THE ISLAND OF KRK - CROATIA

August 16 2017

The Croatian coast on the Adriatic Sea consists of the Istrian penninsula and Kvarner bay with its islands in the North, famous Dalmatia with its islands in the middle, and Dubrovnik in the South (over 1000 km in total), are extremely popular with Europeans. From Munich (Germany) to the northern Croatian coast (Istrian peninsula and the islands)it is only a 7 hours drive so it is very popular with Germans who are the No 1 tourists, No 2 are Slovenes and No 3 are Italians, etc. As a matter of fact the whole of Europe is here! The beaches and towns are overcrowded in July and August when most Europeans go on holiday.

On Wednesday we took a day trip to the island of Krk in Croatia. The distance from Ljubljana to Krk island is 180 km and it took us 2 hours and 15 minutes to get to the beaches.  We left at 7:30 and by 9:30 were crossing the bridge which connects the island with the mainland.

We stopped to take the first photo of the island and mountains on the mainland in the background. The island of KRK is situated in the bay of Kvarner in the Northern Croatian coast right below the main Croatian harbor of Rijeka. The entire Croatian coast and all of its islands are rocky covered with limestone rocks and trees. There are no white sandy beaches like in Florida or Costa Rica.  The beaches are strips with small round stones or gravel, flat rocks or concrete!

The Njivice beach
There are several beaches on Krk island.The first beach we visited was in the town of Njivice. The great advantage of nearly all Croatian beaches is that there are pine trees very close to the sea which provide much needed shade.  After the last row of trees there is usually a promenade walk. In between the promenade walk and the sea there is an area  where people who lie in the sun using chairs and umbrellas available for rent, cost 5 Euros per person for the entire day.

Promenade walk. On the left, pine trees provide shade,while on the right, people enjoy being right next to the sea using umbrellas for shade. The Adiatic Sea is part of the Mediterranean. There are thousands and thousands of small bays where there are very few people so peace and quiet reigns!

Many people prefer to be right on the sea, especially families.  The sea is shallow at first and is never deep close to the shore. Needless to say all along the Croatian Coast the sea is crystal clear.everywhere.

Mulino Beach 
We decided to go to Mulino beach in the nearby small town of Malinska. We picked the spot above because it is close to a restaurant.  Here  the area between the walking promenade and the sea was a concrete beach. My chair with the orange towel on the right. Small marina on the left. The water in this photo has been cordoned off for children and non swimmers.

We decided to stay here because there was a nice looking restaurant right there..We were lucky to find the last two available chairs on the concrete part of the beach.


The view from my chair. Note the sand box for children. There are also swings and slides.

I found the sea very salty, but it was pleasantly warm and crystal clear but there were strong currents which were quite challenging!

Unfortunately you cannot just walk into the sea from the beach. There are docks with stairs you take to access the water. The stairs were slippery so it was difficult for me to navigate them by myself so Joze came to the rescue! I wondered how handicapped people or those with mobility issues manage because there was no way they could go for a swim.

The lovely restaurant has two sections for guests. Above photo shows tables and stools made of stone   for guests in bathing suits. ...

… while in the section above guests have to be properly dressed. We chose to be here with comfortable chairs and nice tables where we enjoyed a nice lunch and a cold beer!

I ordered a small plate of sea food - calamari, sardines, and jumbo shrimp, french fries served in an interesting presention above. It cost 10 Euros and extra for a glass of cold beer! I managed to finish all the sea food but couldn't eat all the fries so  Jože who ordered the same meal finished my french fries|.

Swimming in the afternoon.

Another view from my chair

A vanilla ice cream with raspberries before leaving the beach and the island. This was definitely our favourite beach because it was much less crowded.

All in all it was a wonderful day! Our next trip is to discover the Istrian Peninsula and we will stay 2 nights in the town of Porec hopefully to visit Brioni Islands which was the private residence of Marshall Tito and was closed to the general public.