Krka National Park and Travel Planning

August 3, 2010


Up early to beat the traffic into Togir (we have been told it is jammed from 7:30 to 11:00 a.m.) We took the coast road north through a series of small resort villages to Sibenik. The Dalmatian Coast has spectacular scenery: white houses with red roofs set against the backdrop of the blue Adriatic. Krka National Park was about an hour away. It encompasses the Krka River and large waterfalls formed from travertine. We hiked along the boardwalk trail but didn't swim in the falls. Much too slimey for me.

The area in which we are staying is popular with young Croatian or British families. It is just not for us. We are spoiled, I guess. The beaches here are all sharp rocks, so most people use air mattresses or floating toys to enjoy the water. Every square meter of the beach is packed with people sun-tanning (and smoking). The strip of beach is very narrow, so in many spots it seems as if people are just lying in the dirt at the edge of the walkway. Beach bars line the strip wherever there is room. It is crowded, noisy, busy, and hot. Most accommodation is in apartments which are in 6 to 8 suite apartment buildings jammed one on top of another on the hillsides leading to the sea. We have not been able to figure out any sort of logical pattern for the road system in this area. It seems more like a labyrinth and the roads are so narrow and windy that it is impossible to tell the difference between a roadway and a driveway. Okrug Gornji, the community here, is on the island of Ciovo which is connected to Trogir by a bridge. Trogir is about 30 km from Split. I should have looked into this in more depth before I booked it as it is quite a hassle to leave the area and much too far from Dubrovnik to make a day trip.

So . . . we made a mutual decision to leave three days early despite the fact that we have already paid for those nights. We found an internet shop in Trogir and started booking spots for the remainder of our vacation. We will take a boat to Split tomorrow, explore the town and then head back north on Thursday.