Plitvice, paradise on earth

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Plitvice Lakes! The Jiuzhaigou of Croatia! That’s what I imagined the lakes to be, and they were exactly that, except these lakes were bigger and there’s more water in them. Jiuzhaigou had lakes of blue, yellow and green colours, whereas Plitvice Lakes were just emerald green. They were very clear, and had more fish. They formed a total drop of 600 meters, so there were small or large waterfalls almost everywhere.

We took the H Program which started with a bus ride up to the highest point at the Upper Lakes, then we walked down the steps on wooden paths built above the water or right on the edge of the water. It was very picturesque, tall green trees framing the lakes, affording shade on the walkways. Sometimes the paths were a little further from the water, one can glimpse on the crystal clear green of the water over the darker, crisp green shades of branches and leaves of the trees. There’s one lake full of tall grass except for a green band of clear water in the middle, so resembling the Reed Lake in Jiuzhaigou.

We saw lots of fish, as well as green and blue dragonflies, colourful butterflies, even squirrels at the bottom of some pine trees. Some paths led us climbing a hill, from atop the view of one lake leading to another with white cascades in between was mesmerising. The only pity was that while it’s so hot, the water’s so clear, streams so fresh, the whole environment so inviting for us to jump in the water, cool off and freshen up, no one was allowed to swim in this national park! Well, we’ll just have to wait until we get to the coast.

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