Zadar

Great city to visit - one of my favourites - Roman and Venetian ruins, beautiful promenade, incredible sunsets, great parks and green space.

Hemingway said Zadar has the most beautiful sunsets in the world.

Land Gate - Venetian design and built in 1543. Was the main entrance to Zadar from the small Fosa Harbour.

Church of St Donatus - built in the 9th century and built with pieces of an earlier Roman Forum, some remnants scattered in front. Next, 13th century Cathedral of St Anastasius with a bell tower you can climb. Roman ruins scattered throughout the old town, mixed with buildings from Byzantine and medieval eras.

The Sea Organ! Marble steps lead down to the sea - on the lowest, water side, there are slots - like a harmonica - when the waves hit them, it changes the air pressure in the cavities of the slots, ‘blowing’ against the 35 pipes to make a constantly changing sound that gets quite symphonic when the wake of passing boats hits it.

Vis

Another ferry ride - this one over 2 hours - to the island of Vis - the furthest inhabited island of Croatia - only 17 km long.

Port of Vis.

Many of these in Croatia!

Visit to Fort George - built by the British Navy in 1812 with a moat - used for 200 years before being abandoned.

Host Island with a lighthouse that has been converted to luxury accommodation - all yours for $6500 a night!

In 1920 Vis was ceded to Yugoslavia and during WWII, Vis was headquarters and naval base for the Yugoslav People’s Army until 1989. The entire island has networks of underground passages, rooms, an underground hospital, tunnels, bunkers, missiles - meant to keep Tito safe in true event of a nuclear attack.

Church of St Jerome and Franciscan monastery built at the beginning of the 16th century on top of, a using some of, an ancient Roman theatre.

Butterflies and a wine press

Korcula to Split

Coastal drive to Split (after return trip on the ferry), over the Peljesac Bridge - Croatia’s link to southern Croatia (I.e. Dubrovnik) that bypasses having to travel thru Bosnia and Herzegovina’s short strip of land (12 miles wide) to the Adriatic Sea (which meant border checks and lineups).

Republic Square - Old Town Split and before entering the Diocletian Palace - 4 gates to enter thru- the Gold most ornate), the Silver, the Brass and the Iron.

The Pirja Fountain - constructed during the 1990’s - difficult time for Croatians (Yugoslav War and economic downturn). Clenched hand with the thumb between the pointer and middle fingers - known as the ‘figs’ sign to the locals - a sign of stubbornness and resilience. The water is totally safe to drink - as was all water in Croatia, whether taps or fountains.

The Peristyle, or central square of the Diocletian Palace - summer home of the emperor - built around 300 AD.

The Diocletian’s mausoleum - to hold his remains - with genuine Egyptian sphinxes at the entrance.

The mausoleum was converted to a Christian cathedral in 653 AD.

Looking up thru the now roofless Vestibule (entrance) to the Diocletian Palace - the niches once held marble statues of Roman gods.

In the Treasury - 14th century silver head of St Batholomew - the reliquary on his forehead contains a relic of him - some of his physical remains! Reliquary of St Vincent from the 12th century.

Local market outside the palace walls.

Island of Korcula

Drive to Orebic to take 15 minute ferry to Korcula on crazy, winding, mountainous and narrow road, with a plunging lane down to the beach.of Trstenik (yeah, just try to say that).

Little attempted detour to the village of Borok on the other side of the peninsula. In the village of Potomje there is the Tunel Dingac (Donkey Tunnel). The best Croatian grapes for red wine are grown on the other side of a mountain. The locals used to bring their grapes to Potomje, to be made into wine, by donkeys up and over the mountain. In the 70’s, the grape growers got together to fund a narrow, hand dug, quarter mile long tunnel. Got thru the tunnel ok but the one lane (not a road) to Borok, which would have me on the outside edge of the mountain should there be another oncoming vehicle, had me quickly assess my ‘playing chicken’ abilities and go back to the main road.

Along the Orebic waterfront - waiting for the ferry.

Old Town of Korcula - stayed inside the town walls.

Celebration by the brotherhood of the Holy Virgin Mary of Consolation - since 1603.

Young lad had to climb a ladder to reach the bells and ring … without hearing protection!

Resident turtles at my apartment - many homes had similar turtles in their yards.

Village of Ston

Drive through the Peljesac Peninsula - famous for wine, oysters and mussels (sold at stands by the side of the road or in eateries for just over $1.50 a pop).

On the way to the Korcula ferry, a stop in the village of Ston.

