The waterpolo players of the Solaris Waterpolo Club in a tour of the upper course of the Krka River

The waterpolo players of the Solaris Waterpolo Club in a tour of the upper course of the Krka River
The players of the Solaris Waterpolo Team sailed upstream on the Krka River from the Roški slap waterfall to the Krka monastery and the medieval fortresses of Nečven and Trošenj on an excursion boat of the Krka National Park

The Krka is simply water. That is why all the most beautiful things around it are reflected in it and are best observed from it. Therefore it was logical to take athletes who spend their days in the water on a boat trip. This professional waterpolo club was founded in 1953 and since then has represented the area of the city of Šibenik and Dalmatia, and has been a long-time Croatian first division competitor.

The excursion we took lasts two and a half hours, with a half-hour tour of the Krka monastery. Then it continues upstream, to the medieval fortresses of Nečven and Trošenj. Due to their location on the high cliffs of the canyon, the forts can only be seen from a boat. This also marks the end of the navigable waterway in the Park, which is marked by the Bibić rapids.

The Krka monastery (Holy Archangel), the spiritual center of Orthodox believers in Dalmatia, is located three and a half kilometres east of Kistanje. It is located in a gentle widening of the Krka River called Carigradska Draga, in the central section of the Krka River canyon, which was named Aranđelovac after it. There is no reliable historical information about when the monastery was built. It was first mentioned in written documents in 1402. Next to the monastery is a church built in the Byzantine style. In recent times, a large seminary was built, consecrated in 1989. Underneath the church are catacombs, which are open to visitors. The monastery has a large and rich library with codices, incunabula, and other rare books. Valuable icons and varied arts and crafts objects from the 15^th to the 19^th centuries are kept in the monastery treasury.

None of the four rivers in Dalmatia have as many fortifications on its banks as does the Krka: along its entire course, from its source to the mouth, there are numerous fortresses or castles. Medieval fortified castles – stone fortresses – were owned by various Croatian noble families. In addition to having a defensive function, some of these forts also represented the centers of settlements. Nečven was built on the edge of a cliff on the left bank of the Krka, three kilometres downstream from the Miljacka waterfall. The first lords were the Nelipići, owners of the entire Promina-Miljevci region. A wooden bridge used to stretch across the canyon connecting Nečven and Trošenj (Čučevo). The lords of Trošenj and the entire right bank of the Krka River all the way to Skradin were the Princes of Bribir from the Šubić family.