Page 89

The Cathedral of St. James, Šibenik

After ten very enjoyable and relaxing days on Dugi Otok, we returned by ferry to Zadar and headed slightly further down the coast to Šibenik. The ancient city centre of Šibenik has a network of steep pedestrianized streets which are fascinating to explore and in the midst of which is the Cathedral Church dedicated to St. James.

The west front of Šibenik Cathedral © Ricky Yates

The Cathedral was constructed during a period of just over 100 years between 1431 and 1536. It is built entirely of stone quarried from nearby islands without any brick or wooden supports. Large stone blocks or slabs were brought together in such a way that the edge of one slab entered into the groove of the second slab. It is reputed to be the world’s largest Church built in this manner.

On the outside of the Cathedral are many fascinating carvings including 71 different heads with a variety of facial expressions.

Carved heads on the exterior of Šibenik Cathedral © Ricky Yates

On the north wall, either side of one of the entrances, Adam and Eve are portrayed, both holding onto their fig leaves and looking somewhat embarrassed!
Adam looking somewhat embarrassed © Ricky Yates	Eve looking somewhat embarrassed © Ricky Yates
As Sybille and I have, at different times, both made the pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela, the reputed burial place of St. James, we were interested to see how he was portrayed. We discovered that he appears not once, but twice in carvings on the Cathedral exterior. At the pinnacle of the chancel roof, he is portrayed as St. James the Teacher with book in hand. However, on the north wall, immediately above Adam, he is portrayed in his more usual role as St James the Pilgrim. Unfortunately, his pilgrim staff is in need of some repair.
St. James as Teacher © Ricky Yates	St. James as Pilgrim © Ricky Yates
By steadily climbing up through the ancient narrow streets of Šibenik, it is possible to visit the citadel fortress that overlooks the city. The effort is more than worthwhile for the magnificent views back down on the Cathedral and across to the nearby islands.
Šibenik Cathedral from the Citadel © Ricky Yates

More about Dugi Otok

Until recently, I’ve usually been rather wordy with my blog posts but in the last few posts, I’ve tried to let the pictures tell more of the story. And I’m going to do the same again by posting some more photos of Dugi Otok to try and give an indication of why I fell in love with the place.

Limestone Cliffs on the west coast of Dugi Otok © Ricky Yates

The southern end of the island, immediately to the south and west of Sali where we were staying, is designated as the Telašcica National Park. It is an area of amazing beauty with its karst topography, limestone cliffs and the long Telašcica Bay which is dotted with islands. The best way to really appreciate the area is no doubt by boat, something we didn’t manage to do. But it is possible to drive part way into the park & then walk further and see some stunning views of which I hope these two pictures are indicative.

Telaš?ica Bay © Ricky Yates — Telašcica Bay © Ricky Yates

Savar and the Church of St, Pelegrin © Ricky Yates — Savar and the Church of St. Pelegrin © Ricky Yates

Further north on the island, just below the ferry port of Brbinj, lies the village of Savar. Here, on a wooded peninsular jutting out into the sea, is the pre-Romanic Church of St Pelegrin. The chancel dates from the seventh century and most of the rest of the tiny Church from the ninth. Its setting is idyllic as you can see and my only regret was being unable to see inside the building as it was locked with no indication as to where one could obtain the key.

Sali Harbour in the evening © Ricky Yates

And to finish, before I write about our experiences back on the Croatian mainland, here is picture of the inner part of Sali harbour taken one evening with the setting sun lighting up some the nearby buildings. Here the locals moor their boats whilst in the outer harbour, visiting yachts and motor cruisers would tie up each evening. Walking around the harbour in the evening was always an interesting and enjoyable experience with a mix of boating visitors, holiday makers like ourselves, together with local islanders both old and young.

Two funny pictures & one facinating one

Makes a pleasant change from the police taking your car away!! © Ricky Yates

Only German fish sold here? © Ricky Yates

A family grave in Sali churchyard whose ancestors go back to 1580 © Ricky Yates

‘The Beach’

Sali 'Beach' and sunbathing pier © Ricky Yates

As elsewhere in Croatia, what is called ‘the beach’ on Dugi Otok isn’t what one normally would think of as a beach. There are no long stretches of sand gently sloping down into the sea. Instead, in each of the island’s coastal settlements, there are man-made places where it is possible to enter the sea and swim and sunbathe on the shore.

The two pictures on the left are of our nearest ‘beach’ in Sali, about ten minutes walk from the apartment. They illustrate what I mean by ‘the beach’ being man-made. The handrails do make entering the sea that bit easier and the sea itself was very pleasantly warm. However, there is no chance to gently wade in as the sea-bottom drops away quite steeply. This part of ‘the beach’ is quite shaded but the pier provides plenty of space for sun worshippers.

Similar ‘beaches’ to this can be found in all the island settlements along the sheltered east coast of Dugi Otok. There are no settlements at all on the more exposed west coast. But in a couple of places, a steep minor road leaves the main north-south road and descends to the shore. One leads to a place called Mala Voda which literally translates as ‘little water’. I say ‘place’ but there are no buildings other than a wooden shack – just an area for car parking together with a tiny harbour where small boats can be launched.

It is then possible to walk 300-400 metres north from the car park, either along the pebbly shoreline or on a parallel path through the ‘maquis’ and reach a place that more resembles what I understand as a beach! Whilst the area above sea level is made up entirely of pebbles, as soon as one enters the sea there is sand under foot. And here it is possible to gently wade some way into the sea before being out of one’s depth.

Mala Voda became our favourite beach during our ten days on Dugi Otok. It was never crowded, no doubt because it takes a little more effort to reach it, and always felt very relaxed. In many respects it is the perfect beach for children as access to the sea is so much easier than on the man-made ‘beaches’. But we saw very few children almost certainly because of the greater effort needed to reach the beach. It has no shade so we always took our beach umbrella and often went in the late afternoon when the angle of the sun was lower.

If we return to Dugi Otok sometime in the future, which I hope we will, one thing I shall certainly look forward to doing is swimming in the sea again from the beach at Mala Voda.

The interesting effects of Croatian bureaucracy

Officially, if you stay overnight somewhere in Croatia, your presence needs to be registered with the authorities. Therefore we had to give our passports to Darinka, the owner of the apartment, so she could take them back down to the Tourist Office and register the fact that we would be temporarily resident in her apartment for the next ten days.

When our passports were returned, inside each of them was an official slip of paper. Both slips were entitled in ‘Crenglish’, (a language very similar to ‘Czenglish’), ‘Temporary of Permanent Residence’!! But apart from that, the one issued for Sybille was completely accurate. However, when we examined my ‘Temporary of Permanent Residence’, we descended into howls of laughter. Whilst they had got the day & month of my birth correct, they had put my year of birth down as 1985 thus making me only 24 years old! Overnight, Croatian bureaucracy had taken 33 years off my age and given me back my youth.

But whilst I was pleased with being made many years younger, I did not appreciate what else they had done. My country of birth was stated as ‘Njemacka’, the Croatian name for Germany. Croatian bureaucracy had turned me into a German!!!!!!

Eventually we decided that it wasn’t worth the hassle to go down to the Tourist Office ourselves and point out their error. Instead, Sybille just enjoyed being married to a young 24 year old fellow-countryman for the following ten days!