into the lush interior

Pigeons on the beach!

Tues 6^th

Lovely scoot to the bottom of the island – Baska. Crystal clear water with a lovely beach (and pigeons!)  Bit tacky at campsite end.

Baska old town

bit cold!

pigeons on a beach

Plitvice Lakes - national park 

Weds 7^th

Big supermarket shop then off to the interior of Croatia. Our destination was the Plitvicka Jezera national park. This has the most amazing waterfalls and lakes and has been a park since 1951. It actually was where the homeland wars started when the Serbs took control of the main buildings. Once off Krk island the road went up and over the coastal mountains, and we were in lush, green valleys.  Several of the villages had very stark reminders that the war was only 20 years ago. There were quite a few abandoned houses with roofs / walls missing and pock marks from bullets and shells.  Very sad to see.

few wiggles ahead

Kamp Korana campsite

We arrived at camp Korana a sate owned site. 35 ha and 2500 people in Summer. It was only half open and very quiet.  Very nice location and only 6km from the park.

Thurs 8^th

Walk in the morning to a mill, then on to an impressive restored tower standing high above the canyon.

restored tower

In the afternoon we got the bikes out and went exploring. We saw a church with lots of bullet holes above the door, there were also several wrecks of houses hidden in the trees. A local builder stopped to ask if we were lost. He explained in perfect English the church was Serb – “ they destroyed our church, but we left theirs alone”  the houses were a stark reminder of the upheaval caused by the wars. Bosnia is only 15km away from the remains of the village.

bullet ridden Serb church

The campsite had also been destroyed and rebuilt. There is a huge overgrown tarmac carpark – the only remains of a former motel that was bombed.

Friday 9^th

Hot and sunny – we scooted up to the lakes. Free parking for scoot. We had a great time walking on the board walk trails which zig zag around them. Great sounds and sights of all the water rushing past. 

impressive from above

Some of the waterfalls provided a very cooling mist as you can get very close. Nature is truly impressive!  The park setup is huge with free buses to transport you from one end to the other. 

nice cooling spray

Not too many fellow tourists but a few school trips. Usual teenage lack of manners on the quite narrow boardwalks – we seemed to be invisible. Several times I just stopped when they would not move over from walking 3 abreast. A few bounced off me – a few just did not know what to do.  Grrrrrrr. Lots of shouting by the teachers, but “normal” deaf ear syndrome from lots of them.

boardwalks zig zag around the falls

A truly impressive place to visit. Make sure you do.