Day 18. Saturday 18 April.

A good night’s sleep and the start of a brilliant day. After house chores, off to Krka National Park, via a quick look at the local produce market where tomato seedlings were the go. Brigita plans to plant some today and will protect them from the turtles with a plastic guard. She feeds the turtles with vegetable scraps from her kitchen when the weather is dry: ‘they eat what we do’.

A short wait for our bus (a mini bus) ‘you will be told which bay five minutes before’ and we were wending our way on back roads to Skradin.

At the ticket office in Skradin we met a Bosnian lady (very elegant), who works in a hotel reception job in Šibenik, also buying entry tickets. We established agreed return bus timings. After working out our options and buying the entry ticket, there was a 20 minute boat ride into the park, included in the ticket cost – staff explained that once inside the park there were more boat expedition choices (with accompanying fees).

In fact at this time there were only two choices of boat tours above the main waterfall: two or four hours. Mindful of limited bus timings for our return trip, we opted to take the two-hour trip up to Visovac Island, where we would have half an hour to visit the Franciscan monastery museum and church. The boat ride starts about halfway around the boardwalk.

A coffee to prepare for the walking, shared by a new friend who was unperturbed by our company.

Before the Visovac boat there was a section of boardwalk, and steps of course, taking us above the series of main falls. Spectacular tufa, spectacular falls, spectacular clear green water. Interestingly, much of the boardwalk has no side rails and is quite narrow.

 It’s meant to be a one-way walking route, but is obviously not monitored as there were people coming from the ‘wrong’ direction: there’s a lot of rushing water and many small falls, so with crowds and prams and the occasional dog (yes they are allowed!) T wondered about accidents. And our new Bosnian friend had recommended that this was the way to avoid crowds!

Reaching the ‘cruise’ boat departure point, the crowd had seriously thinned and the trip to the island was peaceful.

Steep hills, waterways twisting & turning, little obvious wildlife and no other marine craft made for a gentle cruise and then the island came into view. We had discussed potential for bushfires in this environment and as we approached the island there was obvious signs of earlier fires. T asked a crew member, who said there had been fires a couple of years ago, controlled by aerial water bombing.

The Franciscans had certainly chosen prime real estate in a ‘get away from it all’ spot and over the centuries have created & maintained a marvellous garden and buildings and the stories of conflict between the Mediterranean societies are told & re-told.

In the museum, T found a couple of items of special interest.

The crew of the boat repeatedly sounded the horn to recall passengers – a group of about 6-8 failed to appear: how they could get lost on an island about the size of the MCG is astounding. Anyway, the boat left without them. Returning to the boardwalk, it was time to head for the exit (wherever that was)…the route meanders through a delta of streams & falls, and this part is particularly dangerous as the boardwalks are narrow, irregular and have no guard rails.

Eventually the end of the circuit was in sight and there was just enough time for a beer & fries before the packed boat ride back to Skradin – a few passengers weren’t allowed on. Then a bus ride back to Šibenik, after a nice chat with a couple of Phillipinos now working in Croatia after the Middle East.

A marvellous (tiring) day in a marvellous environment.