Krka

24 June

Today we spent the day at Krka National Park.  This park extends up the Krka river with a series of waterfalls.  Our  visit didn't go entirely smoothly, which was unfortunate as the falls are spectacular.

There are several entrances to the park - we choose one with a shuttle boat that took us up to the base of the first series of falls.  There was a large crowd waiting for the boat and when boarding was announced it demonstrated that the Europeans don't have the English sense of queuing.  It was the most impressive display of mob mentality I've seen for some time.  However we got on the boat without injury and headed up the river.

We had heard of a boat trip up the top fall at Roski Slap and the tickets were only available at the information office at the top of the first falls, so we made our way up with a few stops to watch the water flow past.  The notable feature of these falls, apart from the width and volume of water, is that the water flows around the trunks of trees and through vegetation with side streams appearing from all directions.   The falls are in in cascade with around 8 separate major falls and a total drop of around 50m and a width of 100m.  They are attractive with crystal clear water and trees down to the water.

Arriving at the top information office we were met by a man ( shouting loudly, hoping we spoke German)who said that we could get on the boat that was supposed to have left a few minutes before.  When we queried this he said that it was OK as he was the captain.  Anyway a brisk 0.5km walk to the quay and we were shown onto a very old and small boat with 8 others and took off up the river.  It was difficult to talk over the diesel engine, but the captain and a group of Germans managed it ( in German)at 120dB - in other words very loudly.  The other boats we saw on the river were newer, larger and probably quieter.

There are a lot of reeds lining the river and at one point they form a complete wall across the river with a small gap for the boats.   We called into an island called Viscovac housing a Franciscan monastery ( very beautiful and tranquil. It was built by Franciscan Monks from a lump of rock. Apart for their exile during the Austro / Hungarian regime they have lived there continually - gardens, church, cloisters residences , peacocks, pea hens and chicks - brown peacocks! We have not seen those before. The church has a double high altar - it is a small but intimate feeling place of worship)
We resumed our trip with the captain shoouting at the Germains - "Wo ist meine beire?" and they responded in mega - decibels.

En route we took a wee detour to see a tress which had fallen down onto the edge of the lake - there basking in the sun were several turtles - 2 who were happily making babies . Not surprisingly our loud Deutsche fellow passengers got very excited at this sight and much Germanic shouting followed about 'SEX" over and over again.

Then we entered a limestone gorge leading up to the falls at Roski Slap.We saw more falls at the end
of the lake -  Again the falls run through the vegetation with a lot of the width hidden from view.
We landed there for a 2 hour break - our ears were very grateful. We have a lovely sandwich each of local ham and cheese in a beautiful spot with trees framing the lake - ducks, possibly grebes, white swans and their signets. There are also a series of flour mills here with one of the mills in operation to demonstrate the milling process (corn) using old style mill stones.

On the trip back down the river the Germans got even rowdier. There was a young female on board from Tokyo who was keen to jion in the antics. She and the loudest of the Deutsch Herr decided to flick handfuls of lake water on the captain. Said person was reclining forward of the wheel under the bow    on a mattress. He had surrendered the piloting to a young apprentice( who was anxious about docking...). During the ensuing horse play the young pilot moved the boat around so they lost their balance and  the very large Herr fell heavily onto Gillian's right knee which was excruciating painful -  he lurched off and then stood on both her feet.( Gillie here - I admit to a few tears at this point - knee swelled up more and was very painful on the long trek back to our car). The silly young thing landed in Stephen's lap. Nothing daunted the water fight continued - until the dumphkoph realized what he had done.

We reached the end of the trip - which was extraordinarily beautiful and different to our previous experiences - putting the behaviours of fellow human beings to one side!
There followed a trip via motor way to Zadar - arriving around 7pm

 Our accommodation tonight is an apartment in Zadar, which turned out to be bright, clean and attractive, but with fewer facilities than  we have been used to so far.   However the swimming pool is nice as was the lovely dinner we had at Delfin ( dolpin) restaurant  which as local venue. We watched a beautiful sunset from our seats - GB ate a lovely tomato soup and mozzarella bruchetta - and Stephen also ate the bruchetta and  a lamb dish. A lovely young man who was a waiter shared his home made cherry brandy with us at the end of the meal - wow!