Plitvice Lakes

This, the largest of Croatia's national parks, would have to be without a doubt one of THE most beautiful places I have ever seen, and one of the highlights of our vacation. Thanks to a tip from Jeroen's mum Bea, who was here with Piet about 40 years ago (!!), we had already set aside a day to visit the lakes before we had left home. So happy we did - it was a-ma-zing !!

The Plitvice Lakes are in a mountainous area of central Croatia. The park contains 16 lakes in total. All of the lakes are separated by natural travertine dams (a sort of naturally formed limestone made up of deposits of algae, moss and bacteria) and stretch out over some 8 kms. The lakes are famous for their distinctive colours ranging from azure, to green, grey, or blue, and apparently the colours constantly change depending on the quantity of minerals or organisms in the water and the angle of sunlight. On first sight you would swear that there is some kind of artificial colouring in the water, but it is all natural!

By total coincidence we began our visit at the top end of the lakes. Winding our way slowly downhill along the many wooden boardwalks all we could keep saying around almost every new bend was "wow" !

I can assure you it is little wonder that in 1979 the lakes were included on the UNESCO world heritage list in recognition of their "outstanding natural beauty".

Alli xxx