After two days in Split it was time to reach my goal of the whole trip to Croatia, to see Plitvice Lake National Park.  From Spit to Plitvice Lake Nation Park I only had one way to travel to Plitvice and it was by bus. The bus was a horrible experience.  It seem like everyone paid for the ticket but the bus also stop at the other locals bus stop to pick up some of the locals people so even there were not enough seats. The other people will stand in the bus. It was a painfull bus ride I had ever experienced in my life. At that moment I realized that people seem to live a hard life here. It was not that type of luxurious life style like some other countries in Europe. It was a hot summer day in the mediteranian continental and even worse the air conditional did not work so well wiht its over 5 hours bus ride. Oh well...... 

 Traveling by bus is the most common mode of transportation in Croatia. Many farmers live in small towns in the country side so they rely heavily on the buses.  Due to the heavy use of the buses there were no seats, it was packed and it smelled!  To top it all off the bus air conditioning was broken and it was almost 35 degree celsius outside the bus!  I felt like I was in an oven and my trip was going to took over 5 hrs to get to Plitvice Lake National Park. It was a long tough ride.

When the bus finally arrived at the national park everybody get off the bus - I was the only one independent traveler on that bus.  The rest of the people of the bus we part of a large tour group and had their planned excursions for the day. 



  I got off in the middle of the road without a sign of travel information or anything to direct me anywhere.  All I see were the road and trees.  At this point I am so tired after that almost 6 hour hot oven-like bus ride. I was exhausted.  After walking some I came across a hotel sign that was not so far from the bus stop where I got off. I was giving up to look for the place that I had booked and I was really cranky after all so I went into the hotel that I passed by to asked if there was any room available but since It was a peak season so the lady who work at the concierge told me there wasn't any room available so I started to ask her about the place that I have booked. She was very kind and show me on the map. However the concierge was exceedingly nice and offered to help me out. She asked me to wait for her 45 minutes and she would drive me to the hotel I booked.  The place was 3 kilometers away.  What a wonderful person to meet, she even let someone carry my bag to her car.



  Given the transportation troubles I was having I asked her about a private car service n the area  - there was no way I was going to get back on a bus at this point.  Luck was really with me yet again.  The concierge’s boyfriend had and drove a service car – no more bus for me!  I agreed with her to hire her boyfriend to drive me from National Park to Zagreb the capital city of Croatia – a 2 hour drive.  So much easier… on my way to the national park – finally my dream come true.



  My dream came true - I got to see one of the most beautiful national parks in the world. I rent a bicycle and ride from where I stayed to National Park. It was nice and relaxing. I spent the whole day in Plitvice Lakes National Park hiking and photographing. I bought a map and followed the trails. There were so magnificent ares with their own pristine nataural beauties. The lakes were so clear and birght blue, cave and waterfalls were high and the sounds of waterfall were powerful. I was having a wonderful time there. I also had launch there before I took a boat crossing the lake to the another side of the lake where I could continue on another hiking trail. There was an area where I could sit back and dipped my feet in the lake where they were so many fish swimming around and the ducks waiting for people to throw them some breads. Finally I was thinking to myself how could I traveled this far to pursued my dream destination but I have made here to Plitvice. It was a long journey to get there but I made it happen. I spent the whole day walking and photographing in the national park. I assumed that the later it gets the less people were there so It was great for me to take some of the great shots without people all around, until the Plitvice Lakes was closing for the evening than I rided my bike back to the location where I styled and I quite love the architecture of the county houses in this town. It was unique and kind of reminded me my trip to Austria.

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 Finally the inspiration of this trip to Croatia was the curiosity of mind that I wanted to visit Plitvice Lakes National Park. It wasn't and easy trip during hot summer in the bus during 5 hours ride and air condition was broken but I have made it here to my dream destination. I just though to myself I am crazy enough to travel through places I want and it can be very challenging but I was glad that I visited to Plitvice Lakes National Park. It was remarkable.