Opatija

Our next goal was the seaside resort of Opatija, mainly for its architecture. The Hapsburgs ruled these lands for only a half-century or so, until the end of WWI, but they made their mark, bringing infrastructure, railroads, building ports (Austria-Hungary was land-locked, so they were really pleased to gain miles of natural harbors on the Adriatic, not really all that far from Vienna), and resorts; and architecture. All this as Art Nouveau was growing.

The mom-and-pop campgrounds are always the best; not for the amenities, but
for the sincerity and charm; the manager here, in an apple and other unidentified 
fruit orchard, told me we were his first American guests; his favorite NBA team 
is the Golden State Warriors--this elicited when I told him one of our daughters lived 
near Frisco--as evening approached, he carried a tray of schnapps to each of the 
several campers on site; powerful stuff, too, and I had to drink Vicki's as well...

The interior of Croatia is war-torn, too; after the depredations of Milosevic's 
Serbian troops and their "ethnic cleansing," the Serbian population of this area
left, leaving perhaps a third of the homes and lands vacant

Mile upon mile of land, tillable, graze-able land, untouched

Homes vacant--perhaps a Croatian family "cleansed" or a Serbian family departed;
"Christian" vs. "Christian"; this has been going on for centuries...

A defunct aircraft museum; or perhaps these are the craft that couldn't get off
in the fighting

Yes, well, moving right along, the road snakes down to the coast...serpentina

Below great limestone cliffs

And finally Opatija and the challenge of finding parking space in a 19th century
resort town

We were sort of underwhelmed by the architecture; traces of Art Nuvo...

The glassy Adriatic

Kiddie beach

Pigeon spa

Plitvice Lakes (And Waterfalls), 2

More of the PlitviceLakes, and, especially the waterfalls...

Things change...a dried-up river bed

The line to catch the boat across the big lake; we were seldom alone, but the
place can get very crowded in high season

Still wondering whether it's an antenna, a cross, or a mast...

Fish everywhere in the clear water, especially congregating near the bottoms
of the falls for the super-oxygenation

So "Jezero" is the word for waterfall, we think, 524 meters above sea level,
3 hectares in...wait, maybe "Jezero" is the word for lake, 524 meters above sea
level, 3 hectares in area, and 18 meters deep

The waters' colors are ever changing

Famous cave; seen in many regionally-produced Westerns

And more waterfalls

"Big Waterfall" the signs said

Indeed

Some of the karst

Walking out of the park...a sink-hole, one of hundreds we've seen the past two
days, in forests, in meadows and pastures...

For the past two weeks I've meant to get a picture of the chain-link fencing that
looms above all the highways and secondary roads throughout Croatia,
Montenegro, and much of Bosnia-Hertzegovina; the fencing is meant to protect
the roads and travelers from rock-fall; there must be a gazillion square feet of
such fencing here, all held down by concrete blocks (limestone dissolves in water...)

Plitvice Lakes (And Waterfalls), 1

The Plitvice Lakes [and waterfalls] National Park is another of the region's many World Heritage Sites. Someday I hope to count up all the Unesco sites we have visited in these ten years...must be a couple hundred. Anyhow, the Plitvice Lakes, in Croatia, are sixteen lakes in the mountainous karst country, arranged in a sort of miles-long cascade, the falls often stunning, the colors of the waters, because of the limestone and the travertine--which forms dams and makes the waterfalls--breathtaking. The Croatian national park system has constructed a trail whereby you can walk some 9 km of the lakes and waterfalls (including a boat ride along the longest lake). We've seen some of the world's great waterfalls. Nothing could surpass Iguazu Falls in Argentina. But Plitvice is a solid second, affording a continuously impressive day hike, with comforts and amenities never too far apart.

We spent the preceding night still in Bosnia-Hertzegovina, at a campground by the
Hotel Ada, itself on a beautiful river setting

Sadly, there was much fighting in this area, the original hotel destroyed, the
new one making a struggle to come back; a beautiful setting

Now in Croatia, approaching Plitvice, a first glimpse of one of the falls

Helpful map, showing the lakes, the falls, the trail...

Alas, over much of the wetlands areas, the trail consisted of these rough planks;
not as bad as it looks, but not good for people with balance and knee issues

A calcifying tree...contributing to the travertine build-up

We found the trails well marked and easy to follow; you can
do the main trail either up or down...top to bottom is best,
saving the most dramatic sets of falls until last

In the upland areas, more conventional trails

Everything labeled...

More falls, another lake

Slippery when wet

A pretty incredible place...here at a midway point