✨🪞In the Tale of Mirror Lakes 🪞✨ Plitvice Lakes, Croatia

Among the endless forests and roads, sometimes you can find an oasis that was hidden from the human eye, that stayed there for thousands of years, and one day was discovered by people. Sometimes you may not even know that a few kilometers from you is the "pearl" of the forests. And so, two days before the event called "Hivefest", we were able to see a fairy tale of lakes and peace that has been made for years. And this is... Plitvice Lakes! A unique place with extraordinary views, but let's go in order.

Our favourite duo photo 🤪 @gtg & @darine.darine

After arriving in Croatia for Hivefest, our first destination was the Eco Hotel, which was built specifically for visitors to the extraordinary lakes. But we did not come there alone. Our visit to the lakes was accompanied by @gtg and his wife @dobranoc. When we found out that we were going to visit the lakes as well, we changed our plan a bit to match. Our arrival at the hotel was a little late, which was a bit insulting, because the hotel had a lot of different entertainment options such as a jacuzzi, various sports, a mini zoo and even archery. But in general, we still had a good time because the design of the hotel itself was excellent, all the staff were friendly, and the main highlight was not the hotel itself. By the way, speaking about the design of the hotel, as you already guessed from the name of the hotel, it fit into the nature, because it was decorated with wooden boards in the style of ancient villages, but it still looked very modern. In the evening, we were able to see our long-awaited friends for the first time. Unfortunately, we were only able to say hello to @gtg at the time, as @dobranoc was busy. Having settled in such a wonderful hotel, we couldn't help but use at least one of the curiosities. Therefore, without thinking long, we went to our favorite sport - billiards. Of course, we took Dumbledore with us, although he tried in various ways to avoid this participation, because he "doesn't know how to play." I don't remember too clearly, but I think he won. Rule number one is never trust @gtg.

Weaving our bodies out of bed at 8 am (this is the hour we were told is the best time to go for a walk) and having breakfast at the hotel, we set off on our mini trip on foot. By the way, the weather seems to love to joke, so on the day we chose to explore the lakes, it decided to reward the forest with a pleasant downpour. We were extremely pleased with this news. Of course, what was missing for a perfect walk in the park with lakes. Of course it will RAIN! In the morning things started not so bad. It was a light rain, and thank God we had umbrellas, because at lunch time, a terrible thunderstorm was predicted. Trying to find the right path under light sprinklers, we almost got lost, because our friends decided to leave before us, because it took us a long time to leave the parking lot. Having arrived at the place, we headed on foot along the forest road following the red arrows that were painted on the road.

Arriving at the beginning of the lakes, we immediately became madly enchanted by the turquoise transparent deep waters of the lake. Rainwater also dripped from the sky, which gave it an even more scenic look. On the other side were brightly colored trees. In terms of tree count, these forests are filled with trees of an extraordinary variety of species such as beech, conifer and mixed, and they have a fantastic ability to regenerate themselves. Thanks to this, some trees in the park are more than 300 years old. Near each of the lakes, its depth and how the lake looks from the side were written on a table. Plitvice Lakes were discovered in 1949, making it one of the oldest national parks in Croatia, and it is also recognized as one of the most beautiful places in Europe. The further we went, the more beautiful the view became. The water was emerald in color, and from one look at it, it lured you into its depths.

By the way, due to the depth, swimming here is prohibited. This magical water beckons you to swim, but no one from the park administration would advise you to do so. The reason is too terrible to try your luck. Namely, these lakes are so deep that not everyone swimming here could stay on the surface. That's right, more than one person drowned in these waters.

And so that visitors would not want to dive there, people named each lake after the person who drowned there. Isn't that terrifying?

And you can't drink water from lakes because of water pollution. Due to illegal construction and tourism, unwanted materials that affect the purity and toxicity of water get into the water. But despite even this, the water looks crystal clear and there are more than 160 species of fish in it. By the way, I managed to photograph one of them, and these red dots in the dark turquoise color of the water are fascinating. Therefore, honestly, I do not know how to believe the information indicated above 😅.

