Croatia Must Visit – Plitvice Lakes

Stunning, Stunning, Stunning.. Guess that’s all i can say for this beautiful Plitvice Lakes.

I never thought that i’ll be here someday. Well, i love to travel. But sometimes your mind limit you. Things like, ‘Croatia is too far away from my home country’, ‘Is Croatia Save’, ‘Who’s gonna go with me, since i don’t do solo-travel’, and other random thoughts. Well, maybe it’s true that you proximity place a huge part. Like, you will feel safer when you travel to place that is near / familiar to you, or at least speak the same language.

I knew Plitvice Lakes for quite sometime ago, it just keep showing up on our local TV when they cover like, ’10 Best waterfall in the world’ or sth similar like it. And as the world is getting closer (thanks to the internet) i kind see it more often. Things become, a little bit familiar, you somehow know some stuff about Croatia, it might be super random, like Game of Thrones shooting place that took place in Croatia for example. But hey, at least we know something about Croatia. Haha.. and i actually quite amazed as well to know that travel industry in Indonesia is getting wider. Sometime ago, many Indonesians may not know about Croatia at all. Like some westerners who does not know where Indonesia is. haha.. But now, Croatia turns into a popular destination for avid Indonesian travellers.

Okay, let’s move on to my stunning first destination in Croatia. Plitvice Lakes National Park is one of Croatia most unique destination. It has 16 interconnecting lakes that has stunning turquoise water that you can stare all day long, and to top that they have 90 waterfalls with different sizes, with stunning viewpoints for you take pictures. more over if you are a drone pilot, guess it will be even more jaw dropping.

Plitvice Lakes is so huge that you cannot finished it all in one day. This pretty place became protected national park back in 1949, and since 1979 the place is also listed as UNESCO World Heritage Site. Many people visit Plitvice Lakes National Park either from Zagreb or from Zadar and Split. As for us, we travelled by the tour bus all from Zagreb, which takes about 2-3 hrs to reach Plitvice.

We went there in March, where the weather is still pretty cold for us Indonesian, since we live in tropical country. So, we were still wearing long-john, long shirt and a coat. I know it may sounds ridiculous for some of you, but 9 degrees was quite cold. Haha. Luckily the sun shined brightly that day, and the 5KM walk made us feel quite warm. >.<

As i said before, this lake is so stunning. If i stay nearby, i might go to jog everyday (eventhough) i am not a sporty person. haha.. Well, come on, they have pretty lakes, nice trail, fresh air, serene atmosphere, i bet most of us would love to jog here, or bring a nice book to read by the lake.

Oh, if you love to jog or hike or simple want to explore the whole lakes section of the park, they have special 18,3KM trail for you to conquer. As for my trip, since i went with a tour group, we took the shortest route.

The shortest route is 5,2 KM long, and it takes you along the Upper Lakes, all the way to the Proscansko Jezero, and end the trip with short boat ride across the Kozjak Lake. and the shortest route takes about 2 to 3 hours. I think this route is Not that psychically demanding, since my dad easily gets tired and still can walk through it (of course with a lot of stops too)

Apparently Plitvice lakes entrance fee is always changing from season to season. Why so? Cause too many visitors come during summer time, and less visitors during winter time. Clearly people love to spend their summer here, so if want a less crowded timing, then you should avoid July-August.

All i can say is, this is worth the visit if you’re travelling to Croatia. Plitvice Lakes National Park might be one of your unforgettable place. Probably the only advise from me is to bring your own drink and pee before you go in, cause you’ll have a hard time to find a cafe / vending machine and a toilet. haha

I guess nuff said. Enjoy the beautiful pictures below, everyone! ❤

UK : Stonehenge – The Mysterious Place (VLOG)

If i can time travel, i think i would want to go back to the time whereby Stonehenge was constructed. 3000 BC to 2000 BC. I am still amazed and felt so curious on how the people or giant back then set up all these crazily heavy stones. With each stones weighing about 25 tons with 3metres high and 2 meters wide.

I kept circling and looking at those stones, and got mind-blown by it. Somehow it just captivates me. Too bad, we cannot get near it. We can only admire it from a far. (except Michael Bay and Transformer autobots) Haha.

For some reason, they prohibit us to bring our own transport near the mega-stones. So, we need to park our cars in their allocated parking lot, and wait for their shuttle bus to bring us there, or if you like to walk and enjoy the green pasture, you can walk from the ticketing place as well. But it may take a while, since it’s pretty far from the pick-up point. One reason that i heard from the people there is, they want to minimize the pollution around the stones. So, even though the shuttle has dropped you at the drop-off point, you still have to walk for 5-10 more minutes to get near to the stones.

There are so many stories behind this UNESCO HERITAGE SITE. Like legend said that Cyclops giant brought over the stones and arranged it there, cause no one is big and strong enough to move this kind of stones. Another story is the high priest of Celts constructed these for sacrificial ceremonial. Then, some other said that it was built by someone who has a strong astronomical background, who built this to tell us the time and calendar.

No one really know who and how this megalithic pre-historic monuments was built and for what purpose. But since it’s already there, i think it’s our part to take care of this mysterious world assets. and Thank you England for conserving this so well up till today. Such an amazing place indeed. Feels like you can get a lot of inspirations if you linger there longer with some beer and picnic. Haha. Love the spacious green field, the noise-free and the clear sky and the cold breeze.

