Trip to Paklenica National Park

On a quite cloudy day we went to Starigrad to visit the famous Paklenica National Park where the movies of Winnetou were filmed in the ‘60s. Last year we have already been there but the weather was horrible, and could not go for a walk around because of that so this is why we went there again.

We went by car from Zaton Holiday Resort (this is around 50 kms away from Starigrad and takes about an hour on the country road). We wanted to see a cave called Manita peć. We bought the ticket to the Park (costs 50 HRK/person and for the car is 10 HRK), and went inside, parked with the car and started to climb the hills. I have some good advices for you if you want to have a trip there: first of all you should wear an appropriate clothes and shoes or boots for the walk in the mountains. The rocks you are walking on are quite slippery especially when you are coming down. And by the way you need be in quite good physical condition or got used to hiking. This place is great for people who love climbing on the rocks and you have possibility to be taught how to climb (as I remember this was about 250 HRK for two hours) and of course you can rent some climbing stuff. We started to walk up to the cave; we had to be in a hurry because it is opened between 10 am and 1 pm (the last group of visitors goes inside around one o’clock so I suggest you to arrive to the entrance at 12:45).

And why I wrote you must have a good physical condition? Because if you want to see the beauties of Manita peć you need to climb up on a rocky and shingly serpentine path for forty minutes (this is depends on your walking speed). To tell the truth at the half of the serpentine I felt this was enough and I’m turning back but after that I realized why should I turn back? Maybe this is the last time I am able climb up here and see that beautiful view so why not I’m going on? Finally I arrived to the “gates” of Manita peć. You need to pay 20 HRK/person for the ticket to get into the cave and for this 20 HRK you can stay inside about 20-30 minutes but be careful because inside of the cave the temperature is around 9-10°C so take some warm clothes with you! The guide guy told some things about the cave: for example it is opened for three hours to keep this temperature inside the cave because of the small insects. These species dies above 10°C.

To summarize this trip the edification is:

• you must have strength to climb up to Manita peć,
• you should wear the appropriate clothes and shoes,
• and you must be a trained hiker not a general tourist like me who not really got used to hiking in the mountains.

So you can imagine how I felt the next morning after this hiking… 😀