Tuesday, July 25, 2006

YUGOSLAVIA - JUNE 1980 - III

FROM POSTOJNA TO PLITVICE (CROATIA)

CROATIA

TRAVELLING IN THE "MAGISTRALE ADRIATICA"


"KRALJEVICA - Located at the south edge of Bakar Bay, near the point where the island of KRK is closest to the coast, 26Km south of RiJeka on the road towards Zadar"


"KRALJEVICA - Named Portorium on the 15th century, it lies on a slight inclined slope, and seems to have a favourable climate, which made it a tourist destination since the 19th century"


"MAGISTRALE ADRIATICA"


"SENJ and KRK - View towards the sea. SENJ, the old Senia, is the oldest town on the Croatian coast, between the Velebit and Kapela mountains. The island KRK, what a name, is in the Bay of Kvarner, and is the biggest island in the Adriatic"


"Near SENJ - View towards the mountains"

***

PLITVICE LAKES - UNESCO WORLD HERITAGE SITE

The Plitvice Lakes were inscribed in the UNESCO WORLD HERITAGE LIST IN 1979, just a few months before these pictures were taken.


"PLITVICE LAKES - The first Croatian National Park, definitely a Must!"


"From all perspectives, Beautiful!"


"Posing. One of my favourite photos ever"


"Matching greens"


"Nature creates waterfalls"


"Can't stop loving..."


"Home lakes to the brown trout, a gourmet's delicacy"


"In Perfect harmony"


"Ice-white waterfalls. There are no words to describe the colours of these lakes"

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi Matthias, Thanks for your comment.
As far as Plitvice is concerned, you probably noticed that the pictures in my blog are from a pre-digital era, i.e., from 1980! They were taken only some months after the Lakes were inscribed in the WHC list. By that time I can assure you that the site was in very good condition, and actually deserved to be seen. Twenty five years later, and taking into account the vicissitudes of life in the region, it is not possible for me to guarantee anything about it. Anyhow, the WH Committee decided to remove this site from the List of World Heritage in Danger in 1997, and approved in 2000 the extension of Plitvice Lakes National Park site by the area of 10,020 ha, which probably means that the site is in good shape!... It’s amazing, but during this 1980 trip to former Yugoslavia I’ve visited the three already existing WH sites – Plitvice, Split and Dubrovnik -, and one to be – Trogir (1997). I hope to have the chance to re-visit them in the near future.
Meanwhile, I visited your site and found it very instructive and helpful. Being an almost compulsive traveller, when I can - it shows from the three “Blogtrotter” blogs already in existence - and interested in UNESCO’s WH sites, I particularly appreciated your post on Cinque Terre, the photo of Manarola and the discussion on that site, one of my favourite spots in Italy. I’ll post some photos of my last passage through the region in the Blogtrotter.
This year, however, I missed one chance of visiting WH site at Borobudur, Indonesia, while vacationing in Bali. May be one next time, once the bird flu is controlled...
Take care, and continue your interesting work.

Nick said...

A beautiful place, then and now. I first visited Plitvice in 1995, just 3 weeks after the area was retaken from the Krijena Serbs by the Croatian army. Although the buildings had been looted during the Serb occupation (strange for people who had declared it a 'Serb national treasure' that they would show off to the world) and most of the signposts had bullet holes, it was still an incredibly beautiful, unspoiled place. It was only open for a couple of days - so that the Croatian president could visit and crow about getting it back for Croatia - and was largely empty of people, so we wandered about unhindered. Only later did we discover that the park had been mined by the Serb occupiers and the mines remained uncleared!

Anonymous said...

Nick,
what an experience... I must confess that ours was much more safe and peaceful. A great place indded, though the photos were scanned from paper and taken with a very old camera...

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Trotter said...

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