Bus from POREČ to PLITVICE LAKES

Poreč (Parenzo, Parents or Parentium) is a town in Croatia located on the west coast of the peninsula of Istria.

Poreč is at 45.2258 degrees north latitude and 13.593 degrees eastern length. It lies at an altitude of 29 meters.

The city, which is almost two thousand years old, is located in the harbor which is protected by the isle of St. Nicholas. In the city itself according to the population census in 2011 there are 9.790 inhabitants, most of them live in suburbs. The city of Poreč, as a whole, has a total of 16,696 inhabitants according to the same 2011 census. The town of Poreč belongs to three islands and / or islets classified as MPNN (small, occasional and uninhabited islands and islets): Altijež, Regata, Sveti Nikola and six smaller altitudes (curves of different shapes and sizes): Barbaran, Butaceja , Karbula, Safarel, Žontuja and Žontujić.

Although unknown outside the borders of Europe, Poreč has been one of the main centers of Croatian tourism since the 1970s. Poreč's thirty hotels, 13 campsites, nudist camps, 16 apartment complexes, villas, bungalows and family houses. It's an incredible number given the size of the city itself. The tourist infrastructure is deliberately scattered along the 37-kilometer coast between Mirna and the Lim Channel. In the south there are large independent centers like Blue Laguna, Green Laguna, White Cove and Brulo. To the north are Materada, Cervar Porat, Ulika and Lanterna. More than 30% of tourists are staying here on the west coast of Istria as the most intensive tourist destination in Croatia. This summer "suburb" has its own hotels, beaches, campsites, marinas, department stores, transportation facilities, playgrounds, entertainment and various shops. In the summer season in Porestina, there are also 120,000 people temporarily. As people swim outside the city during the day, in the evening there is a tourist boom in the old town, which is then full of walkers from all European countries, and services are offered to them by shops, restaurants, disco clubs and bars, as well as numerous galleries.

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.