Plus a few other things but I like the alliterative title! Heading north from Trogir, we stopped at the small coastal town of Sibenik. The old town is a warren of Venetian era alleys, stairways and churches.
If you could teleport a resident back here from 300 years ago he would probably recognise it immediately. In these towns we love to wander, and it is often the small details that catch my eye. Ancient carvings, or decoration above a doorway, indicating status or family links.
The tiny, kneeling figure is Marko, the town doctor and surgeon, who paid for this window in St Barbara’s church in 1419!
This stone trough at the foot of a wall, was a 14th century water bowl for dogs.
We discovered a 15th century monastery garden with a sweet cafe on the way up to the fortress.
The churches were lovely, especially the eastern orthodox church, and the richly decorated, 13th/14th century cathedral.
These carved heads date back to the 15th century! Some look so modern!
A good, free museum too, and a shoe shop with latest Italian solutions for the shorter lady..
Then we drove back to Skradin, to the sweet autocamp where we stayed a week ago. They remembered us! We were duly presented with a pomegranate because we came back!! An evening walk through the nice village, also revealed some battle scarred buildings at one end of town, as yet unrestored. Our reason for being here is to get an early boat up the river to see the Krka waterfalls before the crowds. We managed it, had a superlong walk, and the pictures speak for themselves.
A very early Hydroelectric plant was set up here, under the influence of famed local electrical genius Nikola Tesla, and nearby Sibenik had the first electric street lighting in Europe powered by AC (alternating current).
Chris took the opportunity to do some dead weight lift practice!
Next we drove to Lake Vrana, the largest natural lake in Croatia, encountering a croatian style traffic jam!
In winter, 100,000 coot call it home. Today, pygmy cormorant, and a stray spoonbill were our best spots. Next, Boris had an adventure, climbing the twisty lane up Mount Kamenjak, for incredible views over the coast and islands.
Mixed emotions here. A small chapel commemorates local people who were massacred here in various conflicts, while outside, the flag flew proudly to commemorate Croatian independence day.
The season is ending here, and many campsites are closing. Wild camping is illegal, but some people do it, using the great app Park4night. We had to resort to this at Zadar, using a former campsite on the waters edge. In fact we had a great sunset, and a peaceful night with the waves lapping a few feet from Boris!
Next day a visit to Zadar, an ancient trading port which had been colonised by Greeks, romans, slavs, Venetians, Hungarans, Austrians. It was heavily attacked in the recent war due to having 5 military bases. Now those same building house schools, university buildings and clinics! One modern restaurant facade hid an early christian church, which in turn had reused roman columns!
We did some shopping in a very modern supermarket, with an unmodern system for service. I had put 1 cucumber, 1 pepper, 4 tomatoes, 2 apples, 2 bananas, a courgette, an orange and some spring onions in my basket. Suddenly, 2 women came running towards me shouting. Firstly, every item had to go into a plastic bag. Separate bags. I protested at the use of plastic but was firmly told off! Then, one woman ran back and forth to the counters shouting a code number for each item. The other wrote it on a scrap of sticky paper and stuck it on the bag. This then was input at the till. But the lady at the till couldn’t read all the numbers… so she had to call the women over.. who ran back to the veg counter and shouted the number …aaaagh!!
Highlights of Zadar were the remains of the roman forum, and a lovely ancient glass museum. All the locally found glass was between 1800 and 2000 years old! Some undamaged, yet so delicate and ornate.
A stunning glass ‘pin’ from 3rd century AD.
Lastly, the lovely feature of Zadar was it’s new promenade, ending at the sea organ. Huge pipes have been laid on the sea bed. As the waves move in and out they play haunting tunes which constantly alter. Quite mesmerising to sit here and listen.
Next a drive inland, where autumn has arrived! We are heading to Plititze, and another huge waterfall system. We stay at the charming Kamp Bear…becauae bears and wolves live in this region. We are greeted with homemade Schnapps by the owner! Wow..quite a kick.
Again, an early start to beat the many tour buses that come here on day trips. It was busy in October… July and August would be hell. We were walking by 8.30 and had much of the first section to ourselves. It is a huge area of 16 lakes with waterfalls cascading down. We took route H which visits most of the lakes, and includes a boat ride down the longest lake. 6 miles in total, all beautiful.
Spot the people to get the scale!
Finally back to the coast to our final part of Croatia, the Istrian peninsula. Again, Boris’ wheels are nearly in the sea. Night night!
