Croatia Part 3 - Back to the mainland

After spectacular and relaxing Island life, it was time to head back to the mainland: First destination Split. Facing the harbour is the old part of Slit known as Diocletian's Palace. Mostly made of roman ruins, it is a warren of narrow walking streets, but even though the name implies it, there is no palace. There are lovely tall roman columns and of course, a Catholic cathedral with 13th centry wooden carved doors.

Split

Old Fishing Dude 

Santa on Vacation in Trogir

We then headed north to Trogir - Croatia's Venice. It is a beautiful little city, occupying an island, and is completely surrounded by midieval walls. Trogir is also home to "Coatia's most beautiful Cathedral". It is in a square with the town hall. We stopped for a beer at one of the cafes in the square to enjoy the beautiful church and watch the swallows fly at sunset. Harbour side is lined with cafes and bars - our friendly waiter spoke french and wanted to practice with us. Being Friday night, everyone was out for some fun.

The next day it was Promesten for a swim and a fabulous view from a church on top of a hill, and then off to Krka National Park. The Krka waterfalls are like those at the more famous Plitvice Lakes. The river is in a deep limestone canyon, binging calcium carbonate with it. The moss and algae in the river retain the calcium carbonate and become encrusted with it. This creates the barriers that become the beautiful waterfalls at Krka. Krka is also the site of the second hydro electric damn built by Tesla (the first was Niagara Falls).

Krka National Park

For our last day, we explored the small villages of Vodice and Murter. Murter is tiny, and not in the guide books, but we found the most amazing white sand beach. Lastly we went to Zadar, another old Roman/midieval town. The transport of people in small wooden boats in the harbour is an 850-year old tradition. There is now a pedestrian bridge, but we saw one old guy still rowing away.

Then it was back to Zagreb for our flight back to Paris. Next time we visit Croatia, I think we will rent a sailboat!

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