From October 24th to 26th we went on a three-day field trip to Lika and Hrvatsko primorje. We visited Rastoke, Plitvice Lakes National Park, Grabovača Cave Park, Gacka Valley and ended our tour in the surrounding coastal area – Senj and Novi Vinodolski. We were accommodated at the Park Hotel in Otočac.

The first day started off with the beautiful watermill village of Rastoke, the place where Korana and Slunjčica meet and where we enjoyed the view of the breath-taking waterfalls. The prettiest one was the Fairy’s Hair. After lunch we continued our tour in the Plitvice Lakes National Park where we admired the natural beauty of waterfalls and lakes during our walk combined with the boat and train ride. We saw the grandest Veliki slap (Great Waterfall), a must see for any visitor.

The second day started with visiting the beautiful Gacka springs and an area known as Majerovo vrilo where we got to know the traditional methods of milling grains using the millstones and the force of the river. We could even buy the home-made flavour. After this field lesson we went on a bicycle tour along the Gacka Valley. While enjoying the magnificent view of the Gacka Valley we cycled on the traffic-free rural road and off-road through forests, across green fields and along the river. Afterwards we went bowling, which was very fun. Unfortunately, we couldn’t go kayaking due to bad weather, but bowling turned out to be even more exciting.  

After sport-packed morning and lunch we headed to the Grabovača Cave Park to visit the Samograd Cave. Samograd Cave is the biggest and only touristic cave within the Park's area and the further we went, the more astonished we became. The cave has been lighted so that all stalactites and stalagmites, cave balconies and cave curtains became even more dramatic and we felt even smaller between these immense walls. We were amazed by the fact that the tallest stalagmite was over 20 metres tall and it took about 50 years for the stalagmite to grow 1 millimetre. The cave is 346 metres long and has 474 stairs. The deepest point of the cave is 53 metres below the surface and the tallest point is 30 metres high. After this amazing cave exploring we participated in the educational-ecological workshops. We learnt how to orientate in the nature using a compass, map and GPS.

On the third day we visited the Nehaj Fortress in the town of Senj. This 465-year-old fortress was the key place for the Senj Uskoks when they were defending their town, and now is the symbol of the town of Senj. We saw a big collection of weapons, clothing and other artefacts on each floor as we made our way to the top of the fortress, where we admired a spectacular view of Senj and the Croatian coast.

We continued our journey in the town of Novi Vinodolski. The name, Novi Vinodolski, comes from the nearby Vinodol Channel and is relatively recent. Before the town was simply called ‘Novi’. We saw the Francopan Castle where the ‘Vinodol Code’, the first Croatian law code was written in the Glagolitic script. After lunch we enjoyed the sunny weather and spending some time at the seaside after exploring the mountain region and before coming back home to Zagreb.

This field trip was very enjoyable. The best part was the village of Rastoke, Grabovača Cave Park and bowling. We are all looking forward to or next field trip :)

Zofia & Klara (MYP Journalist Group)