Today's travels took us overland, though verdent mountain country to Croatia's most magnificent 114 sqare-mile national park, Plitvice Lakes, a UNESCO World Heritage site. The heart of the park has 16 turquoise lakes linked by a series of waterfalls and cascades. It is divided into upper and lower lakes, 440 ft. of elevation between them. Our rigorous 3 1/2 hour hike took us down stone stairs (220 of them) for a boat ride from one series of lakes and falls to another, then a long hike under and over waterfalls and streams on rugged log walkways for miles, another boat ride to the other side of the lake, more hiking before we resurfaced to our bus via a long switchback. It was a cold and damp excursion, though exquisitly beautiful. A lunch of soup, mushroom risotto, trout, and layer cake awaited us.
Siesta time on the bus as we traversed back to the coastal region of Croatia. It was good to see the sun come out and the temperatures rise. As we traveled along the coast Ivana gave us a language lesson - very confusing, as there are many dialects of the Serbo-Croation languages! The coastline is dotted with numerous resort towns looking across at the 1200 islands which flank it. Our destination tonight is the very Italian influenced Mediterranean resort town of Oparija, on a penninsula just south of Triest, Italy. We dined at the Yaght Club on the harbor, after which was a "knock-out learning and discovery" visit to the tasting room of the best chocolateer in Croatia, where we were treated to "chocolate on chocolate", some of which was coffee cups, saucers, and spoons all made of chocolate and served with brandy! Come on! And me without my camera...Oink, Oink!
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