It occured to us just after we got back from our trip. All throughout the trip we were following the flow of river Cetina; we saw where it starts it's journey, and witnessed it's end.
River Cetina is a 101 km long river that flows in the southern Croatia. It is the most water-rich river in Dalmatia. It rises from a spring in a little village in northwestern slopes of Dinara mountain, and ends going into the Adriatic sea right in the middle of a dalmatian town called Omiš. The river is life-rich and amazes with it's gorgeous canyons, one of which we had a privilage to see and raft in. Speaking about rafting, Cetina river attracts tourists with it's rich variety of outdoor sports, like rafting, zip-lining, kayaking, rock climbing etc.
We started out with rafting and experienced this river from up close and personal. You can read/watch more about it HERE. We spent 2 and a half hours getting to know this lady. And may I say this lady has got excellent manners! :D
Spending 2 nights camping on the bank of the river, our hearts were longing for the road. And our heart is not a thing that we say no to. We tried finding a cheap camp for staying overnight but it was all too expensive. We chose camp Sirena but were not glad we were going to spend that much on a simple overnight stay. Just as we were driving down the road we saw a sign saying ''CAMP''. We took a turn and realized it was a wrong one because this wasn't the camp we were looking for. But, it was a camp called Rtina. Andrei went to ask the owners for the price and I had my hopes really low because all of the camps on the dalmatian coast are equally expensive. Andrei came back with amazing news – 18€ for both of us and the car, the tent, the electricity, the water , EVERYTHING. You can't find that anywhere on the croatian coast. Or, just as far as we searched. The camp is held by local owners and was established on their piece of land. Camps like that, owned by a local family and not being a chain one, are the best and the cheapest. You meet new people alot more easily and on a more personal lever than in big chain camps that are full of thousands of tents and as many people where owners are nowhere to be found. This camp has a lot of terases and shade so you can pick whatever place suits you. Even though the road is just under the camp, sleeping is not a problem. The owners are really nice people, they are an elderly couple. The wife is welcoming guests through the day and the husband is either reading newspapers on the beach just under the camp or selling ice-cream on their own ice-cream stand whose prices are more than acceptable and took us by surprise. Did I just said a beach under the camp?? And cheap ice-cream??? Yes, indeed I did! The beach is just under the camp and there is the most interesting way to get to it – down a steap staircase built in an old war tunnel in just a couple of minutes. If you don't own a tent, the camp also has apartments for 20€ a night. We took an evening walk by the beach the day we came and sat down in this really cute beach bar with cheap prices.
We stayed in this camp for two nights not going anywhere but just enjoying each other's company and the beach. One night we decided we would go out on a date to Omiš and eat some pizza in a traditional dalmatian pizzeria. We found a really nice place in the centre of Omiš, but we were really dissapointed because the pizza was not hand-made but from a freezer. You can't find delicious authentic pizza anywhere in Omiš except in a place near our camp but I can't what the name of it was (ask the owners, they will certainly tell you). That we would've liked to have known before wasting our money on a frozen pizza. But in Omiš is where the flow of the river Cetina ends and goes into the Adriatic sea. You can climb up to the Fortica fortress to see the town from above. It's really beautiful from what we've seen from the pictures. Unfortunatelly, we didn't climb to see the spectacular view and it's the only thing we regret on this trip. But, it gives us another excuse to come back! (pictures are taken from the web)
As I have previously said, Cetina river rises from a spring near a little village below Dinara mountain, called Civljane. This spring, called Glavaš, is the largest source of the Cetina river and is 115m deep. There is a little orthodox church ''Pravoslavni hram vaznesenja Gospodnjeg'' built in 1939. overlooking the magical spring that will immediately draw you in with it's mystery and breathtaking beauty. It will be calling your name to jump in and take a swim but if you're not a lover of 6 degree-ish temperature, better not answer the call!
There is another church 500 metres from the source.It is called ''Crkva sv.Spasa'' and was built in 9th century. Unfortunatelly, we didn't have a chance to see it since it was getting dark and we had a few hour drive home ahead of us.
