Croatia day 28: Zrmanja river

September 16th: We spent pretty much the whole day kayaking the Zrmanja river on a Raftrek tour. We had to lose a lot of altitude to get to the starting point, and drive some narrow roads.

The water was pretty low, so the rapids were mostly class I and II, but it was fairly easy to get stuck in spots.

Visoki Buk was the only waterfall we had to walk around. It’s about 4-5 meters.

Getting back in downstream

Going over the final 3 meter waterfall. Sadly, only one person per kayak allowed.

One awkward thing about the trip was that they only had enough bus room to take the drivers back to the cars. The rest of us had to wait at the takeout point for an hour. But, there was a restaurant there. So I ate dinner, but Carol didn’t because she wasn’t there.

My ćevapi came with sliced bun, instead of on a bun.

Eventually Carol picked me up. Then back out the narrow roads, and uphill to Gračac. We ate dinner at the Kralj Zonomic restaurant again. Or rather, Carol had dinner and I had dessert.

Carol had a pizza, and I had crepes with syrup and whipped cream.

Croatia day 27: Paklenica

September 15th: In the morning, we snorkeled a little in Pag before heading out. There was an entry point less than 100 meters from our apartment. Nothing spectacular, but lots of small fish.

On the way out of town, I noticed a sign to St. Duh.

“Svetnik” or “svetnica” means “saint”, so this sign appeared to be pointing to a church of Saint Duh. A patron saint of obviousness? There are too many possible puns on this to list here, so I’ll let you make up your own. Just pray that there are no spherical holy relics, or we’d have to call them “sveti balls“. But it’s a bit more complicated than that, as “Sv.” can also be an abbreviation for “sveti” = “holy”. And “sveti duh” means “holy ghost”.

Our main target for the day was Paklenica National Park, known for its narrow canyons, numerous rock-climbing routes, and a secret military bunker (now a museum).

The former military bunker displays nature photos and provides an air-conditioned alternative to hiking outside.

Triple Caramel Chunk is called Caramel Chew Chew in Croatia.

Then we drove to Gračac, where we stayed 2 nights. We ate dinner at the Kralj Zonomic restaurant.

I had beef goulash, and Carol had the mixed meat platter (note the bowl of ajvar sauce).