Misty Magic of Plitvice Lakes

Anyone who’s been at least once to Plitvice lakes National park  in Croatia knows the place is stunningly beautiful. No matter if you’re there in the blooming and verdant spring, hot summer, vivid, enchanting autumn or in the cold, barren winter – you’ll always find some magic landscapes. Seasons all have their own mood, their own unique beauty, there’s no favorite one for me. I have already written about the different, not usually seen face of Plitvice and how it can be beautiful even in the rainy winter day. So, I never miss the chance to visit that place, even if that’s just for an hour or two on the grey, late autumn day.

This time we stopped by on our way back from Zagreb to Split. The days are short now, but still there was enough time to pay a quick visit. The weather wasn’t very promising though, dense clouds of fog were hanging above the Lika area whole day and the light was pretty gray and dull. Yet, as we were approaching Plitvice, the fog was getting thicker and closer to the ground. By the time we got there, we barely could see some 20-30 meters ahead. That’s promising – I thought – trees and water always look so great cloaked in fog. So many nice things to shoot.

From the viewpoint above the canyon it didn’t look so good, but I was sure it was nice down there. And I wasn’t wrong…

Magla na Plitvičkim jezerima

I snapped some foliage shots on our way to Kozjak – the largest lake in the park. Some remains of the autumn colors were still there.

Magla na Plitvičkim jezerima

Magla na Plitvičkim jezerima

The nature was so calm and quiet I could hear my own heartbeat. The endless water, fog slowly rising from the water surface, it looked so amazing, I could not stop shooting.

Magla na Plitvičkim jezerima

Despite the thick fog, the boats were still operating. I knew the rangers know the area by heart but still I wondered if they were using GPS navigation to arrive safely… Do they?

One of them had just appeared, disembarked tourists and quickly disappeared again in the distance.

Magla na Plitvičkim jezerima

The people also quickly disappeared somewhere…

Magla na Plitvičkim jezerima

Just a couple of minutes later, another boat appeared. This time, there was a bunch of Japanese tourists (at least I think they were Japanese, I can’t really tell between Japanese, Korean or Chinese, I’m sorry…). But what I can tell is they were really quiet people. They were walking around, quietly talking, shooting, but it was as if they were not there. I’m not used to that quietness with people in Croatia. We’re a bit…hm.. louder? This was nice change.

Magla na Plitvičkim jezerima

Further away from the boat pear I stopped to shoot some more nice landscapes.

Magla na Plitvičkim jezerima

And the grass which was growing on the water forming some cool abstract reflections.

Magla na Plitvičkim jezerima

Meanwhile, Filip was chasing his own photos. My shoes were not suitable for me to join him, so I decided to return to the boat pier.

Magla na Plitvičkim jezerima

Magla na Plitvičkim jezerima

It was getting darker so we decided to go back, I wanted to do some more shots of the misty wood up by the car.

Magla na Plitvičkim jezerima

It looked magic.

Magla na Plitvičkim jezerima

Magla na Plitvičkim jezerima

Before it was time to go, we played with the flashlight some more…

Plitvicka-jezera-magla-17

Plitvicka-jezera-magla-16

Now, let’s just hope we will have a freezing winter so we could come to shoot frozen lakes and waterfalls.