All about Croatia

There’s Island and two lakes extraordinary connected …name of that Island is Mljet.

Mljet is rich with forests because of that, he is known as the "Green Island". Fauna is so rich ,the sea is crystal and the sandy and gravel beaches are very attractive for tourist destination. Because extreme natural beauty 1960 he was declared like National Park.

In National Park you will see two lakes located there .It is amazing to see very exotic. Both lakes has only tour boats for turist sightseeings saling around, Private wessels are not allowed.

Walking trails leads you around the lakes. The salt lakes are a unique geological and oceanographic phenomenon of worldwide importance. They originated approximately 10,000 years ago and, until the Christian era, they were freshwater lakes.

Island is really something to sea nobody can stay impassive after only couple hours there.

MORE PHOTOS FROM MLJET !!!

Here is some option how to get on Mljet

Airports:

- Dubrovnik, Split

Ferry Jadrolinija:

- from Rijeka, Zadar, Split, Hvar, … to Sobra (Mljet) 
- everyday from Dubrovnik to Sobr
- everyday from place Prapratno (peninsula Pelješac) to Sobra (Mljet)

By Car:

- Rijeka, Zadar, Split, Dubrovnik - Sobra (ferry)
- Rijeka, Zadar, Split, Ston, Prapratno - Sobra (ferry)
- Zagreb, Plitvice (National Park), (Zadar), Split, Dubrovnik-Sobra (ferry)
- Zagreb, Plitvice, (Zadar), Split, Ston, Prapratno - Sobra (ferry)

Lastovo one of the farthest islands is protected park of nature since 2006. It is ideal place for vacation, untouched nature, so quietly and beautiful landscape… ideal for peaceful summer holiday. Most attractive are excursions by boats to Lastovo archipelago, islands and islets, where you can swims near beautiful landscape and have fish picnic.

Lastovo is very attractive Island and there is lot of thinks what you can do there during the summer from scuba diving, fishing and underwater fishing, and many other active things…hiking, trekking, biking.

You can reach Lastovo by ferryboat or catamaran from Split (Split – Vela luka – Lastovo). It is possible also to come to Lastovo via Korčula – with the ferryboat in Vela Luka.

From Split:

• If you arrive by car, then ferryboat is your choice (the journey takes less than 5 hours).
• By high-speed boat, the journey takes 2 hr. 45 min.

What to do this summer at lastovo:

• Music Festival  Lastovo – the Music Island 2008 will be July 24th - 27th. All concerts will be at the ‘Bašta’ - next to the Lastovo Church, and a camping place will be next to the Football playground. This festival we call Dalmatian Woodstock because over the years the most popular rock attractions have been included in the Festival.

MAPA OF LASTOVO

Here you find all our favorit links from Croatian - Links about Croatia

Last week I visit Vukovar placed in Eastern Slavonic, with church choir.

To Vukovar we drive by bus and it takes around 7-8 hours of driving. We wanted to give some support to local people because of the  terrible experience they go trough during the Balkan War 1991-1995.

Like we say here ;Croatia was born in Vukovar. We visit hospital from where in that time Serbians take all wounded, kids older sick people to torture and death .

Ovčara is the name of that place and before war it was farm. But during the war it was terrible place where uniformed members of the Yugoslav Peoples Army(JNA) and paramilitary Chetnik’s formations who were drunk and out of control, commanded by the JNA officers(M.Mrkšić,V.Šljivančanin,M.Radič) and others, has beaten up prisoners from Vukovar with sticks, baseball bats, chains, rifle stocks, and various other objects. Even the mayor of Vukovar a Serb S.Dokmanović beat up his fellow-citizens.

At Ovčara the victims were mostly wounded people and medical personal from Vukovar hospital .They was all thrown in massive grave. In September 1996, 200 bodies were exhumed from there.

During aggressive attack on Vukovar thru Ovčara farm 3000-5000 people past thru.Today no one is punish for that crime. More about Vukovar battle and war see here.And you can also take a look movie Harrison’s Flowers from 2000 with Andy McDowell and Adrian Brody. Definitely a great movie!

Today in Croatia we all remained our self that we should not forget Vukovar because all people who die for Croatia and because all of them who lose their dearest.Croatia War is bigg tragedy and we should forgive but never forget!!! With those words of friar we left Vukovar.In bus you could touch the sorrow…and hope of better tomorrow.

More pictures from Vukovar

Sunday morning at 05:45 we left the camp together with 10 other kayakers and went direction Venice, after a 1 ½ hour drive we arrived in Venice where we easily found the parking spaces (just after the bridge), which Georgia hat recommend us on the info meeting the day before.

At 07.45 we all had offloaded and prepared our kayaks and were ready to go. From the point where we entered the water there was about 30-40 min paddling to the regatta starting point the Piazza Saint Marco.

