We had the privilege of going on a two day free travel at the end of our Germany/Austria tour. For the second day I went to Vienna. It was fun but pretty average and there's not really a lot to tell about the trip other than I found a really awesome guitar shop with some of the most beautiful guitars I have seen in person. For the first day, however, I went to Croatia to see the Plitvice lakes. We left Freilassing, Germany at about 00:30 Monday morning to begin our long trip to Croatia. We took that short train to Salzburg, Austria where we got on an overnight train that would get us to Zagreb, Croatia around 9am. The train was not very crowded and had compartments, so I was able to sleep pretty well throughout the entire ride, except for when we were woken up by Slovenian and Croatian immigration officers for our passport stamps. They basically make you feel much sketchier than you actually are, the whole time speaking a language no one in our group could even attempt to understand. We arrived in the city of Zagreb, a city full of graffiti, seeing some remnants of the war that had happened there. We got some Croatian Kuna from the ATM and then got directions to bus station. Luckily, when someone says they speak a little English, it's usually plenty for the circumstance that you are in. We walked to the bus station and saw more graffiti and worn out buildings, but besides that Zagreb looks pretty similar to most other modern European cities. We got our bus tickets and waited for the bus and then began our 2 and a half hour ride to the Plitvice lakes. The landscape in Croatia is beautiful, reminding me somewhat of East Tennessee at first (rolling hills with mountains in the distance) to SW Virginia (being in the mountains). The trees were colorful and there were lots of beautiful vistas along the ride.
The park itself was beautiful. It consists of countless lakes with even more waterfalls, all linked together throughout a mountainous area. The water was a bright turquoise color and you could see deep into the water even from a far distance away. From any place in the park you could hear the sounds of at least one waterfall, but generally you could hear several. It's really hard to put into words the sights that we saw there. God truly is the greatest painter, sculptor, and creator that there could ever be.
I don't know how to describe Plitvice, so I just won't. I encourage anyone who can get anywhere near Croatia to go, but I have one tip for you. Make sure your bus ticket to the parks is for a round trip. The website for the lakes tells you that the bus ride back is free, but in my experience it is not. None of us had any cash because we had withdrawn just enough for our one bus ticket and some food but luckily a girl on the bus could speak English and told the bus driver our situation. He allowed us to ride up until the first ATM where we got out and got money to pay him for the trip. He then got us back to the Zagreb bus station in one piece, although he was a bit of a crazy driver.
We got on a train that night back to Salzburg and slept most of the way, running into those friendly immigration officers once again. Luckily all of us had legitimate passports and were not accused of smuggling people out of the country, so we made it back alright. I'm extremely glad I got to see one of the most beautiful National parks in the world.
