Not much time passed since I returned from my first long distance hike (the Nordalpenweg, north of the Austrian Alps), when I got asked to accompany Isolde to Croatia. Thanks to, cough cough, corona, her plans to hike the Scottish West Highland Way got cancelled. None of the hostels were open. The second choice, to walk the O Camiño dos Faros, a 200km long trail along the Spanish coast past many light houses, got cancelled as well. Beaten and disappointed, the top-tourist attraction Croatia came to mind. A somewhat unofficial trail led from Vrpolje, north of Split, to Novigrad, east of Zadar.
As a big The Witcher fan, visiting this city would have been enough reason to come, even if it’s not the “real” one.

Questionable track

Via Dinarica is a trail that leads through Balkan countries, including Kosovo and Macedonia. There are three different versions of the same hike, blue, white and green. The blue trail is the one we took, and the one with least information haha. But understandable, after so much planning for other hikes, this one didn’t get as much love and attention.

There was not a single signpost, nothing even hinted at the existence of this trail. We walked along crash barriers of four laned highways, through deserted and remote villages, past mummified corpses of stray cats and under the burn of the Mediterranean sun.
But this off-the-beaten-track experience had its undeniable perks. There were no other hikers, all the break stations and benches were unoccupied, we had the views to ourselves and thanks to the extreme strain of the day, swimming in the sea was the ultimate payoff.

Nothing incentivises gratefulness and modesty like hardship of long-distance hikes under extreme conditions. We saw this experience as good practice for the southern desert segment of the Pacific Crest Trail.
No training comes close to the real thing but walking under the unforgiving sun and sweating buckets seemed to prepare us sufficiently.

Worthy scenes

The Krka National Park was worth its visit, but at the price of 20€ per person rather expensive. We recommend to spend an entire day there. Both to make the most out of the fee and to really take it all in. After all, this park is beautiful.

Just outside the National Park there is an abandoned Aluminium Factory. It even has its own Google Maps pin. I could have stayed an entire day there aswell. There is so much to explore…

Our stays

The first night in Split we had to stay in different hostels, as Croatia is one of the main tourist destinations in summer. I counted myself lucky to even get a bed.
Our first hike-night we stayed at Skočići 2, 22221, Lozovac, Croatia. A nameless camp site outside Lozovac National Park. The prices were fairly cheap and the food okay. Vegetarian options on this trip were always either french fries or grilled veggies. There was nothing else. But the house wine was amazing and dirt cheap.

The second campsite was in the outskirts of Vodice. Just a patch of dirt, but cheap and a shower. And another swim in the sea which made up for all the exhaustion anyway. We can only recommend the restaurant U.O. Porat that served us well after the long day.

The third night on our trail we spent at Camping Nordsee. Which was far away from our track. But we didn’t find anything else and to our relief one of the Staff picked us up from our trail late at night. The service he provided cannot be described…
If we hadn’t ran out of water, we could have stayed at the stony bivouac at the end of our track. (43.944552, 15.548817). It featured two benches, a fire pit, a trash can and a roof. And a beautiful panorama. You don’t really need much more. Except water maybe.

There was one more hike day planned to Novigrad, but due to our reroute to Biograd, it was hard to get back on track with public transport. We spent most of the morning to figure out what to do next. In the end we just got on our way towards Novigrad publicly, over Zadar. This is where our AirBnB landlady picked us up. We had booked two nights at her place, and we cannot recommend her hospitality enough. She offered to drive us around and her place was beautifully designed and just such a big relief to finally have arrived. Even though we didn’t cross the border to our destination by foot.

The apartments are between Podgradina and Posedarje and called La Dolce Vita Apartments.
Gorana, if you read this, we still hold you dearly in our hearts and are incredibly grateful for our stay!

Looking Back

It was one hell of a hike: The climate, the spontaneity and the quality of the route itself. Despite the physical and emotional challenges, this trip helped us get together. I wouldn’t want to miss this memory. Thank you for taking me with you, Isolde ♥

Hard Facts

• 70km walked

• 1100m ↑ & 1000m ↓

• 3 hike days