The reason I enjoy wriiting my blog so much is that I am able to find new and beautiful places that most people have never heard before. The crazy part is that all I do is search in Google is breathtaking places to see before I die. This weeks beautiful place is Plitvice Lakes, Croatia.

The Plitvice Lakes are held and protected in a national park called Plitvice Lakes National Park. This national park is the oldest national park in Southeast Europe and the largest national park in Croatia. The national park, which was founded in 1949, is situated in the mountainous area of central Croatia to the border of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Every year about 1.2 million people visit to see the beautiful sights that the national park can offer them. Entrance to the park is subject to variable charges, up to 180 kuna or around $32USD per adult in peak season.

The national park is world famous for its lakes arranged in cascades. Currently, 16 lakes can be seen from the surface. The lakes are famous and known for their distinctive colors, ranging from azure to green, grey or blue. The colors change constantly depending on the quantity of minerals or organisms in the water and the angle of sunlight. This beautiful location also breeds life to many animals. The area of the national park is home to an extremely wide variety of animal and bird species. Rare fauna such as the European brown bear, wolf, eagle, owl, lynx, wildcat, and capercaillie can be found there, along with many more common species.

For the history buffs like myself, in 1493, not far away from the Plitvice Lakes, a decisive battle in Croatian history between the Austrian and Ottoman Empire took place. During the Battle of Krbava Field almost the entire Croatian nobility was killed. The Ottomans were advancing far into Western lands up to Croatia and Hungary. In 1527, the Croatian Parliament elected the Habsburg monarch Ferdinand, Archduke of Austria as the new king of Croatia in the hope of resources to defeat and stop the Ottoman advances. In 1528, the area fell to the Ottomans and was retaken by the Habsburg Empire 150 years later.

In order to make sure you have a couple of days to see the great lakes, Hotel Dejenija is a great place to stay with four and a half stars. It is a great location for the park and its waterfalls. It is a great place to stay with clean linens, great accommodations and of course English speaking and polite staff. It is also well known in Croatia that the food service in this hotel is second to none. The rooms are also huge which a very good price rate at seventy-dollar price per night. If I were to go to Plitvice Lakes National Park, Hotel Dejenija is where I would stay for sure.