Goodbye Selce. We continued driving right beside the Adriatic (along Velebitski kanal, with the islands of Krk and Rab and Pag just across the water. We continued driving south until we got to Starigrad-Paklenica, and the Nacionalni Park Paklenica. We stopped off here for lunch, and walked around a little on the waterfront, getting into conversation with a lovely Irish couple who were there for the day. The locals are in the process of setting up for the tourist season, which very obviously has not yet begin.
Any time, any place, for a mobile phone conversation!
The Waterfront at Starigrad-Paklenica
Any time, any place, for a mobile phone conversation!
The Waterfront at Starigrad-Paklenica
The road into the National Park is narrow, with sharp turns, and on one of these turns we encountered a large bus trying to squeeze its way out. We backed off a little, and he was successful in his efforts. We were so bemused that Warren even forgot to take a photograph. Shame!
We got to the entrance of the park to find it a rocky place suitable for long hikes, but not the kind of bushland we enjoyed in places like the Forest of Dean in Gloucestershire (England) and Newborough Forest in Anglesey (Wales). So we decided to go up to the cave to explore that — only to find that it was only open on Saturdays (and today wasn't Saturday). So we gave the National Park a miss and continued on our way.
About 12km further on, we crossed a bridge (passing a sign that read "Welcome to Croatia. Lidl, over 80 stores". So the Germans have invaded Croatia, but the Yanks (Maccas) still have a way to go. We were then on the A1 tollway, with regular petrol and rest stops where we could refuel the van and ourselves, and with parking where we could conceivably spend the night. The tollways here aren't all that expensive, and if you count in the possibility of free overnighting, are positively cheap!
As it was, we took our overnight pause at Odormište Vrpolje ('rest stop Vrpolje') just south of Šibenik, and about 50km short of Trogir, a town we had been told about by a German couple we had met on our way — this is a World Heritage site, being one of the best preserved Romanesque-Gothic towns in Europe, built almost entirely from local marble — our destination for tomorrow!
All in all, a most pleasant day. Not a bad way to spend our son Tristan's 30th birthday
... Happy Birthday Tweedles!
Distance driven — today, 155 miles ( 249 km ); to date, 17,504 miles ( 28,170 km )
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