Plitvice National Park, Croatia

Plitvice Lakes National Park, Croatia

Plitvice is the oldest national park in Southeast Europe, the largest in Croatia, and most noticeably, it doesn't look like anything out of Europe, much less Croatia. Now that Plitvice is a World Heritage Site, it will remain in a state much like it was when it was first opened in 1949—aside from the occasional walkway.

A view of Plitvice Lakes National Park

The park harbors a grand collection of waterfalls, gallery of lakes, forest and diversity of animal life. The lakes are renowned 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. The sixteen lakes which are formed by natural dams of travertine are separated into upper and lower lakes.

Thousands of people from all over the world visit the Park during summer. They come to find peace and relaxation just to experience something different as a getaway from the city.

Hiking is a common activity with organized programs for park visitors, other possible activities include: electric boat and train ride, cycling, skiing and rowing.

Skaftafell, Iceland

Skaftafell National Park was a national park, situated between Kirkjubæjarklaustur, typically referred to as Klaustur, and Höfn in the south of Iceland.

Later it became a part of the larger Vatnajökull National Park.

The centuries old ice coming down the slopes of Öræfajökull via Svínafellsjökull glacier has had almost all of the air pressed out of the ice. Once air has been pressed out the ice turns into this magically blue crystal like ice. The outer surface of this ice (the surface of the glacier) gets bombarded by weather, sun-rays, dust and other things and it transforms the crystal blue ice white. Hidden under the white surface is blue ice.

Blue Ice of Skeftafell

The waters flowing over the limestone and chalk have, over thousands of years, deposited travertine barriers, creating natural dams which in turn have created a series of beautiful lakes, caves and waterfalls. These geological processes continue today. The forests in the park are home to bears, wolves and many rare bird species.

The Plitvice Lakes basin is a geomorphologic formation of biological origin, a karst river basin of limestone and dolomite, with approximately 20 lakes, created by the deposition of calcium carbonate precipitated in water through the agency of moss, algae and aquatic bacteria. These create strange, characteristic shapes and contain travertine-roofed and vaulted caves. The carbonates date from the Upper Trias, Juras and Cretaceous Ages and are up to 4,000 m thick. In order to maintain and preserve the natural characteristics of the lakes, the whole of surface and most of the subterranean drainage system has to be embraced by extending the original borders of the park. The new areas comprise layers of karstified limestone with dolomites of Jurassic age.