You’ve probably heard about the Plitvice Lakes National Park in Croatia. Well, you could consider Rastoke as a warm up for Plitvice. It’s close to Plitvice, smaller but equally beautiful.
It is a place located on the suburb of the town Slunj. It features a crossing point of rivers Slunjcica and Korana. The root word of the name Rastoke is “rastociti”. Translated to English, that should be “to dissolve”.
So, what’s being dissolved here is a series of small waterfalls and streams, and all of this is happening around houses. Most of these are guest rent houses and apartments, so if you want, you can spend a couple of days here, listening to the constant hum of flowing water.
Inside the village, there’s a restaurant which has it’s own miniature trout farm. If you are into freshwater fish, it doesn’t get any fresher than this…
I went for a road trip with my family to visit the place and I made a couple of shots which you can check out below.
I used my Nikon D750 with the Samyang f1.4 / 24mm prime lens. Fantastic lens by the way...
I also used ND8 filter and a CPL for the long exposure shots.
Typical sight within the village…
Nikon D750 / ISO 50 / 2.5s / f22 / Samyang 24mm f1.4 (Also used ND8 + CPL filters)
Same spot from a slightly different angle...
Nikon D750 / ISO 50 / 2s / f22 / Samyang 24mm f1.4 (Also used ND8 + CPL filters)
You can see here how the water flows in between the houses. On this one I made a different edit which I think suits more the atmosphere of the picture, with these old houses in the background…
Nikon D750 / ISO 50 / 3s / f22 / Samyang 24mm f1.4 (Also used ND8 + CPL filters)
Would you mind having your coffee here?
Nikon D750 / ISO 100 / 1/200s / f5.6 / Samyang 24mm f1.4
The old watermill… And another good example of how streams and houses coexist in this place…
Nikon D750 / ISO 100 / 1/400s / f5.6 / Samyang 24mm f1.4
That was a day well spent...
I hope you like it and I give you my regards with these two :)
Nikon D750 / ISO 100 / 1/200s / f5.6 / Samyang 24mm f1.4
Cheers,
Nino.