Krka National Park Waterfalls

Oh goody! We’re going back to Krka National Park. I just can’t get enough of those waterfalls. If I had to spend my days as a freshwater gull, this would be the place for me.

This time around, we are going on a boat trip from Skradinski buk to Roški slap (slap being Croatian for waterfall). Her Ladyship has surpassed herself. Her second boat trip in a week. We’ll get her sea legs going yet! Well, river legs. But at least it’s a start.

Having left the roaring falls and throngs of tourists behind us, we are in a different world. The only sounds are the chugging of the engine and the occasional plop of a fish or cry of a bird. The river opens out into Visovac Lake and we stop off for a short visit to Visovac Island, home of a Franciscan monastery, church and museum. To fully appreciate the beauty of this tiny island, you’d really need to see it from above. This painting is the next best thing. Even if it makes me look like a bit of an egg-head.

As we chug on towards Roški slap, the river landscape is almost unreal. Shimmering reflections of the soft, gentle hills in the smooth waterways, and, as we progress deeper into the gorge, the rock faces rise up higher and higher alongside us.

Gosh, I thought I spotted a bald eagle there. Oh. Sorry, it’s just a bald Oldie. His Lordship risking life, limb and sunstroke as he snaps away like a mad thing. As the boat approaches the waterfall, we can already feel the spray. Now that’s what I call a slap in the face! Wonderfully refreshing. After docking at the watermill, we have some time to explore. I’m always on for a bird’s eye view, so I am delighted the Oldies have opted to climb the steep and rather precarious path along the rock face. From here we have a fantastic view of the cascades, called the ‘Necklaces’ by the locals. They certainly are jewels of nature!

Further explorations of the Krka National Park have brought us to the lovely Brljan waterfall. We find ourselves all alone here; no sign of any other humans. In fact, very few signs at all. It’s not that easy to find Manojlovački slap, which at a total height of 59m is the highest of the Krka falls. Luckily, it also seems to be the loudest. We can hear the falls long before we see them, so we know we’re on the right track. And track it is: a narrow one leading through hedges to a muddy field with a sheer drop down into the canyon. Further poking around reveal a trail leading to a viewing point.

A plaque marks the spot where the waterfalls were once admired by Emperor Franz Josef I and his wife Elizabeth. Fair dues to the pair of them for making it out here in the wilderness in all their fancy gear. I bet they didn’t have track shoes back in 1875.

Going back even further in time, the ancient Romans were here in force at the beginning of the first century AD. At nearby Burnum, the remains of a Roman military camp can still be seen today, the main features being the arches of the regimental building and the remains of a military amphitheatre. It is hard to imagine that over 20,000 people once lived here. Nowadays, the population must be about … well, zero. There’s not a village or a house anywhere in sight. And hardly a tourist either. Wonderful!

Great, yet another slap! Bilušića buk waterfall is an amazing 100m wide. Access is via a steep, narrow trail with lots of tight bends. The highlight of our walk is when Her Ladyship encounters a large serpent in one of the many serpentinas (hairpin bends). I’ve never seen anyone take a hairpin bend so fast in all my life!

Further downriver, we visit Manastir Krka, the 14^th century Krka Monastery, the spiritual centre of the Serbian Orthodox faith. The Byzantine style church is a feast for the eyes, beautifully decorated in brilliant colours with no shortage of gold. The church stands above catacombs where early Christians would hide from the Romans. Yes, all those guys just up the road in Burnum. Those must have been scary times indeed.

I had to laugh when I read Krka National Park described in the tourist literature as a ’significant environment’. The understatement of the year! More like stunning, gorgeous, breathtakingly beautiful, mind-blowing, stupefying, wondrous…

Sorry. After all those incredible sights, I think I’m a little slap-happy.