Day 66 ~ Zadar, Croatia

March 29,2018

“Try not to take the same excursion in every port.” ~ Kainoa, our cultural guide on the 2016 South Pacific cruise

This was sound advice, because one “around the island” tour is very much like another. In the Mediterranean, we could easily fall into the walk-about a medieval town and visit cathedrals rut. So today, we decided to “get out of Dodge” on a trip to Krka National Park, about 75 minutes drive away from the town of Zadar.

The winged lion of St. Mark on this arch shows that Zadar was once under the influence of the Venetian Republic, a major medieval trading power.

Getting out of the port town gave us a chance to see the countryside, which I’m sorry to say was the rockiest stretch of ground I’ve ever seen. The DH says he thinks it was because as the glaciers retreated they dumped tons of stones on the area. He may be right.

However, our guide Maryanna assured us the soil is fertile once the rocks are cleared off—a Herculean task if ever there was! We saw several vineyards and orchards where the rocks had been removed.

Our ears popped as we climbed up into the mountains to Krka. It was a beautiful drive that ended with the thunder of Skradinski Buk. The water falls of 17 steps stretched over 800 meters (2600 ft). There’s a  45.7 meter drop (148.5 ft!) from top to bottom.

I chose this tour because the DH loves waterfalls. He looks pretty happy, doesn’t he?

In order to appreciate the magnitude of the falls, we took a bit of a hike. We walked the entire loop marked in yellow on the map above. Most of it was on elevated wooden walkways without handrails for the most part. We decided the Croatians must be a must less litigious society than Americans, because it would have been so easy to catch a toe on a raised board and tumble over into the water. Perhaps there are no liability laws here. Anyway, we minded how we went and had no trouble.

Until we came to the first set of 80+ stair steps down—irregular, rocky, and occasionally pie wedge-shaped instead of rectangular. We took our time making it to the bottom and had no trouble.

The pay off was a walk across the broad river on a bridge (with handrails this time!) and from there, a stunning view of the falls. It pounded the dark granite in its rush to join the sea.  The air smelled so fresh, as if rain-washed by a sudden downpour. A fine mist kissed our cheeks. It was a moment I’ll remember for a long time.

There were some shops near the bridge, but because I knew it would take me a long time to climb the 120+ back up to where the bus would be waiting, we decided to head up before the rest of the group. It wasn’t long until some of them were passing us by, but they all gave me words of encouragement as we climbed and rested, climbed and rested. I was not the last to make it back to the bus, and that made me very happy. I don’t want to make my fellow travelers wait for me.

When traveling with a physical limitation it’s important to be realistic about what you can do. I’ve tried to avoid excursions labeled “strenuous.” But it’s also important to stretch yourself, so I don’t shy away from those marked “moderate.” I’ve been training for excursions by walking daily on the ship, aiming for 6000 steps a day. Today my step count was well over 8000!

What I can’t train for is how my lungs function. I can only monitor my O2 saturation and stop when it drops too far. If I can take my time and rest a bit, my O2 numbers go back up and I can climb a lot of steps.

Everything has something that holds them back sometimes. I wish you good fortune in overcoming your obstacle, whatever it may be.