Croatia (day 1), June 12 2016

Crni Vrh, Labinštica and Rudine

Peaks visited:

Peak	Height	PF	Municipality
Crni Vrh	739m	354m	Croatia
Labinštica	701m	306m	Croatia
Rudine, Ciovo	218m	218m	Croatia

We – my girlfriend Anne and I – flew from Ålesund (Norway) to Split on June 11th. We had booked a room at Hotel Domus Maritima on the island Otok Čiovo – close to Trogir. This was Anne’s 3rd visit to Croatia and my first. The hotel was nice, the staff friendly and we were served swordfish as a late meal.

The plan was to move on the next day, but we decided to extend our stay one more night. We woke up way, way to early on Sunday morning thanks to the Trogir church bells – ringing almost non-stop from 5 or 5:30am. They drove me almost insane.

After breakfast,  we drove up to Seget Gornji to visit some of the mountain tops in this area. The first top on the list was Crni Vrh.

Crni Vrh, 739m

GPS tracks

This is the highest top on the Vilaja mountain, and from the GPS map, we could see that there was a path to the summit. 0,8km before the road fork in Prapatnica, we went west on a narrow, paved road leading up to the farm at the end of the road. We were given pemission to park here, and after searching around, we found the marked trail.

The trail was fairly easy to follow, although it seems that it is not frequently used nowadays. 1,8km later, we reached the summit marker on Crni Vrh

The weather was gloomy and we expected a rain shower any minute. In fact, it was raining very light when we reached the top, but it didn’t amount to anything more. At the time…

We followed the same route down and were back at the car 1h:10m after leaving it.

Labinštica, 701m

GPS tracks

Back on the main road, we drove 2,1km to the south and turned left towards the small village of Tomasi (signposted). We drove through the village, and 0,9km after leaving the main road, we parked in a hairpin curve at 380m elevation. We could have driven all the way to the top along a paved mountain service road, but what’s the fun in that?

So, we walked the 3,1km up to the top – only to find that the summit point was on the other side of a fence, protecting the installation on top. There was a hole in the fence, but there was no need to break local laws only to find a marker 1-2 meters higher than our current elevation. Some would say we have not been on the very high point, but when access to the top is forbidden, then the next best thing will have to qualify as a proper ascent. It has to be that way.

 

 

 

Lunch in Trogir

We drove back to the hotel and went to a restaurant in Trogir for lunch. We ordered a warm meal, don’t remember the name of the local dish, but it was lamb and it would take 30-40 minutes to prepare. We said we would like to order something that could be served in less time, and ordered a mix of pasta and risotto. The waiter came back and said it would be “too much”, and somewhat confused – we ordered the risotto. With garlic bread! After this meal, we told the waiter it was a nice meal, but the portion was a bit too small. He looked confused and said – but the main dish will soon be served!

– What ????????

Language confusion at its best. After discussing with Anne for a little while, we decided to let them serve the lamb dish. The waiter seemed VERY relieved. It was quite tasty and we finished it, leaving nothing but bones and fat left on the plate. When I asked for the dessert menu, the waiter quickly took the joke and had a good laugh.

Throughout the meal, it was pouring down. The middle section of the restaurant had no roof, so the waiters had to guide guests in and out under an umbrella. Indeed, a very interesting restaurant!

Rudine (Otok Čiovo island)

Back at the hotel, I had a strong urge to burn off some calories, and rented a bike in Trogir. My goal was to find the highest point on Čiovo island. At the time, I had not seen any maps that pointed out the exact location, so I was prepared to search for it.

I biked along the north coast and after passing Mastrinka, I followed the road up to Zedno. On my GPS, there was a waypoint, marking a 208m point. I knew that the highest point was 218m, but I went over there to check. The GPS said 208m and I went back on the main road and continued to the southeast.

Then I noticed an installation with a fence around it, and measured the elevation – as I could see no higher point in any direction. The GPS said 217m. I figured this would be as close as I could get to the high point and decided to return to Trogir via Slatine.

But when I reached the Slatine signpost, it seemed that I was a bit higher than I was by the fence. The GPS said 218m. I went back and forth but I could see no particular point, standing out from the rest. Later, I found a map – showing the 210m contour encircling the installation and the Slatine road fork. So it’s pretty safe to say I’ve been on top of this island, although I didn’t find a summit marker. If there is one…

The bike trip was 20,4km in total and concluded the physical activities for our first day in Croatia. The rest of the evening was spent in the hotel restaurant, enjoying a late LIGHT meal. None of us were really hungry after the crazy lunch…

Pictures from the Crni Vrh hike

 

Pictures from the Labinštica hike

 

Pictures from the trip to Rudine

 

Continued … Day 2