Krka National Park – 16 September 2010

And now for something completely different – we left the coast and headed inland to the Krka National Park. This is a stunning area of lakes and waterfalls, and although New Zealand is a land of waterfalls, we do not have anything quite like this. The distinctive look of these falls, is all the green vegetation growing under the falling water and it is the vegetation that creates the waterfalls. The plants use the calcium in the water and the limescale builds up on the plants and the so a structure grows, increasing the water level behind the natural dams. The whole ecosystem is thus a living changing complex where water channels change as the plants and calcium build on one another.

The setup is very efficient; we entered the Park at Lozovac and purchased a Park permit which allowed us free travel to Skadinski Buk, the starting point of the two activities here. The first activity for the day was a 3.5 hour boat trip. The first half hour was through lakes with fairly boring vegetation on the surrounding hills. Then in the middle of the lake, we stopped at an island with the Monastery of Visovac. This is a lovely spot, and we enjoyed the picnic lunch we had brought.


Then a further 30 minutes, mostly through a dramatic gorge, took us to Roski Slap, the waterfall area at the head of this lake system. There was a one hour stop here, and this gave us enough time to walk the loop track, over bridges and board walks around the lush green valley, where the water moved in delightful green stages over mini falls, all green with the vegetation growing from the calcium rich water.

After returning to Skadinski Buk, we were able to do the true high-light of the day – the very extensive board walk around an area full of large pools and large waterfalls. The final falls plunge into a large pool, which was described in the guide book as suitable for swimming. We were so glad we took our togs, as the water was unexpectedly mild. For those who love swimming, it's a wonderful deep and large swimming area.

These falls were also the site of the second hydro electric plant in the world, though actually the first useful hydro plant. In actually generating electricity, Krka was beaten by two days by the hydro plant at Niagra Falls in 1895 but began lighting the city of Sibenik immediately whereas the American one did not start lighting Buffalo until 1896.

For anyone visiting this area of Croatia, we would recommend a trip to Krka.

Dalmatian Towns – 15 September 2010

After breakfast on a terrace overlooking the sea, we started the day by returning to Split. This time we followed a guide to the Diocletian's Palace. This was the retirement house built by a Roman emperor. With the pick of the entire Roman world, he chose this isolated spot, and the town of Split was born. The outer walls of the palace are mostly intact and other parts here and there remain although not quite as glorious as when Diocletian was there, marble has been stripped and so forth.. We enjoyed an acapella men's group in the Vestibule so much so that we bought their CD. The mausoleum has been turned into a cathedral, and shops have taken over part of the original basement. It's a listed UNESCO site, because it is the largest surviving Roman structure.

From here we went to the highlight of the day - Trogir. This town was originally a small islet between the mainland and a larger island, but it is linked by bridges to both. The town has many original buildings, one of the gems is the Cathedral of St Lawrence. A modest entrance price allows entry to the cathedral and access to the tower, with great views over the town.

We finally finished our day in Sibenik. This town is not so picturesque as the other two, but is also UNESCO, on account of its cathedral. This stone building has a stunning clean white exterior, with many wonderful carvings. The interior is initially disappointing, as the grey stone seems drab and dark. But after reading the details of its construction, it is clear why this building is also UNESCO listed.

It is apparently the largest stone building constructed without wooden or brick supports. It was built from stone from the local islands and was prefabricated and assembled on site.

Bosnia – 14 September 2010

Woken by the bora wind, we set off early to make sure we could, finally, fit a visit to Mostar into our day.

Bosnia is not a country we would ever have imagined visiting a few years ago, a bit like contemplating a holiday in Bagdad today! Signs of the war were everywhere, with derelict buildings, and pock-marked buildings and pavements.


All the bridges across the Neretva River were blown up by the Croats in 1993, and unfortunately this included the 479 year old Stari Most (Old Bridge). Now meticulously rebuilt, exactly as it was before, the Mostar Old Bridge is now a UNESCO listed monument. We watched a video showing it's deterioration during the war years, until it was eventually totally destroyed.

The east bank of the river is the Muslim side, with more mosques, and a cemetery which is a very sad reminder of the war, all the dates of death seemed to be 1994. The west bank is the Catholic side, and we walked to see the Catholic church, which almost appears to be rivalling the mosques in the height of its tower. The main road running in front of it was the front line during the war.

From Mostar we retraced our route to Croatia stopping briefly to look at Pocitelj as this is supposedly the most traditional village in Bosnia, full of 15th century buildings. Once back across the border we continued up the coast to Split. The old town with its Diocletian Palace, is also UNESCO listed. In fact, we have seen more UNESCO listed towns on this holiday, than any other and the stunning old towns make Croatia undeniably beautiful.

Arriving in Split, we had time for a couple of hours looking around the old town, but will need to save the Diocletian Palace for tomorrow. As the day died we retired back to the campsite, once again on the coast, for a delicious dinner, in their restaurant at the end of a peninsular overlooking the sea: a brilliant end to a busy day.

Korcula – 13 September 2010

Korcula is only a 15 minute ferry ride from Orebic, and is therefore the easiest way to visit one of the islands off the Dalmatian Coast. Korcula is a wonderful medieval town, built on a headland jutting out into the sea, and probably very similar to the time when Marco Polo set sail to explore the world.