Shane and I had of course signed up for the regatta, but we did not yet get our starting number, so we had to go to the official information office to pick it up, typical Italian they of course had moved this, so after being directed to several wrong places we finally managed to find it and get our number. Shortly before 09:00 we were gathered with the rest of the group directly in from of the Piazza Saint Marco, waiting for the starting signal.

Precisely at 09:00 a canon shot was fired and 1600 registered and x number of unregistered vessels started moving, Amazing!! All kind of different vessels like Dragon boats, kayaks, rowing boats, Gondola , start paddling and rowing at the same time.

Before the race I had my serious doubts if I would be able to paddle more then am few km, but as It was so interesting to see all the boats and people dressed up for the race, I did not notice how far we were actually going, so when we stopped for a break at a sand pier, I was assuming we had paddled 4-5 km, I turned out that we actually at that point of time already went 12 km, and the island not far in front of us was Burana, the turning point, so I really started believing I could actually finish the race.

In Burana (I nice city with lots of colourful houses) we went down the main Canal in the centre of the city, here there was “supply ships” distributing bananas, water and fanta for the paddlers. Many participants actually stopped here for real lunch in one of the restaurants, or had lunch on the boat, but as I said to Shane “I already manage to get out of the kayak once without falling in the water, so I didn’t feel like wanting to push my luck again”.

After Burano the hardest part of the race came, 6-8 km on open water with few “milestones”, so I had to take several breaks, so Shain had to do the hard work him selves, but eventually we managed to pass this part also and enter into the city Murano (famous for its glass production), from here one the tower on the Marcus church became bigger and bigger which was very good for the motivation.

As we reach the races bottleneck, a small canal in the city part Cannaregio, I was already totally full, so we had to fight our way through as you can see on our Video, but after around 20 minutes we manage to pass the bridge causing the bottleneck and headed on towards Kanal Grande. The last part of the race was easy, all along Kanal Grande and on the bridges there was people encouraging us shouting Forza Forza when we past by, which of course gave plenty of motivation to keep going.

At around 14:00 we passed the finish line in front of the Piazza Saint Marco and got our medal and diploma, after crossing we paddle back to where our cars was parked, so at 14:45 after 7 hours in a Kayak we finally had solid ground under our feet again. Of course I had pain especially in my arms, but the feeling have actually manage the 30 km was every pain worth, so for sure would recommend also newbie’s like me to try something like this, I definitely will do it again.

Our fotos from Vogalonga

Here is some usefull links for Vogalonga and for kayak holiday in general

The camp which we stayed in - Capalonga

The organizer of the Bibione kayak week - Bibionekayak

Kayak holiday in Croatia - lifejacketadventures

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As I told in prior post, my friend Shain and I had signed up for the 34^th Vogalonga which was held on the Sunday the 11^th of May in Venice Italy.

Friday we left Split and headed to the Camp Capalonga in Bibione, which is 100 km north of Venice, as we had a few work related thinks to handle on the way so we did not arrive before 23:30, so it was good that Julie a few hours before had announce our late arrival, otherwise they would not have let us in as the camp, as it is closed for vehicles from 23:00 to 07:00. The trip from Spilt had taken us 10 hours, so everybody was ready for the beds.

On the Camp Capalonga, we had rented two “Golden Suite Mare” , which we had booked through Bibionekajak at a special rate of 65 Euro, which to me seam ok for the luxury mobile homes, with 6 beds, 2 bathrooms and fully equipped kitchen.

Saturday morning Shane and I went to pick the two new double kayaks he had ordered by an Italian dealer in the area, this took much longer as we expected as we had a hard time finding the town where the dealer was situation, but finally we managed.

As we came back to the camp, I went in to the pool with the kids (which already spend most of the day there), Shane went to talk with the arranger of the bibionekajak 2008 – Gergio. At 17:00 all we went to information meeting regarding Sundays race in Venice, after we finished the meeting, we prepared the new kayak and finally, at 18:30 if was time for my virgin trip in a kayak, which was only a trip of 30 minutes, but enough for me to get serious doubts if I would be able to do the 30 Km on Sunday.

We finished the day with a very important task, Barbecue on the Terrace while we where mentally preparing us for the race by having a few glasses of wine.

On our last trip to Split we’ve visited my brother in law in ACI marina Split. He is helping a friend in repairing his sailing boat. They were mostly painting – this needs to be done yearly because the wood without good protection gets damaged by salt water. We were not happiest with the weather, but they like strong winds - they are sailing lovers.

The sailing boat they were working on is specially designed for regattas and it is old model, but still in great conditions and its owner was many times between winners.

The ACI marina Split is one of biggest and best equipped on Adriatic, with 364 berths and 60 places on the land. It is great protected from winds, placed in town centre, with beautiful view to Diokletian’s palast and Marjan hill, two most important town’s symbols.

