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** CROATIA 2008 - Weeks 3~4 ** |
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 KRK, RAB and PAG ISLANDS, ZADAR and the PAKLENICA GORGE: The family-run Bor Camping just 10
minutes walk from the delightful harbour of Krk town was a
hospitable base for our time in the Island of Krk. But before
leaving, we enjoyed a memorable day in the more mountainous south of
the island, close to Baška. The road
Just down the dusty road, the
little resort of Baška sits at the head of its bay, looking out
across a panorama of Krk's stark mountain ridges, the offshore
islands and the backdrop of the high Velebit massif on the distant
mainland. From Baška, we followed one of the way-marked mountain
routes up across the formidable limestone cliffs to the rounded
summit of Ljubiner, with stunning views south across the turquoise
waters of Baška Bay to the barren uninhabited island of Prvić,
distant Rab on the horizon, and the snow-covered
After such a gloriously fullsome
final day on Krk, we crossed back to the Kvarner mainland via the
Krk Bridge for the next stage of our island-hopping progression down
the Dalmatian coast. The Krk Bridge's twin spans arch mightily
upwards from a central footing on the intervening bare islet of St
Marko, better described as sturdy rather than elegant (Photo 2 -
the Krk Bridge). Back on the mainland, we joined the Jadranska
Magistrala (Adriatic Highway), which runs the length of the Dalmatian
coast, weaving around headlands along the narrow strip of land
between towering Karst
From our campsite, Padova III, a
pathway leads around the lungomare to Rab town, a delightful
approach to the old town looking across the waters of the harbour (Photo
4 - Rab town). Rab town is now a well-conserved late medieval
Adriatic settlement, shoe-horned onto its Before leaving Rab, we paid our respects to the Slovene, Croat and Jewish internees murdered by the Italian occupiers at the concentration camp on Rab in 1942~3. The memorial plaque at the Groblje žrtava fašizma records the names of 1,443 victims including families with children aged 1 and 2. With Italian capitulation in 1943, camp survivors joined Tito's Partisans to continue the fight against German aggression. Further down the Magistrala, we
crossed from Prizna to our next island, Pag, another straggling and
barren archipelago running parallel with the mainland coast. But the
weather had changed: a Bura wind was brewing, threatening to halt
ferry crossings. At first sight, Pag seemed even more barren than
the east
Passing the Pag salt pans (salt
production was historically the island's main source of wealth), and
bracing ourselves against the Bura's force, we crossed the southern
bridge which spans the narrow channel separating Pag Island from the
peninsula of land projecting north from Zadar. Across the flatter
land close to Nin, Croatia's medieval ecclesiastical centre, we
reached the village of Zaton and Camping Peroš, our base for
visiting the historical city of Zadar. The Bura continued to blow,
and the
Despite Zadar being heavily bombed
by the Allies during WW2, the old town is now wonderfully restored,
with magnificent Venetian buildings
and stone-paved streets. Narodni Trg, the
We continued along the coast for
our visit to the Paklenica National Park, two monumental gorges
which cut deep into the Velebit range from sea level up to the
highest peaks at
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winds down into a central
valley, enclosed by barren limestone ridges, to the village of Jurandvor, an unlikely rural setting for one of Croatia's most
significant historical artefacts: the Bašćanska Ploča (Baška Tablet)
formed a panel of the rood screen in the tiny church of St Lucije.
The Tablet's Glagolitic inscription records the donation of land to
the abbey-church by the 11th century Croatian King Zvonimir, the
first literary reference to a Croatian king and the oldest
surviving Glagolitic text. The original tablet is now displayed in
Zagreb's Academy of Arts and Sciences, replaced in Jurandvor church
by a replica.
peaks of the
mainland (Photo 1 - mountain walking in South Krk). Losing
height rapidly on the unnervingly steep descent route, the rock
scenery was magnificent.