I do not advise you to walk a lot in the forests here, because in addition to the animals in the water, there are also animals on the ground, and there are quite a few of them here. Brown bears, lynxes, wolves and wild boars live in these forests and you can meet them (although the meeting will be extremely tragic). More noble animals are found here: badgers, bats, butterflies, of course hares, hedgehogs and the most noble deer. No, I'm not kidding, this name is really official. With such an incredibly rich ecosystem, this place is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The territory includes 16 large deep-water lakes, with a total area of 296.85 square kilometers.

Going further and further, we admired all the species even more. The fog over the forest and mountains added to the mysterious atmosphere, and we listened to the sound of many waterfalls flowing from one to another. Around 10:00 o'clock the rain increased and it was no longer so easy to keep it from soaking our sneakers. Therefore, already somewhere halfway, the socks were already defeated by raindrops.

By the way, the river that created all this beauty has an unusual name. And its name is the Koran, the holy book of the Muslim religion. I was surprised to read this information, because I rarely see a river with a religious name. Walking and admiring all these beauties, we gradually tried to catch up with our restless friends. We honestly could not understand how they move so quickly.

In autumn, colors are added to this park. In the reflection of the water, you can see the yellow, orange, green and red colors that were created by the autumn trees. We moved on high-quality wooden bridges. Wooden paths wind around the lakes, offering stunning views at every turn. They were made over the years and by the hard work of people so that in the future we could visit this wonder. I still cannot fathom how people built these tracks at such a depth. Looking into the deep blue water, I could see the trees lying on the bottom and giving an eeriness to the whole view. Honestly looking at the whole magnitude, I could easily be fooled into the existence of an underwater monster that anticipates foolish people and drags them to the bottom. To be honest, this type of water body always gave me anxiety looking at them. So even with my love for diving, I would never want to dive here.

But in general, walking through this natural paradise, looking into all the details, I see that this is art. Look at all the photos taken by me. These red leaves add sparkle to the picture. Unusual plants floating on the border of water and land. Their bright colors. Specimens of flora are not listed. A red rose hip that grows inconspicuously among all the greenery. Drops that fall aggressively into the dark blue, adding richness to the lakes. A bright red goldfish calmly swimming with its companions. These are all moments that add sophistication to everything we see.

Already around 1:00 p.m., the rain pretended to be almost over, but no! Immediately after this calm, the storm began! Our umbrellas were about to break, and everything below the knee had long since lost its chance to be dry. Although all our clothes were dry, our feet were still warm from our hard walking.

All the trees and all the greens look so fresh and beautiful after the rain... In very deep reservoirs, the water is of a rich and dark color, and in shallower ones, it is a light blue sky color. It is truly such a unique nature.

Rainwater got everywhere, on our faces, on our clothes and on our phones. This is what created this unreal glow effect. ⬇️

The end of the hiking trail ended with an incredibly high waterfall. This is the place where we were able to finally catch @gtg and @dobranoc. But our meeting was not long. They explained the next plan of action and left us, giving us no chance to travel together (yes, I'm being dramatic), while we stayed to see the waterfalls. They were tall, 20 meters high! And I think that our luck turned away when it started to rain on the day of our arrival, because all the lakes and waterfalls are overflowing with water, and the sight becomes even more dramatic.

These waterfalls are like a symphony of water and light. The water, crystal clear and sparkling, elegantly cascades down the rock walls, forming silvery sails that dance gracefully to the rhythm of the wind. Each drop seems to hang for a moment, catching the light before gently sinking into the emerald pools below. The waterfalls blend harmoniously with the lush vegetation that surrounds them, creating a living scene where nature unfolds in all its splendor. Time stands still and invites you to admire the poetry of nature in all its grandeur.

