VIDEO: 65 years ago today Croatia’s first ever ferry service launched
- by croatiaweek
- in News
(Photo credit: Muzej Grrada Crikvenica)
ZAGREB, 12 April (Hina) – This year marks the 65th anniversary of the historic launch of Croatia’s first ferry service along the Adriatic coastline, connecting Crikvenica on the mainland with Šilo on the island of Krk.
The “Bodulka” ferry embarked on its maiden voyage on 12 April 1959, marking the beginning of a new era of ferry connections between Croatia’s many islands and the mainland.
Measuring twenty-six meters in length, the “Bodulka” boasted a capacity for twelve vehicles and accommodated up to 140 passengers, navigating at a steady pace of five knots.
The ferry sailed in the summer also in the winter. Many residents of Šilo and the surrounding towns on Krk used it to travel to Crikvenica for work or to get groceries, and farmers from the island transported their products and sold them to tourists.
During peak season, the ferry used to sail 13 times a day, and the two-mile-long voyage took about twenty minutes.
The ferry, under the new name – the “Rovinjka”, sank in Rovinj’s port in 2009, where it had been tied up to a berth for two years.
This unfortunate event coincided precisely with the 50th anniversary of the inauguration of Croatia’s ferry service along the Adriatic coastline.
