National Parks all over the place
From the Plitvice Lakes it is only a short drive to the border with Bosnia & Herzegovina.
And close to that is the Una National Park, named for the river running through it, which also serves as the divider between the two countries.
The first things you notice in this new country are mosques, street dogs, sheep and flags. All of those are suddenly everywhere.
We briefly stopped in Bihac, a small city in the very north-west of the country.
The main draw here is the river, and, ... really not much else.
We spent our first (and for now only) night in B&H at Safikˋs place, who, like others to the left and right, welcome campers on their properties where you can park on large grass areas close to the river Una.
My human took off on the bike to check out the parkˋs main attraction, Strbacki Buk, a 24m high waterfall, only 5km from camp and very impressive. The sheer amount of water coming down, quite mesmerizing, really.
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| Strbacki Buk |
In the morning, she rode down to Martin Brod, a tiny settlement more or less built on top of the river with small waterfalls gushing down next to the houses and in the backyards. Probably prime property, but on the other hand - not!
The 25km one way would normally not have been an issue, but considering the very strong wind on the way there, almost stopping her dead around some corners, made for a rather tired girl when she finally got back.
This was only a quick side trip, but we will be seeing more of Bosnia & Herzegovina before too long. For now, we are back in Croatia, and off to the next National Park, called Paklenica.
This area is well known for its great rock climbing, and you see climbers on every rock face like flies on a wall.
The hiking is also very good, with a couple of canyons and plenty of "mountains":
There are a lot of Winnetou themed restaurants and shops here, also a museum, since a lot of the movies were shot here, at least some of the outdoor and scenery frames.
Cheaper than in the States, I would guess.
My human scrambled up the Mala Paklenica, the smaller of the two canyons, over big rocks and boulders, polished smooth over thousands of years by the river that runs through here in winter.
From the pass at the top you get nice views of the Winnetou mountain range, although it was a rather hazy day.
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| Looks familiar? |
Then back down through the Velika Paklenice, the bigger one.
Up to that point, she had seen exactly three people.
Now there were three on every square meter. Might be because there is a convenient walkway here, making the access easy.
And itˋs Easter holidays, of course.
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| The morning after a bit of a storm |
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| Fancy bridge on the way to Zadar |
From the mountains we went back to the sea, to Zadar.
The city is known for its Roman and Venetian ruins, which are scattered throughout the center and double as playgrounds for the kids. No fences here, just hands on history.
Walking along the promenade, you soon come to the Sea Organ. Along 70 meters of waterfront, the architect Nikola Basic installed 35 pipes of various length, diameters and slopes at low tide level and the water entering those pipes makes the "music". Itˋs not exactly melodic or pleasing to the ear, but still interesting.
Hard to take photos of, though...
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| This is where the sound comes out |
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| What a life this poodle has! |
Just a few meters down is a light installation by the same architect, called "Greetings to the sun".
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| 300 solar panels store the sunlight during the day and start a ligth show at sunset |
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| According to Hitchcock the most beautiful sunset in the world can be seen in Zadar |
The center is gorgous, lined by polished cobblestoned alleys and full of restaurants and bars.
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| The place of five wells, where locals used to get their water from |
The island of Pag is reached via a short bridge. Itˋs hard to tell, driving along, where you are exactly. Mainland, island, peninsula, there is just water everywhere and always the Velebit mountain range as a backdrop to one side, constantly topped by some clouds.
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| Brief stop in Nin on the way to Pag; this is said to be the smallest Cathedral in the world |
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| It is also known for itˋs salt flats |
Pag is the main city on the island of Pag. The specialities here are lace and cheese. So we expected to be offered both while walking through the city.
Well, it seems like we are a bit early in the season, the whole town was rather shut down and quiet.
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| What now? Stop or do not park? |
We spent the night in the yard of a sheep farmer, Tonci. He has 30 sheep, currently some lambs and a very cute blind cat.
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| Not a bad view to enjoy from your bed |
Having lived in Germany for many years, he came back to his parents land to start farming sheep and live his dream; risking, and finally getting served, the divorce papers by his wife for it.
We spent a very pleasant evening chatting and drinking wine.
To get a different perspective of all these islands around here, my human went on a full day boat tour from Zadar, cruising in the Kornati National Park.
The park was created in 1980 and consists of 89 islands, none of them permanently inhabited.
It is also a diving area, but this time of the year none of the dive centers has opened up yet, so she was confined to swimming in the sea and a saltwater lake.
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| Some pretty cliffs, over 160 meters high |
We found ourselves another sweet spot for the night, right next to the harbour in a small town only 10km from Zadar.
We watched the sunset from our spot and had a very peacefull night, listening to the small waves, gently hitting the shore.
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| Sunset right out of my back door in Bibinje |
PS: We reached a milestone! 400.000 kilometers! Of those, we did a good 40.000 together.
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