After several photo sessions with the waterfall, we started to catch up with our friends. And if you think that this journey is already over, you are wrong.

@olga.maslievich & @bugavi & @darine.darine (me)

Our plan just got more and more interesting. Following our driving directions, we headed for the exit, climbing the stairs to the bus station. The views were still fascinating, but we tried not to look too hard at them and moved as quickly as possible. After ten minutes of torturous climbing, we finally reached our departure point. There are several routes here: long, short, pedestrian, with different types of movement, etc. We didn't know anything about other routes, and tried to stick to ours. So ten minutes later the bus itself arrived. It looked more like a small train! There were several cars in it and it is ecological so as not to pollute the air of the entire ecology of the park. I don't remember which bus number we got on, but throughout the trip we asked where this bus was going so as not to confuse the route. Unfortunately, none of the passengers knew the direction, so we could only hope for the best. Our first trip was successful, the green landscape with all these plants made the train even more interesting. After that we transferred to the next bus and in the middle of our journey the bus stalled. We began to think that we would have to walk, but a second later it started working again. So if you ride this bus in Plitvice Lakes Park and it stalls, don't worry! Everything will be fine!

In a few minutes we were there. Now the second stage began. Our next goal was to walk a few kilometers to find another way to get around. And you know, it's such luck that when we were on the bus, the rain stopped, and as soon as we put both feet outside, it started to rain even worse than last time. Well, nothing to do, @gtg and @dobranoc are long gone. So we pulled out our umbrellas and everything we could against the water and set off. The first steps of the road passed through the forest. It looked so magical and beautiful that we did not take our eyes off the environment in which we are for a second. It's like the forest through which the little girl from the fairy tale Little Red Riding Hood walked. Our path was paved with wooden paths. From the side you could see incredible lakes and from time to time rivers flowed inward. Daylight filtered through the thick foliage of the forest. On the other side of the lake, the plain lay inside a deep forest. On the sides from time to time you could see incredible, huge, dark green pines. This forest is so fantastic that while we were walking, we found a couple of huge porcini mushrooms on the way, which confirmed the fabulousness of this forest. It was such a wonder for us to find this amazing find, since we haven't seen such wonderful porcini mushrooms in the Ukrainian forests for a long time. We walked so enthusiastically that I even forgot to take pictures of these places. Unfortunately, my memory was also blocked, so I did not have such an opportunity. It's a pity, because you won't be able to fully feel the atmosphere of the forest path. Also some of my photos were taken from my sisters post, please don't judge me 😅.

We walked several kilometers and finally we met our favorite gnomes (as you understood @gtg and @dobranoc). The fact is that they bought themselves two very cute cloaks, and you just have to agree that they look like gnomes 🥹! This happened because it turns out that they took a longer route, and this gave us a head start. Finally, we were able to reunite and continue this journey together. The scenery that followed was truly incredible and mesmerizing. This time the bridges were either lower, or so it felt, but it seemed as if the water was much closer. Here the bottom was shallower, and all the water was sky blue. All the plants around the whole rainy situation added heavenly beauty and everything felt unreal. Although the drops fell on us everywhere, in particular, they soaked all our pants, shoes and legs under them. But that still didn't stop us from enjoying the scenery.

We were already starting to freeze little by little, but our destination was already getting closer. And here we are! Our ultimate transport is an electric ship! At the end of our trip, we were happy to sail on this ship.

After this long walk in the rain, we were happy to be able to sit under cover, even though it was not warm at all. Do you know how this ship differed from a simple one? He didn't shake at all. It was as if we were standing on a level plane. Because of this, there was no risk of nausea, and I think that my sister and mother at least liked the ships a little (they have sea sickness). This is fantastic! The view from the ship gave us a full view of the whole extent and beauty of the lakes, and thus we came to the end of our journey.

Bye bye everyone!! 🏞️⛰️🌳

P.S. I can proudly say that I've got a new record of maximum words on my post. This post had been written with 2100 words.