Croatia has some beautiful national parks. Plitvice Lakes is the most famous, but it was too far away for us to visit on our one free day in Split, so we “settled” for Krka National Park; quite a nice consolation prize. If you ever find yourself in the area, it’s well worth a visit. I enjoyed it enough that I chose the falls as my blog’s cover photo.
Date: 11/5/2011 Camera: Panasonic DMC-FZ40 Click for larger view
I took this photo in November during the Croatia leg of my 2011 Eurotrip. This building, located above the main falls at Krka National Park, reminded me of something you might see in a fantasy film, the way it seemed to be one with the land and the water, like something out of Middle Earth.
Date: 11/5/2011 Camera: Panasonic DMC-FZ40 Click for larger view
This installment covers Day 23 of my 2011 trip to Europe…
November 5, 2011: After spending a couple of days exploring Split, we decided to take an excursion outside the city. We had wanted to see Croatia’s famous Plitvice Lakes National Park but that would have been a three-hour drive, so we opted for Krka National Park, which was only about two hours away. We booked with a tour company, splurging on a private car and driver, which was a very nice break from all of the public transportation we had been taking for 3+ weeks. We had an entire multi-passenger SUV to ourselves, which made for a relaxing ride without the feeling of being on a tour.
Along the way our driver Ivan stopped at a rest stop/lookout so we could have some tea and enjoy spectacular views of a nearby bridge and the town that would be our ultimate destination.
Zoomed-in shot of Skradin, where we would pick up the boat to Krka.View of bridge from lookout.
When we arrived in Skradin we hopped on a boat for a pleasant 30-minute ride downriver to the park, surrounded by gorgeous scenery.
View from the boat.View from the boat.Caves visible from the boat.
The boat dropped us off at a dock and we entered the park. The falls did not disappoint; they were beautiful to behold. I liked them so much, in fact, that I chose them as the main banner image for this blog.
Here are a couple of panorama shots of the falls:
Later in the day we stopped for lunch and treated Ivan. It wasn’t your typical national park fare; we had a shared dish full of all different kinds of meats, very tasty. After lunch we toured the rest of the loop around the falls. Here are some photos from that part of our day.
At the end of the day I returned to the dock by myself after getting separated from my uncle and Ivan. I was the only person on the dock so it felt like I had the entire river to myself (a major advantage to being in Europe in November is the lack of crowds). I lay down on the dock just staring out at the river accompanied by nothing but the sounds of nature. It was such a peaceful setting; I could practically envision myself as a character in a Mark Twain novel.
A view of the dock with the boat approaching to the left.
The boat picked us up and returned us back to Skradin just in time for sunset.
Arriving back in town.Swans were ubiquitous in town. They would swim right up to the shore looking for food.The sun setting over the river with the bridge and the lookout visible in the distance.
After leaving the town we detoured to another part of the park in search of another waterfall, but were unsuccessful. We did, however, get a view of Visovac Island, which houses a monastery.
Zoomed-in shot of Visovac Island.
Ivan took us home via a longer route, showing us a different part of the Croatian countryside where the devastation of the last war in that region is still evident. We arrived back in Split late that evening. We didn’t have time to do much, so we returned to our apartment and packed for an early morning bus ride to Dubrovnik, which will be covered in the next installment.
I took this photo in November of 2011 during the Croatia leg of my epic monthlong trip to Europe. This is the dock outside of Krka National Park where a riverboat drops you off for a visit following a 30-minute ride down the Krka River from a nearby town. The park is home to some spectacular waterfalls, including the one featured in the panorama at the top of this blog.
After our tour of the park, I arrived at the dock about fifteen minutes early to wait for the boat. I was the only person on the dock so it felt like I had the entire river to myself (a major advantage to being in Europe in November is the lack of crowds). I snapped this photo and then lay down on the dock just staring out at the river accompanied by nothing but the sounds of nature. It was such a peaceful setting; I could practically envision myself as a character in a Mark Twain novel.
I thought I’d kick off the new Videos section of this blog with the very first video I made from one of my trips. This video covers most of my month in Europe in 2011, including visits to Italy, Switzerland, and Croatia.
This video is nearly 18 minutes long, so I’ll understand if you don’t want to sit through the whole thing :-), but it is accompanied by a couple of pleasant pieces from Holst’s The Planets.
Michael Rappa 