Selected islands in the Kornaten National Park

The main island of the Kornati measures a proud 25 kilometres in length, yet at its most imposing point is still only 2.4 kilometres "slim". At 237 metres, the highest elevation of the nature park is also to be found on it, and furthermore most of the sights as well. There is, for example, the Tureta tower, which was once erected as a watchtower near the small settlement of Polje Tarac. The little tower, measuring 10.4 x 5.5 m, seems to merge with the layered rock slabs that are so typical precisely of the south-eastern part of Kornat. Here, at the outermost end, a spit of land stretches over seven kilometres out into the sea; in between it drops so low that only 200-300 metres rise out of the sea as an isthmus, yet at its end stands the 109-metre-high Opat, a conical mountain in the shape of an "abbot's head". Here the phenomenon of the layered rock strata sedimented by the wind can be recognised particularly impressively. There are also further elevations on the island, from which one has a wonderful view of the whole nature park - and the islands beyond it - as well as of the last small settlements, some of which are inhabited only seasonally: in Vrulje 65 houses still stand, in the neighbouring bays with the villages of Lucica and Kravljacica fewer than 50 in all. The inhabitants still till their fields, devote themselves to sheep breeding or go out to sea to fish. But the fish caught are intended exclusively for their own consumption, since because of the strict national park regulations they may not be traded. But once you are a guest, you may perhaps also taste a little ...

On this neighbouring island of Kornat you can marvel at an impressive cliff near Telašćica bay, which on the seaward side of the island receives ships with a lighthouse. Here too is the spit of Dugi otok, next to which lies Taljurić, a circular reef 70 x 50 metres in size and only 1-2 metres high, which in a swell is repeatedly washed over by the waves and then surfaces again. To the locals it looked like a ring, or rather a plate ("tajer"), so that they named the whole bay after it.

Unfortunately this picturesque islet may only be entered with special permission and under supervision - and even then only if you happen to have a scientific commission in your beach bag. For in order to leave at least a small area of the national park untouched by people, a "no-go area" was established within a radius of one nautical mile around the island. Here the vegetation is to be left entirely to itself and thus, on the one hand, to benefit the climate of the wider surroundings and, on the other, to be a source for the latest biological and geological investigations. But take comfort: the rest of the Kornati is of such breathtaking beauty as well that what you miss here might even have been too much of a good thing!

On the island of Piskera, which presumably takes its name from the Latin word for "fish pond", the yacht harbour of the Kornati is located today - half here, half on the neighbouring island of Panitula. Things are fairly tranquil here by now, but originally one of the most important settlements of the Kornati stood on this spot - the medieval fishing village with a fish store and fish processing. About 50 houses will have stood here, and even in the year 1824, from which written documents survive, there were still 13. Today the island is almost as if extinct - apart from the omnipresent and absolutely cheerful nature, of course! Only five houses have survived, along with a church from the year 1560 that measures a mere charming 8 x 14.8 metres and was once built for the fishermen of the village.