This is my first review on this website so it seemed logical to start with my first (knowingly) visit of a WHS. I still rank it as one of the best I have ever been. It's a site with a real "Wow-factor". At least it was for me. Since than I've been looking for more.

We made the trip in september 2010 from a holidayresort in the town of Pula. It’s about a 2 hour drive from there to Plitvice. A tour still vivid in our memory because of the route TomTom told us to drive. Along the tourist coastline the roads are perfectly fine but we found out that the same couldn't be said about the small paths leading through lovely burt down, war-torn villages a bit further in land. It was 15 years after the war but it seemed there was still a lot of repairwork to do. It made us quiet for a while but that soon changed when we were in the park.

Plitvice with its wonderful lakes and waterfalls is fantastic! I remember how surprised we were to see such an unspoiled piece of nature. We would have expected this on a far, far away island in the deep ocean but not in (our) industrialized Europe. Being raised in the city we had a very limited worldview I quess.

We were brought up the hill by a shuttle bus and as soon as we were dropped off we started admiring the landscape in awe. Crystal clear water was running down the hill in a lush green environment. In the magical blue and green coloured lakes plenty of trout was swimming. It was like a fairytale and we were constantly looking around trying to spot a fairy or troll. If these fantasy creatures do exist, we figured, this would be the place where they would be living.

All in all we spent a very pleasant day in the park and, on the way back to our car, we were complimenting ourselves that we had finally done something usefull. Instead of yet another day at the beach we had enriched ourselves with something special. A natural wonder. A WHS. We agreed to this more often and with that satisfying smile on our faces we started the car. It was the end of our beautiful day.

Whatever we tried the car refused to do what it was supposed to do. Not the best of moments in a fast darker getting forest with nobody around. On top of that we found out that our phones were nearly empty. "and honey, where did you leave the telephone number of the carhelp? Me, I thought you had it!"

I will spare you the rest but till this day it is one of those stories which comes up every now and than. We did make it back though. Thrilled of the adventures we experienced we started to look for more sites to visit. It was the start of a long quest.