Lynn WiezyckiOn our drive to our next rental house, we stopped for a view of the village we would be visiting the next day, Skradin, which is the harbor from which we would be taking a boat to Krka National Park!
All these images were made with my Nikon Z8 and Nikon Z 24-200mm lens unless otherwise designated.
We drove to our next rental house (more on that in Part 4). The next morning we got our instructions from our host, as he had to stay back and get some work done! We followed the GPS route he gave us which took us on the scenic route but as we got closer to Skradin we saw a roadblock ahead. The police officers did not speak much English so we had no idea why it was blocked off. We asked directions to get us to Skradin and from our understanding we took a route that brought us right back to the roadblock! So we decided to go the opposite way the officer had told us and let the GPS reroute us! Well, we finally got to Skradin. We parked the car and got directions to the ticket office for the boat ride to Krka National Park.
That is when we found out why the road had been blocked! There was a road race getting ready to start in the regular parking lot for the harbor! Many car crews were getting ready but the race was scheduled after we left for the park.
We wandered around the docks so we could be the first in line once the boat was back.
I made an image that was the opposite of the one above, looking through the boats in the harbor and the bridge in the distance!
After about an hour’s wait, we boarded the boat to Krka! The boat ride takes about 30 minutes but it is a pleasant trip with plenty to see along the way!
When we arrived at the dock at the park we found that we had to walk awhile to get to the waterfalls. There were shops and cafes along the way but most were closed as October is “out of season”! It did not seem very “out of season” when we arrived at the waterfall that Krka National Park is famous for! The view from the shore was difficult because of the trees and rocks. There was a wooden bridge/boardwalk with at least 50 people on it trying to take selfies with the falls in the background! Setting down a tripod was impossible so I settled for a hand-held image with the longest shutter I felt would work with all the vibrations, 1/2000s! We decided to move on and hope to find some more stable and less crowded waterfalls to shoot!
This park has some solid ground and some boardwalks. We found a viewing platform at the end of one boardwalk and I was able to get 2 waterfalls looking in different directions.
There is a separate boat ride that takes you farther along the waterway to see an island that has a church on it (one of the iconic images from Krka) but the boat was not going out that day as the ticket agent told us there were not enough people signed up for it.
It turned out to be a good thing as it had been pretty cloudy all morning and the weather was looking a bit stormy so we decided to head back to the boat dock.
When we crossed the bridge by the main waterfall again we realized that there were very few people so we set up the tripods and got the long-exposure images we were hoping for!
I thought a video might be appropriate at this stop! Video made with my iPhone 14 Pro Max.
Zoomed in, to get a more intimate view of these beautiful falls.
We rushed back to the dock to catch the boat going back to Skradin. The light was not great as the boat went back toward Skradin but as we came around a bend we were hit by the incredibly loud noise of racing cars! On the roads along the cliffs above us, we could not see the cars but we could hear them! They came along one side of the waterway, crossed a bridge, and went along the other side as we were overwhelmed by the echoes of the roaring engines!
Once back at the village, we decided to check it out! This beautiful town was the first of many amazing villages and towns we explored and photographed during our time in Croatia. The streets were narrow so no cars and the buildings here were brightly colored! The only issue we had while there was the race car engine noise that echoed through the streets even though the road they were on was outside the village!
There are a couple of things we were beginning to realize about Croatians! They love strong coffee, baked goods, and gelato! We found our first amazing and tasty gelato in Skradin! I had raspberry! It was sooooo good!
Every street had alleys that were different. You never knew what you would find!
As we took the street that led to the parking lot I saw my first olive tree!
We headed back to our rental house for an evening of more adventures! More on that later!
I highly recommend a visit to Krka National Park and Skradin. The park is not as “crowded” (it’s all relative) as Plitvice Lakes NP (see Part 2) and Skradin is worth a visit on its own!
My next post will be on the beautiful villa we rented, in Zecevo Rogoznicko, and the cities nearby!
For larger versions of these images and many more to purchase as prints or on other merchandise please visit my gallery: Krka National Park and Skradin Gallery
That is all for now!
Lynn
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