Croatia – Part 2

One of the things that has struck us most about Croatia is how amazingly clear the water is. Of all the places we have travelled, we can’t recall anywhere else where the water is so beautifully transparent.  Everywhere we’ve been on the coast has had this amazing clarity but the inland water as well – the lakes and rivers, are just the same.

After we left Zadar we headed further south to Krka National Park. This is a lot like Plitvice Lakes but on a smaller scale. The plus side is that its nowhere near as busy but its just as expensive (€20 in the shoulder season – April, May and October and €40 in the Summer season).

Krka is a lot more manageable than Plitvice as it really only involves 3-4kms of walking.

From the entrance, a bus that takes you down the mountain into the river valley to the waterfalls. There is a pretty and easy board-walked route over and around the rivers that make up the park.

There are several waterfalls but the star attraction is the Skradinski Buk waterfall, which can be viewed from a boardwalk that crosses the river.

 Conveniently for us, there is a campsite right next to the entrance to the falls so we had somewhere to relax in the afternoon sunshine after our visit.

The next morning we got going early, driving back towards the coast and the lovely little town of Sibenik.

Sibenik is a medieval city with maze like streets, a hill top fortress and an impressive cathedral. Definitely worth a stopover and a visit to one of its many ice-cream shops.

We didn’t want to stay the night at Sibenik as it was pretty hot, so we moved a bit further down the coast to a campsite right on the water (which was a little warmer than it was further North on Krk Island but still pretty cold!)

This was a great spot to cycle along the coast into the town of Primosten. Yet another beautiful little town built on a roundish island jutting out into the water but still connected to the mainland, of which there seem to be a lot in Croatia.

It didn’t take long to explore this very pretty old town, so having been tempted by all the wonderful smelling cafes and restaurants (of which there are many here), we settled down at a waterside taverna with a delicious plate of whitebait, a basket of fresh bread and a couple of cool beers. Simple but so tasty.

We had thought about staying here for a couple of days but the campsite was a bit busy for our liking and we felt a bit packed in like sardines. So we decided to move on in the morning and head for the island of Ciovo, where we had heard about a free park-up by a small beach. After following some narrow roads through the main town, we arrived at the parking area, right on the water and next to a small harbour.

It was a beautiful location and the swimming/snorkelling here was great. The water was also getting a little warmer as we made our way further South, which was definitely a plus.

We had planned on spending a couple of days here but unfortunately on our second morning, some workmen arrived early with pneumatic drills and drove us away. It looked like they may have been building a beach bar, so perhaps not a free park-up for much longer.

Right next to this big island is… yes you guessed it, another beautiful medieval old town on its very own little island. Trogir was founded by the Greeks in the third century BC and with the impressive cathedral and town hall at one end, fortress at the other end and a warren of narrow winding streets in between, it is a great place to spend some time wandering around or relaxing at one of the many eateries along the waterfront. It would have looked great from the air but unfortunately, due to its proximity to Split airport, I wasn’t able to put the drone up.

Making our way further down the coast, we stayed in a small, terraced, hillside campsite near the town of Gradac. This was a lovely location but it took a bit of careful manoeuvring to get into a spot. The access road was quite steep and the terraces were narrow. The other campers there were all in smaller van conversions, which it is probably better suited to. However, once we were in, we enjoyed a lovely few days here.

There was a nice little beach down the hill from the campsite and a few restaurant bars on the beach, although only one was open, so he was doing a good trade as there were plenty of tourists around. The end of May is still considered to be out of season despite the weather being glorious, but we could see work going on at the other tavernas, clearly preparing to open shortly. Unfortunately too late for us though, as after leaving Gradac we only had a few days left in Croatia.

We were on a self imposed limit of 30 Schengen days as we want time at the end of our trip in the Schengen zone. Knowing that we were heading inland and wouldn’t see the coast again for some time we decided to spend out last days in Croatia relaxing by the sea and our next destination was a real gem.

Flanking the Southern Dalmatian Islands is a long peninsula that juts out from the mainland, called the Peljesac Peninsula. There is actually a big new bridge linking the mainland to the peninsula and the main road runs across this to avoid the short bit of coastline that belongs to Bosnia, thereby ensuring that it is possible to drive to Dubrovnik without leaving Croatia.

We drove along the peninsula and settled into the lovely Palme Campsite in the town of Kuciste, a short cycle ride from the larger and more well known town of Orebic. Although it was fairly busy, we managed to bag a spot at the front, facing onto the pebble beach. Across the water from here you can see the island of Korcula and the namesake town of Korcula.

One of the reasons for coming here is that we wanted to take a day trip across to visit Korcula, which you can do from Orebic. The ferry only takes 20 minutes and you can travel across with vehicles, so we cycled the 5kms from the campsite to Orebic and after the short ferry ride, had another 3km cycle to get from the harbour to Korcula town. For foot passengers there are smaller ferries that dock in Korcula town harbour itself.

Korcula town is another walled medieval town set on an island and walking around it, it feels a bit like a miniature Dubrovnik but with much less tourists. Many believe that it was the birthplace of Marco Polo but this is not confirmed.

The town itself is very well ordered with a grid of tiny streets radiating from a central thoroughfare where there are several churches.

It is a lovely place for a day trip and it is crammed with very nice looking restaurants overlooking the water, so having worked up an appetite wandering the pretty, narrow, cobbled streets, we stopped for a bite to eat before heading back on a late ferry to Orebic.

The next day we explored the coast of the Peninsula on our bikes, stopping off to watch the kite and wind surfers, enjoy an ice-cream and then finally a sunset beer, before heading back to the campsite for burgers on the BBQ. A perfect end to our stay in Croatia!