journeywithmadonna

Split is the second largest city in Croatia and has a population of 178,000. One of the major draws here, other than the beautiful harbour where you catch the ferry to Hvar, is Diocletian’s Palace. It is one of the most imposing Roman ruins in existence and the Roman Emperor Diocletian, who was noted for his persecution of Christians, had it built as his retirement residence between AD 245-313. He must have had a few bucks to spare as it’s quite the palace, or I should say was in its day. Today it is neither a palace nor a museum but rather the living heart of the city and was a fabulous place to take a few pictures within its walls. You will see Marilyn and I having another cappuccino, which are fabulous. You’ll also see Jim probably looking for us but we obviously know where he is, hence the picture. The market was full of fresh fruit, flowers, vegetables, nuts, lavendar and all kinds of clothes………we however really only took advantage of the consumables as I’m already lugging too much stuff. From Split we are catching the ferry to Hvar which I am so excited too visit!

Primosen and Trogir are two little villages we visited on the way to Split. The picture is of old town Primosen and its medieval streets are dominated by a large belfry……..absolutely stunning little place. We spent the night in Trogir, with its 13,000 residents, and it too is beautifully set within medieval walls with a wide seaside promenade just outside that is lined with cafés and bars. Had a small two bedroom apartment for the night and in the morning when we left, the landlady picked oranges from her tree and sent us off with a bagful…….the Croatian people have been wonderful!

The 72.5km Krka River and it’s wonderful waterfalls, one of which is shown in this picture, define the landscape of the Sibenik Knin region and are the focus of Krka National Park. According to the Lonely Planet guide the Krka waterfalls are a karstic phenomenon in that over millennia, river water has created a canyon(up to 200m deep) through limestone hills, bringing calcium carbonate with it. Apparently mosses and algae retain the calcium carbonate and encrust it in their roots. These growths creates barriers in the river that produce these spectacular waterfalls. We went for a wonderful hike here today and all throughout you heard that fabulous sound of the waterfalls. At the end there were women selling figs and nuts so that became our lunch.

I knew I did two entries on Sibenik but only one showed on the blog……couldn’t find the other one. After a little searching and ‘scrolling’ around I realized it was further down the blog….not sure how it got there.

We walked to the graveyard which is a long distance up the hill in Old Town. People fill up large bottles with water to pour on the flowers they leave. On the way down we met an elderly gentleman and when he smiled I asked ” are you taking a rest?” He responded that he was waiting for his wife and I commented on what a beautiful place it was(meaning Sibenik)to which he quickly added “no, no, no” and very seriously said “you can’t get out of here…..last stop”. We chatted a little further and when I told him we were Canadians he told us his daughter lived there. Earlier we met a 71 year old man who spoke good English and he told us to go to where the young people go and pointed to the beach…..I liked him a lot! Again we told him we were Canadian and he grabbed my hand and told us he has seven children in Canada and that he lived there for 25 years working as a bricklayer in Ontario. Smiled and said “I build house there and I build house here and live there six months to collect my pension……and come here when it gets cold in Canada”. He shook all our hands, said enjoy Croatia and then added “God Bless” and told us we must visit the Cathedral, which we did. Reminded me a little of Dad actually; maybe it was his friendliness, or the fact he had seven children and his quick “God Bless”.

Zadar, population 73,000, is well known not only for its medieval churches but also for two unique attractions – the sound and light spectacle of the sea organ and sun salutation, not the yoga one! I can’t tell you much about either because we missed them as we were pretty tired after a long day on the road and ferries. We found a neat apartment and voted to go out for a great dinner walking distance from the apartment rather than going back into the old town. The dinner was fabulous and I’m sure there’s a you tube on the sea organ and sun salutation if you need to know more…….might even check it out myself! Early night tonight and headed towards Sibenik tomorrow…….it’s had rave reviews.

Rab is apparently one of the most enticing islands and Rab town,with its population of 556, was well worth the visit. /p> What’s most spectacular about Rab Town are, once again, it’s historic churches and four bell towers. We didn’t spend the night here but did have a picnic lunch at the beach before we headed out to catch the ferry to the mainland heading towards Zadar. While waiting for the ferry Jim, who has done all the driving, decided to catch a snooze. Since Marilyn has a hard time being quiet, not me!, we decided to take a hike up the rocky hills where there was a cross……hence the pictures. When we returned to the bottom I asked, in my best terrible Croatian! what was the significance of the cross. The ticket attendant, in very good English, said it was to commemorate the end of the war and I realized that the war had not been mentioned much since we’ve been here. That’s about to change as we head towards Dubrovnik.