On our way to Plitvice (Plit-bish-ka) Lakes National Park, we made a brief stop in Rastoke about 30 minutes from the park.   This village is built on waterfalls and used to be a mill town.  The first mill was in the 17th century and at its peak, there were 22 mills in Rastoke.  The mills were used to grind corn, barley, millet, rye, oats and wheat.  There are still some mills today but very few.

As you can see, it is a quiet little village “off the beaten track”!

This was actually someone’s home. I could easily picture myself living here! The road was a dead end. 

At the end of the road, we had a view of the Korana River.  I was lucky to be able to get this zoom shot of the gray heron sunning in the river.

The Korona River is a blessing and a curse.  It is a blessing because the power generated from the water turned the grinding stones at the mill.  It is a curse because in March of 1914, a huge slide of a calcareous rock barrier slid due to the undercutting by the river.  This hindered the flow of the river and forever changed two large waterfall.

The “curse” of man has affected Rastoke by the damage caused during the war.  The Serbs when they occupied this village threw explosives into the Buk Waterfall severely damaging it.  While buildings can be repaired, sadly things of nature cannot be restored.

It was a lovely place to stretch our legs after riding for 1 1/2 hours from Zagreb.