside of the park, we headed back to our room to rest up for an early and action-packed following morning!

At 7:45am we made a pit stop at the local market to buy some fruit to go along with our strict nutella-sandwich-diet for the day that allowed us to eat while we hiked to avoid a possible time-crunch with the limited bus schedule times leaving throughout the day.

BLISS:)

We opted to do hike ‘H’ which allows you to see the entire park in just four to six hours. After a bus ride to the upper lakes we were off to a great start with perma-smiles on our faces as we skipped along the wooden boardwalk that winds over, under, and around majestic waterfalls and piercing-blue water that BEYOND exceeded all of our dreams and expectations. AHHH!

We managed to take our sweet time, take THOUSANDS of pictures of the same scenery to attempt to capture a fraction of its beauty, mostly avoid the late-morning and mid-afternoon crowds, and hike the entire park in just three and a half hours. When we realized we had already reached the end of the hike we were literally dragging our feet to avoid the dreaded moment we had to say goodbye to this fairytale and watery wonderland!

Victory!:) Do we have to leave?!

After browsing the gift shop and buying some sandwiches to spice up our nutella/bread intake we headed to the bus stop a couple hours earlier than originally planned. If there was one photo to capture and summarize all of our emotions after finally visiting and conquering Plitvice Lakes National Park it would be a picture of us jumping in the air and high-fiving—VICTORY IS OURS!:)

Plitvice was BREATHTAKING and would undoubtedly make the cut for both of our ‘Top Ten Things to Do in Europe’ lists...another all-around AMAZING experience we were beyond fortunate to enjoy TOGETHER:) Point for the good guys!;)

Next stop: the gorgeous and historic city of SPLIT:)