Boat tour down the Zrmanja River
Experience the beauty of the European Grand Canyon
According to many, the Zrmanja is Croatia's most beautiful river.
With its strength, and the strength of its tributaries, the Zrmanja has forced its way to the sea for thousands of years.
The tour of the Zrmanja starts from Obrovac, where the river continues to flow through the canyon filled with greenery and vegetation characteristic of karstic terrain. Before beginning your tour in Obrovac, make sure to visit the Benedictine monaster and the chapel of St. Nicholas, which testify to the Zrmanja's importance as a waterway throughout history.
As the river continues further on through the ever deeper and ever wider canyon, the vegetation becomes sparser and the canyon is taken over by seemingly cruel and steep rocks, interrupted by cliffs of layered limestone that, as guardians of the ages, are said to protect the canyon from unwanted visitors. According to the legend, these guardians could only down into the canyon if they could find the “portal” of Prince Mark.
In this vastness of rock and water, only a keen eye will notice a lonely cliff with a small stone building, the so-called „Pržunac“. According to historical findings, this was the last dungeon of the imprisoned Croatian queen Jelena, which confirms the historic importance of the River Zrmanja and its canyon in the history of the land.
At the very end of the canyon, as the Zrmanja flows into the sea, the canyon is embraced on both sides by impressive cliffs, where inside just a few hundred meters space cohabit the griffon vultures and the Odysseus’ Cave as well as the remnants of an ancient settlement, locally called “the ancient Šibenik”.
Thus, with a huge historical heritage and unique beauty, the river quietly and discretely flows into the Novigrad Sea through its several-hundred-meter-wide delta.