KRKA

Day 13 – 12th July 2020 – KRKA National Park. Šibenik, Croatia

A very early one as I have a taxi booked for 7 to take me into Šibenik and pick up the hire car I have booked.

Arrive at the car hire place way too early so have a bit of a wander round.

At 8 I make my way back to the car hire office…. it’s shut… ok I’ll give 5 or so minutes and then call.  I am just about to ring when a young woman arrives and goes into the office, so I follow her.

We sort out all the paperwork and I am getting a small Renault, it looks very nice a lovely copper colour.

Anyway, my plan today is to drive to Krka National Park, which is about 10km from here; it is the reason I booked my accommodation here and you will see why.

First though, back to my apartment to pick up my things for today.  The car feels a lot larger than I was expecting.  I must admit I don’t enjoy driving as much as I used to in my youth and this car is particularly strange to me as I normally drive an automatic and this is manual and it has been quite a few years since I drove one.

As soon as I’m ready I put Krka into my satnav.  I want to visit the famous Skradinski Buk waterfalls and there are two entrances to the national park that are nearby.  The main entrance runs a bus service to the falls but the other entrance at Skradin runs a boat ferry service… oooo yes please, I love a boat.  This is all included in the entrance ticket and although I cannot find out how much that is, I decide to go anyway.

The road to KRKA doesn’t start well as the satnav routes me through the back streets of Šibenik, they are very rough, windy and narrow… OMG this is taking some doing with a car I am not familiar with.  As soon as I can I pull over to review the routing on my phone… ahhh it is still set to no tolls, no highways and motorcycle.. no wonder I am up a goat path!!  I change all the settings in the hope it will take me out of this maze.

It doesn’t take long before I am back on a main road.

As I arrive at Skradin I pass through this valley so stop to take a few photos:

.. and then I pull up into the car parking, making sure I park in some shade as the day is very hot again.

I find the entrance to the park and go in to buy a ticket, I still don’t know the price.  I am called forward to the desk and discover the ticket is 200HK, which stuns me at first until  I do a quick calculation in my head and realise this is about £25.  The ticket includes two boat trips to the falls and back, so I think this is not too bad a price.  The boat is leaving in 17 minutes so I forgo a look around and make my way straight to the loading dock.

There are already quite a few people queueing, not a face mask in sight… spot the tourist i.e. me, the only person in a mask and trying very hard to social distance!  I am now thinking this is a terrible idea, it looks like the boat is going to be jam packed so am really dreading having to try and get space between me and the other passengers without knowing any Croatian or indeed what the social customs are here… fret, fret, fret.

I needn’t have worried as there are 2 boats and I end up in a pair of seats on my own.. whew.  I take the opportunity to film a bit of the trip.

It takes about 20 minutes to arrive at the dock, the waterfalls are a short walk from here.  There are a few ‘stalls’ selling the usual items, food, drinks, etc.  and then this:

 

How absolutely stunning… now this was worth the trip and ticket in my book.  I have brought my cozzie so coffee first and then I will go for a swim.

I am here alone, so what am I going to do with my stuff??  I don’t have anyone to look after my bag etc.  then I spot a sign for lockers, great, I go and buy a small, all day locker for 30HK and put everything in there, except my phone of course.

The main issue now is, how to get in??  The banks of the river are extremely steep and I will have to actually climb down into the water.  The river bed is very unusual as it is mostly solid rock full of holes and high spots, I am so glad I brought my toesies.

I have tried my best to capture in video my attempt to navigate myself into the river.

 

Wow, there are also loads of fish… little tiddlers up to full on dinner size.

I am desperately trying to get closer to the falls to get some good shots so I am having to climb over this slippery underwater landscape with one hand holding the iphone on a selfie stick trying very hard no to get it wet or indeed fall in and a towel draped around me neck… madness!

I get so far and decide that this is far enough….. so here I am.

You might notice I am also wearing a wet scarf around my neck, this is to try and protect my already frazzled neck area.

The waterfall is amazing, such a wonderful experience, I am really enjoying this.  Now of course I need to climb out; as you can see, I’m obviously not the only one with this problem.

I do find an area that is less arduous and manage to heave myself out of the water. I get something to eat and attempt to dry off… I do have the towel with me so it doesn’t take long.  On the way back to the boat I take a few snaps of the surrounding area.. there is a mini falls here too and an old abandoned chapel.  The resident Swans and Ducks seem very friendly too.

This section reminds me somewhat of the Everglades in Florida, very swampy.

Am soon back on the boat for the 20 minute journey back to Skradin and my hire car.  I am so glad I left it in the shade as it would be absolutely ovenlike inside otherwise.  The car parking sets me back another 30HK, which is a little galling as of course if I had Minnie I would be able to park for free!

The drive back to Šibenik is uneventful and I have a very pleasant evening in the apartment catching up this blog and listening to music… very restful after a fantastic day.

Wait to see what tomorrow brings in terms of getting Minnie back on the road.  I have decided to drive over to the recovery ‘depot’ to see if I can find out what is happening.

No Relive or GoPro footage today.