Plitvice Lakes

I had seen so many pictures of Plitvice Lakes, but nothing prepared me for how incredible it was in person!! If it weren’t for all the people, it could have easily been heaven on earth.  And even with all the people, it was pretty darn close.
It’s one of Europe’s oldest National Parks and Croatia’s largest. There are hundreds of waterfalls from 16 cascading lakes, made up of every blue you could ever imagine.

 The first view of the bottom lakes and I knew we were someplace incredible.

 Veliki Slap (Big Waterfall)

 Gavanovac

 Explored these caves, which had some interesting stairs.

 Milanovac

Crossing Kozjak Jezero by ferry and came across what looked like a scene from the Little Mermaid haha

 Burgeti

Walking OVER waterfalls because there are just so many!

 Galovac (so green in places it looks like Nickelodeon Slime!)

 Seriously though, how incredible is this?!

 There is this classic picture of Plitvice that we wanted to see so badly, but just couldn’t find.  I was about to give up (with much frustration) when we found a blog that spoke of this out of the way (actually out of the park technically) trail that would get us there.  So off we went up a WHOLE bunch of stairs….

 with new perspectives of the Big Waterfall along the way

Down random trails off of roads with no paths or sidewalks.  And then we found it!

And it was breathtaking!!!

It was absolutely the BEST way to end our day at Plitvice- a place I will never, ever forget!

Then we made our way back to Pula to deal with extreme parking anxiety yet again (and even worse this time!!)

Tito’s Park– “a monument in memory of the fallen fighters of the Yugoslav resistance and the victims of fascism.”

 After dinner, I took a walk around town.  It’s a beautiful (and crowded) city at night.  Like every other city I’ve been in Croatia, it comes alive as the sun goes down and everything starts to cool off a bit.

 The main square

 Which was hosting what appeared to be a comedic, fire filled, clown performance.  I couldn’t understand a word they were saying, but everyone else was laughing haha

 Pula is a commercial port and they try to make it look pretty by lighting up the cranes in the harbor at night (it’s even on their postcards!) I think they looked like a group of colorful birds out there.

 Temple of Augustus at the Forum

 The Main Roman Gate from when it was a walled city

 Was finally making my way back to the apartment near the Arena and realized THAT was where all the people were that had stollen all the parking! There was a concert going on inside of this roman colosseum- can you think of a cooler way to see a concert?!

 Besides the people inside enjoying the concert, there were people crowded into all of the nearby cafes and restaurants, sitting and standing on all the sidewalks, walls and stairs surrounding the Arena. It was pretty cool.

I was slightly worried that with an apartment less than a block from the arena, I wouldn’t get any sleep (which I desperately needed at this point!), but it was nice and quiet.  What a wonderful, unbelievable day!