Plitvice Lake National Park, Croatia

Plitvice Lake National Park reminded me of Jiuzhaigou in China. Declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1979, it covers approx. 300 sq. km of forest reserve on Central Croatia. The Park is made famous because of a series of lakes formed by nature in cascades. There are sixteen lakes linked by a series of small rivers and streams as well as subterranean rivers. Similar to Jiuzhaigou, these lakes are famous for their colour, ranging from azure to green, blue or grey. The colour of the water changes constantly depending on mineral content, organism and angle of the sunlight.

The Park now boasts of a million visitors a year. Clearly, its facilities are unable to cope with the huge influx of visitors. On the day of our visit on 15 September, we had to forego taking the boat to cross the lake because of a waiting time of between one to one and half hours. In the end, we decided to walk and trek a hill to catch the waiting bus instead. The peak daily 15,000 visitors is nothing compared to what Jiuzhaigou is handling. Still, the Park under the urging of UNESCO is hoping to limit the crowd to just 8,000 a day. That will be definitely bad news for Croatia's tourism but welcome by nature conservationists!

Timber-decked walkways allow visitors to have access to
the heart of this nature wonder to appreciate its beauty.

Postojna Caves, Slovenia

I have lost count of the number of caves I have visited over the years. Quite unlike caves I have visited in the past, Postojna caves system is unique because the caves tour consists of two parts. First is a 3.5Km long train ride from the cave entrance to the inner caves system and then followed by a one and half hours trekking in the caves covering a distance of 1.5Km. After that, we exit by train again.

The caves networks discovered so far is 24Km long and what is opened to visitors is but a fraction of it. The open roofless train ride is interesting as visitors are taken passed cavern after cavern. Sometimes, the tunnel is so tight we instinctively ducked or lowered our heads to avoid hitting the tunnel ceiling or the stalactite which is just inches away! Just as we thought we were journeying into the Centre of the Earth, the train stopped and we were whisked off to proceed with the trekking. The trekking finally ended at a huge subterranean chamber called the Concert Hall which can hold music events that can accommodate 10,000 spectators!

Getting ready to enter the entrance for train ride.

3.5Km long train ride from entrance to caves
 system to be explored
 (Source:  www.postojnska-jama.eu/en/postojna-cave/).

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Postojna Caves underworld is home to a very strange animal - "blind salamander" that has never seen the sunlight. It is called Olm or Proteus or the "human fish" which the Slovenians like to call it. This ancient creature is said to be able to live up to 100 years and breed only once in a decade. On 26 January 2016, researchers finally achieved success when laid olm eggs were hatched in an aquarium under human-controlled environment. This tank is now kept at a dark area just before visitors enter into the huge subterranean hall before exit by train. Being kept almost in total darkness, it was impossible to see any of them inside the tank.

Olm
Source: francistapon.com/Travels/Eastern-Europe/

For visitors who are unable to see a real olm, there are plenty of olm soft toys to choose from at the souvenirs shops!

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With annual 700,000 visitors, there are clean and well lighted restaurants which await hungry visitors after the tour.

Lake Bled, Slovenia

Slovenia is almost a land-locked nation. It is surrounded by five nations - Hungary in the northeast, Austria in the north, Italy in the west and Croatia in the south-southeast. Its only access to the sea is through a tiny window of land at the southwest corner of the country. From the Gulf of Trieste, it can access to the Adriatic Sea and beyond.

Even almost land-locked, Slovenia is  bestowed with one single island. Surprisingly, this island is  not found outside the tiny strip of coastline at the southwest. This tiny tear-shaped island is found in the heart of Lake Bled at the Julian Alps in the country's northwest.

Lake Bled.

For the visitors, the only mean to the tiny island in the lake is by the pletna boats. This traditional boat has a long history the goes back to the 12th century. In those days, poor farmers staying at the south coast of the lake were asked by the local authority to bring pilgrims to the church on the island in lieu of paying local tax. Later on, the boatmen were granted "servitude right". This right was only granted to 20 families to transport people to the island. From then on, the right was passed down from one generation to the next. The boats over the years have become bigger and better. Its present form is a gondola-liked wooden row boat with a canopy.

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The most visited place in Slovenia is the Pilgrim Church of the Assumption of Mary in Bled island. Upon reaching the jetty, one needs to climb a 99-step stone staircase to reach the church compound. It was said that groom who wished to marry his bride in the church needed to carry her and walk up the 99 steps. Today, the church is popular for tourists as much as a favorite place for wedding couples. 

The compound had had church built since the 9th century. Its present church was renovated at the end of the 17th century after an earthquake.

99-step staircase.

Bell Tower

The first ritual after entering the church is to ring the church bell. It was said that a wish made during the ringing would be answered :). 

After ringing the bell, we moved to climb the clock tower to see the ancient clock.

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A casual stroll around the lake is good exercise to prepare for dinner!

Park Hotel by the lake where we stayed offers stunning

 view of the lake and its surrounding.

Dinner by the lake was a perfect way to end the day. Though having our dinner in awesome ambient, not everyone enjoyed the meals because they were served without sauce - as some complained. But as our guide said, this is intended for diners to enjoy the untainted original taste of each ingredient!