Backing up a piece from yesterday's post I want to share an experience we had while driving to Croatia. Everything was going along swimmingly when we were suddenly stopped about and hour and a half out of Split by a highway closure. The closure was prior to crossing through the mountains through a series of tunnels traversing approximately 10 kilometers. The detour took us over the mountains along an extremely winding,narrow road with no guardrails and precipitous drops to the sea far below. I was driving Aneta's 5 speed Honda on this stretch of the journey. Up, up, up we went, shifting down to make the steep climb, over and over again. Then down, down, down we went shifting down to keep from hurtling off the cliff or burning out the breaks. It was a harrowing ride to say the least. The result for me was spasms in my lower back on the left side from so much clutch work. They lasted all the next day, which was our long walking day in Split. Fortunately there weren't a lot of stairs to negotiate in Diocletions's Palace as every time I did have to go up or down a few stairs I seized up in a horrible back spasm. Poor Alicja ended up being my hand rail for the day and I thank her for her tender concern. Amazing which muscles speak up when you haven't used them for a good long while. The drive, however, was spectacular in terms of scenery. We saw parts of Croatia we never would have had the opportunity to see otherwise and except for the fact that it took us four hours to travel 160 Kilometers it was worth both the nervous making drive and the back spasms.
KRKA National Park
Croatia has several spectacular National Parks, of which KRKA is the most visited. Our location in Brodarica is very convenient to KRKA and that is our destination today, our second in Croatia. We arrived in Skradin well before noon and Aneta purchased tickets to the park. We still had two hours before the next boat left to take tourists up the lake into the park. We walked around this adorable little town and immediately felt at home. There were many interesting shops, art galleries, restaurants and a fort from Roman times. The church in the town square was quite lovely and the old clock tower watching over the town is impressive. It turns out that they light the entire tower at night and it can be seen from fairly great distances away from the town. It serves as a beacon to yachtsman who flock to the area during the summer months, Aneta located an apartment for rent and went to check it out. Then she came for us and we all had a look. This was an amazing place with three bedrooms, a large and very well stocked kitchen, a nice bathroom with a large deep soaking tu and shower and an upstairs veranda with a spectacular view of the harbor and the sea beyond. The owner, Anna, agreed to rent it to us for 200ku a night, the equivalent of $33 a night. We still had one night paid at our abode in Brodarica so we told Anna we would be back the following day and would take the apartment for three days. Mind you there were 3 adults and a 2-yr old in our party. We were able to shop handily for groceries in the village so we could cook our meals in.
At 1:30 we boarded the boat for the National Park. The trip was well worth the $13 it cost for the boat ride and the day in the park. We were deposited at the landing at about 2 PM and made our way along the neatly manicured walk way to the falls. This is truely one of the most magnificent viewscapes I have ever seen in my life. The water cascades down limestone escarpments building new as it erodes old in the constantly changing landscape. It is one of the most beautiful things I have ever experienced. The water is so clear you can see all the fish swimming along and the rocks and mosses along the bottom. Beautiful swans glide gracefully over the calm surface of the pools below the falls. We had quite a day of climbing stairs and walking well maintained trails as we made our way to the top of the mountain.
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| Fot: Krka National Park, Aneta |
We stopped at the top for a cold drink before making our way out through the matrix of wooden pathways and bridges that take you across the river and the falls and drop you down through the quiet forest to the boat landing again. The walk only takes about and hour if you don't stop but we took two and a half hours to make the journey and got some spectacular photos along the way. We waited a few minutes for the boat to arrive and return us to Skradin and our car.
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| Fot: Krka National Park, Linda |
We decided to have dinner in Skradin and Aneta chose the Continental Restaurant, which it turns out is also on the list of top 20 restaurants in Croatia! This one, however, had prices to match its stellar, and in our opinion, undeserved reputation. I had roasted lamb chops. Everything on the menu was ala carte so you paid through the nose if you wanted a salad or a vegetable with your main course. Aneta and her mother had chicken, which they pronounced "good, but not great." Ania had a tantrum for dinner, followed by french fries, which she refused to eat. Fortunately we were the only guests dining at the Continental this night so the disturbance was manageable as far as other guests were concerned. Poor Aneta spent most of the dinner hour outside with Ania trying to get the situation under control.
The sky was now threatening rain and we made a leisurly walk back to the car in near record time! As we pulled away from Skradin and up the hill on the opposite side of the lake we could see the clock tower lighted up like a Christmas tree. It was really stunning. We look forward to our day in Skradin tomorrow.
Linda
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