| Croatia is a country full of spectacular maritime landscapes, and the Kornati Islands represent one of the most bewitching of the lot. An archipelago comprising roughly 150 islands, the largely uninhabited Kornati are famous for exuding a barren, bleak mystique. Most of the islands are arid affairs, with a thin covering of tawny-brown grass punctuated by limestone outcrops and spiky shrubs. Many of the islands on the western side of the archipelago feature spectacular cliffs, rising some 80 metres above sea level in the case of those on the island of Klobučar, while man-made features include the dry-stone walls that streak across age-old pasturelands. Lapped by clear seas, the islands constitute an area of extraordinary natural beauty, and 89 of them fall under the protection of the Kornati National Park, founded in 1980.
Eighty percent of the Kornati are privately owned by families from Murter, who use the islands to graze sheep, plant olives or harvest honey – as well as fishing in the seafood-rich surrounding waters. The islands no longer have a permanent population, although parts of the archipelago are seasonally inhabited by Murter shepherds, marina staff serving the summer influx of yachting folk, or tourists seeking complete seclusion. The Gospa od Tarca church on the island of Kornat is still the focus of an annual pilgrimage on the first Sunday of July, when the population of Murter heads for the island in a festive flotilla of boats. |