Krka National Park

Here the paths took to the dirt, allowing a bit more freedom, and speed, as we headed towards whatever we had gotten ourselves into. The information booklet had a picture of a waterfall as well as information about hiking paths that go around the lake. Great, we thought. After traversing the next row of souvenirs and salespeople, we arrived…at one of the most spectacular waterfalls I have seen. It was stunning! The water cascaded through, around and over rocks and boulders with trees tentatively holding onto their tiny footholds. Absolutely gorgeous!

With the crowds of people (those long lines had now become huge crowds of people) attempting to swim in the small, rocky, quite crowded area making swimming quite unappealing, we decided to take the longer of the trails and walk around the mountainside. Well…I should have kept those long lines in mind. Our definition of trails and Croatian definition of trails do not match. We pictured dirt paths, winding up the mountain, opportunity to see wildlife, quiet stretches of mountain, the chance to really strike out on our own. Huh! What we found were long lines, people spread out everywhere, boardwalks to shuffle along but also more and more and more spectacular waterfalls, creeks, and ponds.

The paths were designed to guide you from one spectacular view to the next. Sometimes we found ourselves right next to a rushing fall with the splashing water droplets landing on hot faces, other times an over view of the falls from a different perspective. At times it was the rushing rapids moving quickly towards the falls we had just passed or perhaps a placid pool where dragonflies flittered about. Oh those dragonflies. They were a spectacular blue color, striking against the greens of the plants. I really wanted a picture of one, particularly with its wings open. I stood there, camera on a perched dragonfly, it moved, I snapped, it was gone long before the picture was taken. Tried again, and again. Finally hit on the idea of just snapping pictures at large groups of dragonflies, figuring I might catch one at some time. When I got home, I discovered I had gotten exactly one picture out of about 100 shots of green reeds in the water with blue blurs. Love digital cameras!