limestone mountains and the
azure Adriatic
Sea. The road gives spectacular views of the off-shore islands, and
beyond Senj, the two barren islets of Grgur and Goli, used during
the Tito years as prison camps for opponents of the regime. Although
never officially admitted, their brutal notoriety betrays the
realities of Tito's hold on power. South of here, we dropped down to
the tiny port of Jablanac for the ferry crossing to the Island of Rab (Photo 3 - Ferry-crossing to Rab). From the ferry, views
looking back to the mountainous backdrop above Jablanac were
awesome; not so the initial sight of Rab as we approached the
Mišnjak ferry port. The eastern side of the island, blasted by the
icy Bura wind, is a dismal, stony moonscape wilderness, utterly
barren - no houses, no trees and certainly no vegetation. But
surmounting the island's central spine to the more sheltered western
side, the change is marked: a contrasting paradise of vines and
cultivated land.
slender peninsula. Its
architecture betrays 400 years of Venetian rule which progressively
plundered the wealth of the 14th century formerly self-governing
commune. The Victorian English architect, T G Jackson, said of Rab:
"Never have I seen a view that moved me more. The strange medieval
town, seeming more a memory than a reality, the still sea and
changing light, made an impression I shall never forget. Of all the
towns in Dalmatia, there is none more lovely than poor ruined Rab".
Sensitive restoration has preserved Rab's medieval beauty for
modern-day visitors, and viewed from our walk along the lungomare,
it was difficult to disagree with Jackson's romantic sentiments.
Even more inspiring was Rab's iconic sequence of four campaniles
projecting above the pan-tiled rooftops, viewed from the Venetian
town walls. Similarly beautiful was the symmetrical Great Bell
Tower, topped with a balustraded pyramid, viewed from the rocky
shoreline. And that evening, as the Rab fishing boats headed out to
sea for their night's work, we were rewarded with a glorious sunset
across the bay (Photo 5 - sunset over Rab). 
coast of Rab: the land (if you could call it
that) was just
a stark vista of boulders, with not a trace of vegetation in sight.
Yet sheep, whose milk produces the island's distinctive cheese Paški
Sir (tasting like pecorino) grazed on the boulder field, scouring
the barren slopes for scraps of coarse scrub. Over the island's
spine, lines of dry-stone walls divided hillsides not into pastures
but boulder fields. The Bura wind increased in strength during our
night at Šimuni Camping on the sheltered western coast, and the
following morning, as we re-crossed the island's high point, we were
hit by the Bura's full forceful fury. As we stopped to photograph
the stormy Bura cloudscape over Pag and the distant mainland
mountains (Photo 6 - Bura storm clouds over Pag), our camper
was rocked alarmingly by the wind's force. As we descended towards
Pag town, the Bura whipped up surf across the sound. Pag town was
deserted. The white stone of the Church of the Assumption in the
main square glowed in the soft sunlight, and the delicately carved
rose window resembled a patterns of Pag lace, the island's other
claim to fame (Photo 7 - Church of the Assumption in Pag Town)
. But the black-skirted old ladies who can normally be seen making
lace were noticeably absent; when the Bura blows, locals in Pag
wisely keep their heads down.
distant line of Velebit mountains still had their malevolent
cloud-cap. Camping Peroš was small and pleasantly hospitable; the
warden provided us with town plans and timetable for the journey by
local bus from Zaton into Zadar. As advised, we got off the bus by
the post office to walk down to the harbour and over the footbridge
into Zadar's old town. Following the Saturday morning shoppers
through the gate in the massive city walls into the market which
filled a square just inside the walls, we spent a happy hour
wandering around the stalls; old ladies proffered bags of eggs,
blet, spinach, wild asparagus, cheese and olives (Photo 8 - Zadar
market). And in the nearby ribarnica (fish market) we bought
squid for that evening's supper.
central square, was
clearly the popular gathering place, filled with street cafes and
overlooked by the elegant 16th century Guards' House and clock
tower. The Venetian walls are largely intact, and the Land Gate
triumphal arch is topped with a monumental St Mark's Lion; tellingly
this symbol of Venetian power dwarfs Zadar's emblem below, the
figure of the city's patron saint St Chrysogonus. The former Roman
Forum is now a rather forlorn scattering of stone remains, but
alongside is the magnificently lofty 9th century Byzantine Church of
St Donat. The basal layers of the church are visibly made up of
random pieces of Roman stonework and column drums salvaged from the
forum. Nearby is Zadar's Cathedral of St Anastasia, a perfect
example of late Romanesque ecclesiastical architecture. (Photo 9 -
Byzantine church and Cathedral of St Anastasia, Zadar) The
slender campanile was only completed in 1890 by T G Jackson, that
master of architectural plagiarism who modelled his design on Rab's
tallest campanile which had so impressed him; his other famous work,
the New Quad and Bridge at Hertford College Oxford was modelled on
Venice's Bridge of Sighs and his design for the College's Old Quad
Staircase uncannily resembles the Renaissance Chateau of Blois.