We walked around the sea walls, and climbed the tower of his house, all of which would have been very familiar to Marco. The rest of his house is a ruin, but the tower is quite intact, and we looked out to sea, as I'm sure he and his family also did in the 13th century.

Once again we postponed the afternoon drive to Mostar, and instead opted for a relaxing afternoon on the beach, as it was such a beautiful summer's day. This time we stayed at Prapratno, a short distance from Ston. After swimming and sunbathing, we again did the wall walk, but this time all the way to Mali Ston. This took about 45 minutes, and gave a greater appreciation of this amazing structure. Ston is reputedly the gastronomical highlight of Croatia and the number of mussel farms in the bay around meant that mussels prepared in the local way featured on every menu and were thus a must-try. Unfortunately they were gritty, overly salty, tough and underdone – a thoroughly under-whelming experience.

Peljesac Peninsular - 12 September 2010

Breakfast coffee in Budva was a real treat, sitting on wicker-cane suite on the sea-front in the sunshine, admiring the old town. As the sun was now in the right place to photograph Sveti Stefan, we drove the short distance to admire it in the sunlight before tackling the long drive around the inlets and back to Croatia.

Our plan for the day was to head a short distance into Bosnia to see the famous Mostar Bridge. But the drive back took longer than expected, so we decided on a total change of plan, inspired by the amazing walls protecting the towns of Ston and Mali Ston, which we could see on the other side of the water, on the Peljesac Peninsular.

This three mile wall, complete with 41 towers, seven bastions and two forts, was the the largest fortification built in Europe in the 14th century. It's purpose was to protect these two salt producing towns. Salt was often equal to its weight in gold, and hence the walls. We were able to walk on the repaired walls (bombed in 1991 & damaged by an earthquake in 1996), and could have walked on the walls from one town to the other. Considering the terraine, it was a brilliant feat.

From here, we drove to the far end of the peninsular, to Orebic where the ferries leave for Korcula, the town in an island of the same name, where Marco Polo was born. We found a fabulous 4 star camp ground, and were able to get the last seafront campsite. The water was warm, crystal clear and very inviting.

Montenegro - 11 September 2010

Sunshine returned to Croatia this morning, and we made the most of being on the spot, to walk the city walls in the early morning. This is the most popular tourist activity in Dubrovnik, which is not surprising, as they are considered the best city walls in the world. We certainly agreed, and enjoyed walking the 2km complete circle, ahead of the throngs of tourists descending on the city in their bus loads. The medieval builders, who spent so much time and effort building the walls would be astounded to know that the result of their toil was now attracting rather than repelling the invading foreigners.

Then it was time to cross the nearby border into Montenegro. We had mentally planned to do this, after watching James Bond race around a stunning city in Montenegro, in 'Casino Royale', only to find out the filming actually took place in Loket, Czech Republic. Despite knowing this, we wanted to see the UNESCO region around Kotor, and the fishing village of Sveti Stefan.

Kotor is reached by driving alongside a huge inlet from the Adriatic that has at its peak a narrow channel leading to another large inlet comprised of two triangular bays that look somewhat like a bikini top thrown carelessly on the floor and despite appearing to be almost landlocked, the water is crystal clear. Not far, as the fish swims, from the top of the narrows is Perast but it is quite a drive to get there and at that point you are not even half-way to Kotor.

It is possible to take a ferry across the narrow channel, but the scenic drive around the entire coast-line is well worth the detour. We stopped at Perast, another picturesque old town before arriving at Kotor, situated down a long bay “dangling” from the second triangle, about as far from the open sea as possible. Despite that, there were cruise ships tied up in the harbour, this is obviously on the cruise ships itinerary, along with Dubrovnik.

The town is the typical warren of narrow streets, squares and the Orthodox churches had wonderful gold altar screens and icons. The walls here with regular towers, were quite an amazing feat of engineering, extending way up a bluff to the top of San Giovanni mountain.

From Kotor we went overland until we got back to the Adriatic coast and then along to Budva, one of Montenegro's most popular towns. Before exploring it, we drove 5km further along the coast to Sveti Stefan. This former fishing village island, has just re-opened as a 5 star resort. But we were able to walk along their paved path for a closer look. Sadly, the renovations with crisp mono-tonal orange tile roofs, has lost the mellow look of earlier photos we had seen,

As we wanted to catch the island in the morning sun, we decided to spend the night at the nearby camp ground. There was a very smart illuminated sign on the roadside, which indicated a good standard of camp. The appearance of the owners should have warned us of the state of the amenities. They could have stood in for the inn owners in Les Miserables, and would probably received an Oscar for their excellent performances. He looked seedy and extremely dodgy type of character, she was the grasping/greedy type, who obviously didn't trust him with money. That didn't seem promising, and after viewing the state and standard of the amenities (whose floor area was probably smaller the the square footage of the sign!), we decided to drive back to Budva.

After enjoying dinner and a walk around the old town, where the shops were still open for business on Saturday night, we retired to our tent for the night. The guide book described Budva as having a lively night life. What this means for tired campers, is music playing at the local gig until 4am, interspersed with a large nearby dog barking at regular intervals and other campers returning from the 'lively night scene' at regular intervals!