Sibenik
Sailing north overnight from Korcula, we reached the northernmost point of our voyage this morning, entering Sibenik Bay through a narrow canal. We left the ship after breakfast and headed inland to the Krka National Park, created out of a series of waterfalls, canyons, and terraced cascades formed by the river Krka as it winds its way to the sea from the mountains.
Hidden from the surrounding countryside by a roof of vegetation, the park is like a secret world carved into the soft limestone rock, created from the fossils of countless sea creatures. Our naturalist, Linda Burback, explained that the fresh water filters through the limestone to form calcium carbonate deposits known as travertine.
Our walk along the wooden boardwalks of the park took us past the remains of one of the world's first hydroelectric dams, built from a design of the Croatian engineer Nikola Tesla, the co-inventor of electricity along with Thomas Edison. Croatians like to boast that, thanks to Tesla, the miracle of electric light came to the provincial town of Sibenik before reaching Vienna, capital of the Austro-Hungarian empire.
In the afternoon, we returned to Sibenik for a look at the extraordinary architecture of St. Jacob's cathedral, which was recently declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site. We found ourselves mingling in the town square with Croatian noblemen wearing plumed hats, falconers, and a band of musicians from some long-lost Dalmatian tribe. It turned out that our visit had coincided with a three-day medieval folk festival held annually in Sibenik. The faces in the crowd looked remarkably similar to the 71 stone heads of 15th century Sibenik citizens on the exterior of the cathedral carved by the sculptor Juraj Dalmatinac.
Founded around an 11th century fortress, Sibenik is one of the few towns on the Dalmatian coast that cannot boast any Romanic or Hellenic ruins. As a result, it is off the regular tourist track. As he wanders around the alleyways of the city center, the visitor gets a sense of the rhythms of everyday Dalmatian life undisturbed by large numbers of foreign tourists.
After lunch on the Panorama, we cast lines from Sibenik and headed for the island of Hvar, taking advantage of the afternoon Maistral winds to raise the sails and relax in the sun. On the advice of our Croatian pilot, we put into a sheltered bay on the island of Zlarin, south of Sibenik, for an afternoon swim from the stern of the ship.
At recap in the evening, just before dinner, Linda talked to us about the cultivation of olives, and production of olive oil, sharing tips on how to distinguish different types of olive oil. We enjoyed tastings of Croatian, Greek and Albanian olive oil—a reminder of the places we have seen during our 10-day voyage around the Adriatic, now sadly drawing to a close.
