Plitvice Lakes

For our final day staying in Split, we joined a prebooked trip to Plitvice Lakes. We had an early start and were pleased to hop on an air conditioned bus after the walk from our apartment. The colours in the 16 lakes were fabulous and we googled about tufa, the calcium carbonate sediment that builds up the dam at the end of each lake. The sediment attaches to algae and vegetation and grows something like a barrier of stalactite. If the barrier on a lower lake builds up high enough, the water floods back over the higher barrier dissolving it and changing the shape of the lake complex. The lakes are another UNESCO World Heritage listed area (of which there are approx. 1032 areas in the world.) The trip out to the lakes (approx. 2.5 hours on the bus) was also impressive, crossing from the barren hills around Split that grow gorse bush to the greener areas to the north with grazing land and pine forests. The name Split comes from the local name for gorse bush. To pass under the main mountain range that separates the north from the south we went through a 5km tunnel on a toll road. The following morning we tidied up the apartment to leave by 10am then spent an hour or so sitting around the old town before catching a ferry to Hvar.

Waiting for the bus to Plitvice Lakes

Fort where the Game of Thrones was filmed

Small Croatian village

Boats on the middle lakes

Sophie and Will at the middle lakes

Upper lakes

Waterfall at the upper lakes

Waterfall at the upper lakes

Chub fish in Plitvice Lakes

The lower lakes system

We walked through this cave to the lower lakes

Waterfall at the lower lakes

The largest waterfall in Croatia

Croatia farm and hay pile on a post

Village on the road back from Plitvice Lakes

The old town of Split was 'buzzing' at 9pm as we walked home

View of Split

Fortifications in Diocletians Palace

Packed and ready to leave Split

Waiting for the ferry to Hvar

View of Split from the ferry