Across at the waterfront, we followed the distant mournful notes of
Zadar's unique and recently installed Sea Organ: movement of the sea
forces air through a system of pipes set within the stone steps,
producing a mystically hypnotic random series of musical sounds, a
creative further dimension to the panoramic view to Ugljan Island
across the water. After a day of exploration around Zadar's old
town, we were glad to relax with a glass of wine (or two) by Trg Pet
Bunara, the Square of Five Wells, before catching our bus back to
camp at Zaton.
After a stock-up of provisions at
the Mercator Centre on Zadar's bypass, we set off inland towards the
sweeping line of the Velebit mountains which glowed white in the
morning sunshine. But first we had to cross the narrow gorge which
links the sea channel between Pag and the mainland to the inland sea
of the Novigradsko More. The 2 mile long Maslenica Gorge is spanned
at the western end by the motorway bridge and at the eastern end by
a new bridge carrying the Magistrala. This whole area had been
occupied by the Serbian Yugoslav National Army (JNA) and Serb
irregulars in 1991; the Serbs destroyed the original bridge in an
attempt to sever Dalmatian communications with the rest of Croatia.
The Serbs were driven back in 1993 by a Croat offensive to recover
the Maslenica area, but the bridge was not replaced until 2005, so
restoring the Magistrala crossing of the gorge. We stopped at the
bridge to admire both its gracefully arched structure 150 feet above
the water, and the breath-taking vista of the Maslenica Gorge with
its sheer sides. The deep blue waters sparkled way down below us,
and the view revealed the motorway bridge at the gorge's western
portal, backed by the stunning panorama of the snow-covered Velebit
mountains (Photo 10 - Maslenica Gorge).
1,800m. Visitors are spoiled
for choice of
campsites: 2 larger expensive ones (the better run by the
National Park) and a plethora of small, cheaper and private
sites. We selected Vesna Camping, next to a small pension by the
lane leading to the National Park. Of the two gorges, the Velika
(Great) Paklenica has a well-engineered path which gains height deep
into the massif. We kitted up, expecting rain later in the day. As
you advance into the gorge, 400m high soaring rock walls close in
around you; sheer overwhelmingly high cliffs tower above. Just into
the gorge are the remains of an enormous bunker complex cut into the
rock in the early 1950s as a war-time crisis HQ for Tito; having
just split with Stalin, perhaps Tito feared Yugoslavia would suffer
Soviet invasion as happened to other non-compliant Warsaw Pact
countries. Just beyond this, with the massive rock walls closing in
around, the height gain begins, the path zigzagging upwards
alongside the valley stream. The Velika Paklenica cliffs are one of
Europe's major rock climbing venues, and the annual Big Wall Speed
Climbing competition in May attracts climbers from around the world.
Despite the awesome rock scenery, the light regrettably was dull and
poor, making photography in the grandiose canyon difficult. But as
we gained height into an upper valley, other photographic potential
awaited: the path was lined with flourishing clusters of beautiful
wild cyclamen and carpets of spring violets (Photo 11 -
spring violets in Paklenica Gorge). From this upper valley, the
enormous buttress of Anića Luk towered awesomely above us. We
continued gaining height to reach Planinarski Dom, one of the
mountain huts, from where the massive craggy headwall of the Velebit
range dominated the horizon. At this height, we began to see the
indigenous Black Pines whose sap, Paklina, gives the Paklenica National Park
its name. It had been a superb day in magnificent
mountain terrain, despite the gloomy weather (Photo 12 - the Velika Paklenica Gorge).