Unhappiest Place On Earth

When Disneyland claimed to be the Happiest place on earth, i guess Nazi concentration camp can be titled as vice-versa. If you know Dementor (one of Harry Potter’s creature), the spirit who can take away all the happiness away, it feels like a troop of Dementor is already standing in very front of parking area and sucking all my happiness away.

The gloomy weather on that day, added the sadness. I cant even smile at all. I guess even the joker will be left silent when they enter this place that has been turned to holocaust museum.

I am sure everyone knows about the despicable history of Hitler and the Nazi party that he put up. My first thought when i reached this enormous camp is, How can someone convince almost a whole European to kill a tribe that did no wrong? That one person’s hatred can cause so much of terrifying nightmare..

Nazi Concentration camp has three places, Auschwitz I, II and III, that located not far from each other. This camp is enormously huge that it can be a town of its own.

Auschwitz I  (The Main Camp)

Previously was a Polish prison that turned up to be the first and oldest camp in 1940. It was then expanded according to the needs of the camp. Below is the picture of the front lawn, before we entered the camp.

Before we enter this camp, there are quite a tight security check that for our bags, and big backpacks are not allowed to be in. They have a place for you to store your things at the main entrance. I will suggest you to bring smaller bags, since i heard this place always crowded with tourist from all over the world, so it will make you wait a little longer as well to store your things.

The main gate with ‘Arbeit Macht Freit’ signage, that means ‘Work will set you Free’. What the Jews know, they were sent here to ‘work’. They did not know that they are entering a man-made Hell.

An eerie feeling creeped in when i entered the barrack complex. And the hugeness of this place, make it doesnt look crowded anymore like i saw in the entrance. They have so many barracks here for the inmates, the security barracks, the store rooms, Dr Mengale ‘research rooms’, the gas chambers and the crematories.

Hitler and Dr Mengele already briefed their team to kill those who were unfit for work like the elderly, the sick, women and children to the gas chamber. And the men, twins and others were for work and for Dr Mengele crazy experiments.

We can explore most of the barracks that now turned into photography exhibitions and other exhibition such as the Nazi’s documents and things that were brought by the Jews when they came to the camp. But there are some areas that we cant capture, for example, the place where they store all the Jewish hair that was meant to be sold to make sweaters or blanket.

When i was observing and thinking how cruel the German was in that ‘hair exhibition’, my group was just taking a look and gone just like that, and suddenly i found myself alone in that exhibition. I was quite panicked, since i dont wanna be left alone in that barrack, and ran to find them. And for a while, i was lost in the middle of the barrack complex. Luckily i saw my brother from a far who was busy taking picture on the other alley, and got back together with my tour group. ~Fiuhh~

I can imagine how scared and confused for them who tried to escape from this hell. Even now at the daylight, it is difficult to find the way out. Every alley looks similar with all the big trees planted beside the barracks.

The three pictures above was the gas that was used to kill the Jews in the gas chamber, The Gas Chamber, and the Crematories.

The Jews were told to put off their clothes and get some shower, they did not know that it will be the last ‘shower’ in their life. Instead of water that supposed to come out, it was the poisonous gas of Zyklon B (that was used as fertilizer and insect killers).

One of the SS (Nazi guards) said that he can heard loud screaming from the gas chamber when the gas was released. They were fighting to live as well. But too bad, no one survived the deadly chemical that made them suffocated. After they died, the guards will bald them, and cremate them immediately. About 1,1 million of Jews were died in this camp.

Auschwitz II – Birkenau 

About 3 km from Auschwitz, there were one Polish village. Since Auschwitz I cannot take more prisoners, the Germans expelled the villagers and demolished their houses to build another concentration camp that is bigger than Auschwitz I. The largest installation of mass murder that was built in 1941.

Above picture is the mass toilet that was used during time. Our guide said that actually this was the safest place back then. Since the place was so filthy, the Germans seldom went in to check how they were doing. Normally the Jews will exchange informations here, and the one who was assigned here was considered lucky because they can keep themselves warm instead of working outside.

Some of them tried to escape to the forrest behind (as you can see from below picture), but no one know if they managed to ran away.

This camp is about 1.5 hours of bus trip from Krakow City, Poland. I was on a tour from Jakarta, Indonesia. I researched that you can take train to Auschwitz as well, but you have to take another public transport, since Auschwitz train station is located 2 km away from the camp. I saw a bus station in front of the parking lot when we about to reach the camp, so probably taking a public bus would be a better choice.

If you decided to go on your own, there’s shuttle bus to go from Auschwitz I to Birkenau, but public buses only available outside Auschwitz I, so do take note the timing.

The entrance to this museum is free, but if you need guided tour, you can see this link for more informations. There are many day tour to this place as well when you reached Krakow City, if you dont want the hassle.

They do sell some food in Auschwitz I, so do not worry if you get a little hungry after hours of visiting. But do take note that they only receive ZL (Polish Zloty). So make sure you changed your currency before going to Poland. Else it will be difficult for you to buy things and use the toilet.

And for those of you who love to read, they are one bookstore outside Auschwitz II – Birkenau that sells everything about the camp. And it is available in many translations. I think i can spend an hour to just browse through the bookstore. Finally i decided to bring home this book, and finished this in 2 days time. Such a moving story.

 

 ~ The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing ~ Edmund Burke

All pictures (mostly unedited) and video are taken by Sony RX1oo iii.