Nin & Krka national park

Monday 12^th

Moved to Nin near Zadar on the recommendation of Tomislav the very helpful Tourist Information guy at Korana.  Good place to visit. Camp Ninska laguna very eccentric with very basic facilities. Solar water system was coils of black pipes on the roof!  Worked in a fashion. Our pitch had views across to Pag and the Velebit mountain range beyond.

Nin

View across to Pag

Tues 13^th

Rain and cold wind am, then sunny. We cycled onto sand spit afer lunch. Lots of broken down / deserted beach cafes. Nobody on beaches. Haircut for me in the evening before dinner. Lady spoke perfect New York English (10 yrs living there)  Bargain at £4.00!

wrecked beach cafe - no service

Weds 14^th

Howling Burra north wind all night which buffeted the van keeping Tina awake. Colder so bacon rolls for lunch – the last of our treats from home now consumed.

Thurs 15th

Bus into Zadar.  The town was bombed in WW2 then also badly in the homeland war in 94. it has been completely rebuilt and the main tourist part of the old town is very impressive. We arrived in a scruffy part but the footbridge  to the old part delivers you into a lovingly restored Roman designed town. Lots of churches but we both ranked number 1 attraction the sea organ which is powered by the waves. It was designed by a local architect Mikal Basic. We recorded the amazing sounds and will try to post a link. A  good day's sightseeing.

Roman remains

amazing sea organ

Friday 16^th

Poor weather all week so far with very strong wind so when the sun popped out we went for a cycle to Privlaka. It was absolutely empty of life with lots of deserted, half finished houses. All the rest were shuttered up. Strange. The island of Vir was the same – what a chaotic style of building. Not especially pretty.  The end of the island was better with a rural feel.  Great views to the islands.

dramatic sky and sea

Sun 18^th

Left Nin and drove south along the coast road to Sibenik and the Krka National park. The Kornati islands off Biograd and Vodice looked great – sort of volcanic mounds all over the sea.  Lots and lots of remote campsites which we assumed will come to life in high summer? We arrived at Camping Marina and Krka side by side. Quick inspection and we chose Marina. Pretty full with mainly German and Dutch. Quick setup and a scoot into Skradin. What a picturesque place. A lovely inlet lined with expensive sailing yachts and “gin palaces”. The road down was scoot heaven – full of twisties and hairpins.  Ice cream was also nice.  Nice atmosphere.

Krka main waterfall

ooh!

very loud close up

Skradin from above

Mon 19^th

Moved pitch away from the path to the loos. Then scoot down to Skaradin and the boat to the Krka park. Very pretty mini cruise up to the entrance. Krka is a sort of mini Plitvice. The infrastructure appears newer and well orgaised. Still very impressive set of main waterfalls. Lots of Americans replaced the Japanese we saw in Plitvice.  On our return the pre booked Dutch ACSI group were arriving. Our new pitch gave us grandstand seats as motorhomes and caravans arrived. Funny to watch then maneuvering their caravans with tiny remote control for the electric movers!  Like Scaletrix in very slow motion if you know what I mean. (for the younger Blog readers Scaletrix was / is a slot racing car game with remote speed controllers – Google it!)  very friendly bunch who also told us we had great viewing seats.