Next weekend we will go to Venice with our Australian friends, Shane and Julie and there kids Aklei and Roklan, to participate in the 34 Vogalonga regatta, for rowing boat and Kayaks.

For me it is going to be a big challenge to finish the 30 km route, as I never sad in a Kayak before, but Shane who is a Kayak expert has been so kind to get a double kayak for me and him, so I have chance to rest if necessary.

We will leave Split Friday at noon and have to reach our Italian camp destination Capalonga Camping/Tourist Village at around 19.00 in the evening, Saturday we will go and have look at the surrounding area and prepare our selves for the race Sunday.

When we are back I will let you know if I managed to finish the race in one peace.

Her you can read about Vogalonga

If like Kayaking maybe you should check Shane and Julie’s homepage and see the kayak tours they are doing here in Croatia www.lifejacketadventures.com

After 1 1/2 month in Rijeka we finally managed to visit our families in Split and Hvar. And it was really best thing to do, because after raining Rijeka, sunny Dalmatia was real salvation. Mostly we were in Hvar. Among other, we took a walk through town centre.

In this time of year there are still no tourists, maybe only few in hotels. This is period of season preparations, houses are painted and decorated. My mother is planting flowers all around the house, she is known for her beautiful flower «jungle» in season time.

My father is turbo working in fields, because they have spent February in Australia, so he doesn’t have a lot of time to plant vegetables this year. Also, in «lemon fields» (few km from Hvar) he is installing self-watering system, great thing especially in summer months.

In the two days on Hvar we mostly eat grilled fish, of course fish caught by my father – fresh fish is very hard to find in Rijeka, so you can imagine our happiness with the menu. Unfortunately everything that is good lasts short: after two days we had to take ferry to Split and go back to Rijeka.

 
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Katica Križak

Omiš is a small town and port at the mouth of the Cetina River in the littoral of Poljica, 26 km southeast of Split. Major attractions include quality accommodation facilities, good traffic connections, gastronomic offer (the hinterland of Omiš is famous for wholesome foods) and the Cetina canyon - Zadvarje - Gubavica. In the vicinity is also the well-known restaurant in Radmanove Mlinice (water mills), which offers local specialities. Omiš is known as a mediaeval pirate centre.

Picturesque mountains and the river enclose the urban core with fortresses. On the coast are an almost 1-km long sand beach (ideal for children) and the 700-m long shallow, created by the Cetina drifts.

The famous Cetina River and its canyon, nearby mountain tops and islands, ancient vineyards and olive plantations, small fishermen villages together form the landscape of extraordinary beauty.

Without any doubt, the Cetina River is one of the most beautiful places in Croatia for freshwater kayaking white water rafting. It is situated in a luscious region surrounded by quaint little villages and is very important, both historically and archaeologically, and is definitely the place to go for. Omis has it all. Numerous beaches and bays, rich vegetation, fresh air and crystal blue sea make Omis Riviera the perfect place to escape the stress and rush of modern life.

At the summer you can enjoy in traditional Festival of the Dalmatian a Capella songs and “pirates evening”. Omiš is also known as old pirate town. As excellent seamen, Omiš citizens, during 13th - beginning of 15th century, “supervised” navigation on the Adriatic Sea, endangering, generally, Venetian ships and their property in Dalmatian, as well as ships of Naples Kingdom. In that name people from there, and of the June organise “Pirates evening” for them self’s and tourist .It is very attractive and interesting with lot of fun.

Europeans new destination of Big Game Fishing is Jezera. The village is located about 90 km north - west of Split on peninsula Murter. Between May and November we go for Red Tuna, up to 400 kg, Swordfish, Thresher Shark, Amberjack, Albacore and Palamidas. The first fishing area is Kornati which takes about 30 minutes to reach.

After this island group we have open sea till Italy. On two day turns we are going fishing near an island which is 45 miles away and uninhabited. Out there we have 200 meters depth. At day light we fish  Tuna and night we fish Swordfish and Sharks. The weight of Swordfish comes up to 90 kg, Thresher Sharks come up to 150 kg and Blue Sharks are over 100 kg.

Boats are 28 - 35 feet long with high speed about 20 knots. The boats equipment is complete with radar, fish finder, deep - sensors and GPS. Also we have a fighting chair:Outriggers and  Downriggers, rods and two-speed rods from 30 - 130 lbs. The most time we practice drift - fishing on Tuna and Sharks.

PRICES:

Full charter (ca. 8 hours; boats for 2-6 fishermen) - price 550 - 650 EUR

Night-fishing and two-day turns - Ask for the price send mail to info@solitum.hr

Self - drives with a regular license could rent a 20 feet long boat with a 230 PS Volvo machine. Ask for the Price send mail to info@solitum.hr

Jezera have a lot of nice bays with crystal clear water and so it’s perfect for the family too.