The village was settled prior to 167 BC when the Romans arrived. The original old town was on the hillsides but completely demolished by earthquake in 1252 then rebuilt in its current spot.

Ston has the second longest defensive walls after China! Originally it was almost 4.5 miles long (encircling the hill behind the village with 40 towers. Today you can walk 3.5 miles of the wall and see 20 of the original towers. Start in Ston, go up the hill to the fortress on top, then around the other side to the smaller village of Mali Ston.

Lower fortress with a moat!

Village of Mali Ston is on the other side of the hill - connected by the wall.

Back in Roman times is when salt collecting started at Ston. The salt pans there are the oldest in Europe and best preserved - still in use today.

There are 58 pools that are divided into 5 groups because the process has 5 stages and takes 1-2 months. Gates are opened then closed to let sea water in and basically becomes a process of evaporation that produces about 500 tons of salt a year.

Trivia: 8 of the 9 crystallization pools are named after saints - the other is Mundo, informally meaning ‘people’ as in older days the salt from that pan was given to the poor who couldn’t afford salt.

Salt is hand shovelled into the cars to be transported.

Walking the walls …

Church of St David - part of the monastery - some tombs inside the church ‘to be closer to God’.

Dubrovnik

Dubrovnik, the Pearl of the Adriatic Sea, dates back to the 7th century. The Old Town surrounded by walls, suffered a devastating fire in 1296, earthquake in 1667, sieges, battles a long list of various occupations/rulings by many countries, most recently Yugoslavia from 1918-1991 which ended after a 7 month siege and heavy shelling attacks aimed at historic buildings. You can pick out the buildings that were hit - then repaired - by their bright orange tile roofs.

Just outside the main gate into Old Town.

I dunno - just seemed kinda funny …

Inside the gate and up to walk the 1.2 miles of wall before the sun got too hot - it’s made of limestone and the reflection and heat from it can be exhausting.

Onofrio’s Fountain, built in 1438 - the end point of the aqueduct - each of the 16 ‘panels’ has a carved face with a faucet coming out of the mouth - water is drinkable straight from the fountain!

Old roofs on the left (1600’s and earlier) … new roofs from 1991 shelling on the right.

Views from the wall.

Random photos: great door knocker, Game of Thrones (Old Town was used for filming GoT) t-shirt I should buy for myself and friends, nets ready to go out … the unusual statue - a nearby restaurant named itself Lady Pi-Pi after it.

Narrow lanes, lots of stairs, and nooks and crannies.

Two life size green (bronze) men (jacquemarts) in the 100 ft clock tower (named Maro and Baro) that whack the 1506 bell (almost 2 tonnes) with hammers every hour and half hour.

Visit to the Ethnographic Museum, statue of St Blaise - patron saint of Dubrovnik for saving the people from Venetians in the 10th century, the Rector’s Palace (seriously wanted to hire someone to pack me around in one of the palanquins), some of,the many churches.

On the road to Dubrovnik

Typical country house in the region.

One village, almost every house had nesting storks on their roof.

Despite the often repeated promises of seeing various wildlife and what appeared to be people shoving children into oncoming traffic, all I saw were 2 squirrels who were so scrawny, they apparently could not remember where they stashed their nuts.

Lunch - zapaceni strukli - traditional dish made from a special dough and fresh cottage cheese - this one with red peppers, kind of like a lasagna.

The village of Rastoke is literally in the middle of the Korana River with 23 waterfalls surrounding the houses. Traditional houses built with local travertine (rock with high calcium content) block cellars, then wood houses and tile roofs. The calcium of the travertine produces sinter (silica) that fills in any cracks in the blocks of the cellars so there is no water seepage. Many of the houses had water mills to process grain - some still operating today where you can buy flour. In the past they used the power of the waterfalls to even operate ‘washing machines’ - rotating barrels with holes that clothes were placed in.

The road up to Knin Fortress.

Drawbridge that is still used .. by me!

Well

Look out below!

Olives!

Plitvice Lakes National Park

Now, for something spectacular, a day at Plitvice - so spectacular, so breathtaking - constantly changing panoramas for of lush green foliage and heavily forested hills, with 16 terraced crystal blue lakes of different hues connected by hundreds of misty waterfalls and tumbling cascades of streams. Wooden walkways along and over rushing waters led me thru canyons and grottos, by lakes and ponds for 6 hours including a 15 minute electric boat ride across the biggest lake. Worthy of a trip to Croatia if I saw nothing else.

