Day 60 Korenica to Zagreb

We had read lots on how overwhelmingly busy the Plitvice Lakes are so we arrived at Entrance 1 just after 7am when the gates opened. There are a number of routes you can take to see the lower and upper lakes, with parts of some routes including boat and bus legs. We chose to do route C which starts at the most popular largest waterfall on the lower lake.

There was only a sprinkling of people there that early so it was a very pleasant walk following the boardwalk around the lower lakes and the waterfalls. We arrived at the jetty for the electric boat in time for the first one of the day at 8.30am to take us to the start of the upper lakes, the boat was so quiet and quite slow. It was also starting to warm up so we were happy we'd made the right decision to come so early.

Plitvice mightn't hold records for the largest waterfalls but they certainly have the prettiest, as around every croner we were faced with more cascading water. We saw signs mentioning bears but unfortunately (or fortunately perhaps) we didn't see any.

By 10.30am we had completed the three hour walk around both upper and lower lakes, so we took the bus back to Entrance 1 where our car was. We felt quite smug when we saw the hordes of tourists lined up trying to buy tickets as we were leaving.

We were heading for Zagreb to return our rental car so we stopped for a break at Slunj, which has a river and waterfall right in the middle of town, before continuing on. In Zagreb we were staying near the bus station so we caught the tram to the center of town to discover that Croatia were playing in the World Cup that night. People were dressed in red and white checks and ready for a party. There were lots of screens in the town square, bars and restaurants, as well as home made entertainment from locals letting off flares.