First published: 15/03/23.

Tsunami

Cathedral Of St. James In Sibenik

Cathedral of St. James in Sibenik (Inscribed)

Cathedral of St. James in Sibenik by Tsunami

Enough has been said probably about the Cathedral of St. James in the previous reviews, so I will just talk about Sibenik in general.

I stayed at a flat just south of Sibenik for 2 months in January and February of 2023. My landlord said to me, "Sibenik is the most beautiful city in Croatia." By now I would agree with her or rather say "Sibenik is the most beautiful county in Croatia." Well, I certainly have not visited all corners of Croatia, but the area was just so beautiful with many worthy places to visit. 

First about inside the city of Sibenik.

During my 4 month-long trip in spring and summer 2010 when I quickly visited / revisited 21 countries in Europe, I stopped in Sibenik on my way from Split through Trogir to Zadar all in the same day. From the bus station in Sibenik I just walked on the water front to the Cathedral of St. James and walked back to the bus station and left Sibenik. Now I would not recommend this short stay. Between the bus / train station and the Cathedral I would walk through the old town of Sibenik at least one way. It is yet another pretty Venetian old town. It'll be better if you climb to the top of the St. Michael's Fortress and / or the Barone Fortress. From there you get a sweeping vistas of the islands that includes St. Nicolas Fortress, another WHS. (One day I walked for 2 hours from my flat to St. Nicolas Fortress during low tide. By now I have visited all the Venetian Works of Defense WHSs except Fortified city of Peschiera del Garda. I would recommend St. Nicolas Fortress for its unique location. You can take Bus 5 for 20 min. from the bus station to the last stop and walk 2.5 km to the fortress. Or in summer you can take a boat from near the bus station.) The photo here shows the Cathedral of St. James on lower left, St. Michael's Fortress on upper right and the old town of Sibenik in between. Reminds you that this whole area in the photo was bombed and burned during the Serbo-Croatian War in the early 1990s.

Now about outside the city of Sibenik but inside the county of Sibenik.

If you are driving or taking a bus through Sibenik from south-east to north-west or vise-versa, I would definitely recommend stopping at Primosten, just as Mr. Peterer recommends it in his review of Primosten Vineyards TWHS. The old town of Primosten is like an Italian hill-top town rising from the Adriatic Sea, even endowed with beautiful sand and cliff beaches. I thought, with Primosten, we don't need such expensive and stuck-up city like Dubrovnik (where I have been twice). But in summer Primosten could be overrun by tourists just as much as Dubrovnik. (As to the Primosten Vineyards TWHS, I'm not sure if I agree with other visitors. If all the vineyards WHSs in Europe look the same, I thought this TWHS looked different upon closer inspection, with grids of dry-stone walls emanating from the coast line. The main area is around the Marina Kremik where you can reach by car. You can see them from "Our Lady Of Loreto Statue" area as well. I also saw a sign "UNESCO --->" on a road. Well, it's not a WHS yet, but this should be fine, given that "Art of dry stone walling, knowledge and techniques" in Croatia is already inscribed on the UNESCO ICH list.)

Another not-to-be-missed place within the county is the Skradinski Buk area of the Krka National Park, only 13 km north of Sibenik. You can reach Lozovac, the first entry point to the NP, by a direct bus from Sibenik in 20 min. The popularity of this NP is second only to Plitvice Lakes NP / WHS in Croatia, and it is very similar to it, but unlike Plitvice Lakes, the places of interests in this NP are spread out and can't be reached on foot in a few hours. You need at least 2 hours to walk on the wooden platforms that crisscross over the waterfalls in the Skradinski Buk area alone.

Now I saved the best for the last: the small town of Skradin, which is also the second entry point for the Krka NP, where you can reach by a direct bus from Sibenik in 25 min. I walked from the first entry point of Lozovac through / above the waterfalls to the second entry point of Skradin that took 3-4 hours. What is so special about Skradin? Thanks for asking. "Risotto Skradin," the internationally celebrated but elusive risotto, which can now be found only in Skradin due to the time (10 hours) and the effort it takes to make. I say "internationally" because rumor has it that even Bill Gates has been coming to Skradin in his superyacht every year in recent years for this dish, which internet search seems to confirm. OMG, I had to ask myself, "When was the last time I put food in my mouth that caused me to moan, as it melted in my mouth?" I am almost certain that I will come back to Sibenik to stay again in the future, as I've got to have it at least once a year like Bill does. And who knows, I might meet him one day in Skradin. 

After I wrote this report I found the following article that covered my last 3 paragraphs above all at once: 

North Dalmatia: The land of dry-stone walls

The top photo in this article is the vineyards at the Marina Kremik in Primošten, and the second photo is Risotto Skradin. 

UPDATE: September 2023

There is a new very informative museum called "Sacred City," which is mainly about St. James' Cathedral, housed in a 4-story building in the old town. I found it upon returning to Sibenik for 2 months from September 2023. 

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