Bus from PLITVICE LAKES to BIJELJINA

Plitvice Lakes National Park is one of the oldest national parks in Southeast Europe and the largest national park in Croatia. The national park is world-famous for its lakes arranged in cascades, and 16 lakes can be seen from the surface.

The national park was founded in 1949 and is situated in the mountainous karst area of central Croatia.

The Plitvice Lakes originate in the south of the park area at the confluence of Bijela Rijeka (English White River) and Crna Rijeka (English Black River). These rivers originate south of the municipality of Plitvički Ljeskovac and unite at one of the bridges in this village.

In 1979, Plitvice Lakes National Park was added to the UNESCO World Heritage register.

The protected area extends over 296.85 square kilometres (73,350 acres). About 90% of this area is part of Lika-Senj County, while the remaining 10% is part of Karlovac County. The lakes are separated into an upper and lower cluster formed by runoff from the mountains, descending from an altitude of 636 to 503 m (2,087 to 1,650 ft) over a distance of some eight km, aligned in a south-north direction. The lakes collectively cover an area of about two square kilometres (0.77 square miles), with the water exiting from the lowest lake forming the Korana River.

The name Plitvice was first mentioned in a written document in 1777 by Dominik Vukasović, the priest of Otočac. This name was designated due to natural phenomena that have created the lakes. Nature formed shallow basins (Croatian pličina or plitvak, plitko means shallow), which have been filled with water. For centuries, water has changed the limestone and thus the landscape of this area.

The overall water body area of the national park is about 2 km2 (0.77 sq mi). The two largest lakes, Prošćansko jezero and Kozjak, cover about 80 percent of the overall water body area. These lakes are also the deepest, with a depth of 37 and 47 metres (121 and 154 ft) respectively. On Lake Kozjak, low-noise and ecologically-friendly electric boats are being used. None of the other lakes in the park exceeds 25 metres (82 feet) in depth. The altitude drop from the first lake to the last is 133 metres (436 feet).

The 16 lakes that can be seen from the surface are grouped into the 12 Upper Lakes (Gornja jezera) and the four Lower Lakes (Donja jezera).

The Plitvice Lakes national park is heavily forested, mainly with beech, spruce, and fir trees, and features a mixture of Alpine and Mediterranean vegetation. It has a notably wide variety of plant communities, due to its range of microclimates, differing soils and varying levels of altitude.

Scientists have so far listed 1,267 different plants out of 109 species that can be found within the area of the national park. 75 plants are endemic, which means that they have first been defined and classified in this area of the world or not far from it.

For reasons of the poor industrial development of this region and early introduced protection measures, a nearly untouched landscape has been preserved. In the partially primeval beech and fir forests various rare species, such as the brown bear have survived. At the Plitvice Lakes, all species continue to exist that have already existed before the coming of man. This is a rare case worldwide.

Bijeljina is the city and center of the municipality of the same name in the northeastern part of the Republic of Srpska. The municipality's area is 734 km² and the total population is approximately 114,663. The city is the historical center of Semberija and one of the richest cities of Bosnia and Herzegovina. As a fertile plain town, it is one of the centers for the production and trade of food. Bijeljina is recognizable by the spacious central square, whose beauty enhances the pleasant ambience of the City Park.

In May 2012, the Government of the Republic of Srpska made a decision to change the status of the municipality of Bijeljina by which Bijeljina was granted the status of the city in 1992.

In the area of ​​Bijeljina municipality, for now the oldest confirmed traces of human life originate from the young Stone Age (5000-3000 BC). Remains from the period of the Neolithic, Bronze and Iron Age and Antique period were also recorded. Locations Gradac and Agricultural Land were searched in Batković, Glavičice, Kućerina in Dvorovi, Kočinovac village, Brodić in Triješnica, and from the ancient period, a Roman villa was discovered at the location of Prekaja in Brodac, and in Velika Obarska was found a lead tile of cult purposes with a play 'Danubian horsemen'.

The most famous Old Serbian and Old Slavic site was explored on both sides of Bistrica between the villages of Batković and Ostojićevo and consisted of 4 localities between the 7th and 12th centuries. It is especially important that a large complex of workshops in the metallurgical settlement where the ancestors in the 8th century dissolved iron and produced iron tools was explored at the Čelopek locality, as clearly evidenced by the finding of the gus - graphite pot kept in the Bijeljina Museum. At this time, the settlement of Bistrica, the likely name of Bistrica, was undoubtedly the center of the parish which encompassed the entire plain before Bijeljina emerged.

The first mention of the name Bijeljina is lost in the distant past. In the "Yearbook of Pop Dukljanin" one victory of Zahumski prince Bele - Pavlimiro against Hungarians "is mentioned in the Belina plain". Today in science it is believed that the first sure significance of the settlement of Bijeljina was that of March 3, 1446, when a Dubrovnik merchant was robbed by the people of Ilica Ban.

Bijeljina is a rare city that has only changed the entire population in only the last 500 years. For the first time it was with the arrival of the Turks in 1520, and the second time with the arrival of the Austrians in 1716. According to the Zvornik Sandzak census in 1533, only 4 villages are mentioned in the abandoned Bijeljina region: Cetvrtkovište, Mirkovci (Dašnica), Grm (Galac) and Čukojevići (Modran) with 55 houses in total. In the next census of 1548, there were 17 villages with 772 houses, of which 554 were Orthodox and 218 Muslim. From this time also is the oldest building in the Bijeljina municipality, which is the spiritual center of the Serbs of this region - the Tavna Monastery, the non-Banjanic endowment.