Not another Church, cathedral, temple, castle Waterfall!!!

Yesterday was travel day, and once here, there is nothing else to do. The bikes and most of the luggage is in Zagreb. The hotel is only 600m away, it’s a 35C day and feels every bit of it. Thankfully we are shaded by very old trees. The landscape is very unusual with huge sink-holes called Karst, the village is built around the higher ground, I would be worried I’d wake up ‘sunk’ one day. The Hotels are all rather like large houses on big blocks. Our landlord said the hotel was his hobby, as he gave us some of his homemade pear rakija, he has a job in Zagreb.

An early start, 7am at the entrance, the Cafe is open along with the luggage storage. A bite to eat, the 7am entrants are feeding through the entry and at 7.31am the 8am tickets holders are able to enter. They are very strict about entry times.

Our expectations have been met, stunning landscapes, lakes and waterfalls. it’s a lovely 29C and most of the trails are under a tree canopy.

The early morning entry means less crowds and it’s cooler. There are several options of trails, a very easy walk lots of lakes and waterfalls and plenty of pics. The water is a vivid aqua in the clear skies. Lots of water, what would it be like in Spring?

I bent down and felt the water, it was warm, oh … I’d love to go for a swim! what a happy fish I would be here, no one to catch me, the clearest water I think I have ever seen.

The sound of rushing water soon becomes white noise as it surrounds us most of the day. We chose an 8km trail which takes us to the upper and lower lakes with a ferry for part, we reach the end of route C … what already!!! We can join route H for a longer walk.

Our bus is at 4.15, after about 6hrs of walking, how far did we walk, not being a ‘step’ person I have no idea. I wasn’t game to track on Strava in fear of running out of phone battery. The temperature rose to 33C, returning we backtracked some of our steps, the crowds had definitely increased as they were just starting out.

My cynical mind wonders if there are hidden water pumps somewhere circulating the water. Surely not, it is a UNESCO World Heritage site.

Onto the bus for a 2hr drive into Zagreb passing some lovely villages with no stops … if only I had my bike!