Plitvice National Park

  Plitvice National Park, Croatia
Tuesday, December 12, 2006

When we took the bus to Plitvice we were not sure what to expect when we got there. It is off, off season for this national park so we didn't know how easy it would be to get around. It turned out that the entrance where they dropped us was under construction. Rain was starting in so we headed to the tiny town near the park where we could find sobes. We went to two and were met by apathetic young women who quoted us high season rates. Neither had helpful information about the park. We went across the street and found a real sobe, run by a Croatian/Bosnian couple and their son. They had good rates and a cozy home. It turned out that she came from a long line of sobe owners living here. Her parents and grandparents housed people visiting the park. With the rain outside we decided to wait until the next day to see the park and pray for better weather.

We spent a nice time with the family, chatting about Croatia, the government, the changes after the war (good and bad) and all sorts of other topics. We learned a lot by watching the news when they could tell us what was going on. We even helped the son with his English homework. TV in Croatia is nice to us Americans because it is the only other country we have been in besides Sweden where they subtitle shows instead of dubbing them. It doesn't help us with the local shows but we can understand the American movies. We watched American Pie 2 and Police Academy 2 which reminded us how racy the movies can be on European channels (uncut, un-bleeped). They also have shows like Big Brother (Croatian edition),Weakest Link and Who Wants to be a Millionaire (also Croatian - a million Kuna). We see the same shows everywhere in the world. When a formula works, why not?
Our favorite show, also one we have since seen in other countries, is a practical joke show out of Canada that has no words, just zany music, and scenarios that can be understood without words. The jokes are not too embarrassing to the victims like many shows in the US are and all of us were guffawing at every skit. Things like an old man asking someone to help give him direction as he is parallel parking and then goes on to hit both cars while the guy looks on horrified and waving his arms. This show works almost all over the world so I am sure the creators are making good money.

The next morning was bright and sunny, thank goodness, so we got dropped off at the park. Our host told us that in the summer the park gets over 10,000 visitors a day. Over the course of the day we met 15, all Croatians. The park isn't as spectacular in the winter because the waterfalls are smaller and the sun is not overhead, but the peacefulness of the setting more than makes up for it. We felt like we had the whole park to ourselves.

Plitvice in the Winter

The winter is warm for the whole European continent, including Plitvice, and there has not been snowfall yet. That would have been pretty too.
We stayed one extra day because I was getting over a 24 hour stomach flu and Julius was starting to get it. Once we felt good to travel we headed on to Zagreb. Beyond the park we saw one lovely town where waterfalls flowed though people's yards. It looked like an enchanting place to live.
    To see how lovely this park is, visit our Plitvice Smugmug Page!