Expectation vs Reality - Croatia
A few months ago a Facebook friend posted some photos with the caption ‘Actual paradise’. Picture blue skies, crystal clear water shimmering a perfect turquoise, and scenes that looked like they had been swiped straight from a postcard. I googled. I found it - Plitvice National Park in Croatia.
Since I was headed to Europe, this seemed totally feasible. A stop in paradise - what more could a girl ask for? I booked in four nights at a nearby cottage and spent my days dreaming of that huge blue sky, the water a colour so vivid that I wasn’t sure it would be real, waterfalls caressing the pristine green hillside, and me wandering under the glistening sunshine as I explored its beauty.
The week is finally here, but the vivid pictures I had painted in my mind are not. There is no blue sky. There is no turquoise water. There is no glistening sunshine.
I booked four nights here to safeguard myself against a day of bad weather, but the forecast for my entire stay in Plitvice National Park is rain and a top of 10-13 degrees.
So instead of walking through my pictured paradise, I am experiencing something quite different.
There is mist hovering just above the calm surface of the lakes, as if it is scared to touch the water’s beauty lest it dissolve from the touch. Instead it is suspended there like an apparition, rising to wind its way through the mountains, creating a sense of otherworldliness that makes me feel as if I am walking in the lands of Peter Pan. I walk past crystal clear water and, looking down, I could just as easily be looking through a pane of glass, watching the fish and fallen trees for metres below.
I have stretches of walking trails completely to myself, allowing me to walk in silence, let out an exclamation of delight as I find another piece of unexpected beauty in the landscape, or simply smile to myself as I wander over low bridges splashing waterfalls across my feet. The once-green leaves are gradually turning a myriad of shades of yellow and auburn as Autumn claims the landscape, bringing brightness to a cloudy day.
Life doesn’t always look like the picture in your head, but it does always contain beauty. I feel so blessed to be here, in any weather, and to see a different side of Plitvice Lakes from the postcards.
I can’t wait to don my raincoat and explore again tomorrow, and in the meantime, hot tea and a warm shower have never felt so good.