More Zagreb …

Woke up ridiculously early and the explored the neighbourhood more. Some grand updated mansions, some showing hints of their former grandness … wood shutters, mostly brick or stone with lath and a concrete plaster overlay. Yards were filled with a variety of bushes and flowers - especially oleander and roses.

Rendezvoused with a friend for brunch -after ordering I pulled out a small baggie of gray, granular Metamucil (in the event of issues with a different diet while travelling). They asked “What’s that?” Without missing a beat, I replied “it’s the last of my Mom’s ashes. She was part Croatian.”

It was hard to keep a neutral face as they stared at the baggie. ‘It’s a Croatian tradition to save a part of the ashes, mix a bit with water and drink it once they are returned to the Homeland.” Now they stared rather appalled at me - perhaps trying to keep their mortification from showing.

“It would mean a lot to me and I would be super honoured if you would take part in this with me.” I said as I opened the baggie and dipped a teaspoonful each into the two water glasses on the table and started stirring.

At this point I thought they would figure things out as the Metamucil turns an orange soda colour when mixed with water - nope, they were not familiar with the product!

I hoisted my glass, saluted the air with it, and swilled it back. ‘Not too bad.” I said, “a bit gritty and grainy” and pushed the other glass to them.

To my surprise they picked up the glass and took a mouthful - grimaced horribly as they swallowed, eyeballed the mouthful left and literally choked it down.

Most people who know me, know my family has a history of practical jokers, this friend included. When they looked up and saw my body shaking in silent laughter and tears streaming down my face, they realized they had been had … “OMG, I can’t believe I fell for that” was the polite part of what they said.

My afternoon wandering would take me to the Zagreb Botanical Gardens - 5 hectares in the middle of the city with English, French and Japanese style gardens and a great collection of carnivorous plants.

From there to the Chocolate Museum (where you can taste as much white, milk and dark chocolate as you want!) passing stately former mansions/palaces, street art in nooks and crannies, with smokers and cigarette butts everywhere (grateful for our no smoking rules back home!).

Zagreb

Uneventful flight into Zagreb and 1/2 hour Uber ride (with a driver unwilling to chat or smile - I thought was rather surly) to an apartment in Upper Town.

Early evening arrival and enough energy to scout the neighbourhood and pick up some food items from a corner store.

The clerk was quite stern faced and did not speak English. My Croatian amounted to a handful of basic words memorized on the flight over. She pointed at the till readout for the total - 12,21 euro. I placed 10,00 euro in front of her and she shook her head, pointed at the readout again, saying something I had no clue of. No one else in the store to ask if they spoke Croatian and English so pulled out another 10,00 euro - maybe I was not getting the decimal (comma) right and groceries were super expensive here.

She got more emphatic with what she was saying and jabbed her finger at the comma - I’m thinking there’s no way the comma is at the end and the 6 items I had cost more than a 100 euros. I looked at her utterly confused and she repeated her request to me … I caught one word that sounded like ‘cents’ … ahhh, pulled out some change and offered her my palm full to pick thru for the 21 cents. I managed a ‘hvala’ (thanks) and she broke into a wide smile and a Dovidenija (goodbye).

Ate in and called it a day at 9 pm local time.

Day 2: tram ride to the centre of Old Town - Jelacic Square - that features of the national hero - Josip Jelacic, early 1800’s governor.

Just in time for a concert by Baby Lasagna performing ‘Rim Tim Tagi Dim’ - just placed 2nd in 2024 Eurovision. Wandered past flower stalls, a few of the entrances to Tunnel Gric - used as shelter by the locals during WWII and Yugoslav Wars in the 90’s, then rode the world’s shortest funicular up the hill - 55 seconds to avoid the steep stairs up the hill.

Street signs date back to Australia-Hungarian era and are in Croatian and German.

Stop in the Museum of Broken Relationships - funny, poignant and sad displays with stories of breakups and losing loved ones. Peek into Church of St. Catherine, check out the plaque honouring Nicola Tesla, past the Church of St. Mark flanked by one of the +200 gas street lights that are lit and extinguished each day.

Down the street past the oldest operating pharmacy in the city (since 1355), thru the Stone Gate with a tiny chapel dedicated to St. Mary, by a statue of St. George slaying the dragon (looked like an oversized catfish to me), thru the old red light district, past an accurate wall sundial, the Zagreb Cathedral (under repair since a 2020 earthquake) and its guard tower then a tram ride back to home base.