Croatia delivers: Stari Grad, Split and Trogir

Stari Grad

We rode the ferry from Split to Stari Grad (translates to Old Town), which is a quiet ancient town on island of Hvar. Stari Grad has a long narrow natural harbor which has been home to the Greeks, Romans and after another 17 centuries of inhabitants, it was home for us for four nights.  We enjoyed three quiet days walking through the old parts of town and watching from our apartment balcony as the boats came and went.

Split

We took the ferry back to Split and spent three days exploring this ancient city.  Diocletian was a Roman Emperor (the last who persecuted the Christians) who opted to abdicate in 305 AD after 20 years of rule so he could retire to his home town of Split to grow vegetables.  Well, besides growing vegetables he also built a huge walled palace between 295 to 305 for himself and his wife along and a large company of servants and guards.  Some buildings and large parts of walls, and the entire basement structure of the palace are still standing. 

The emperor built a mausoleum for himself, and a temple to the God Jupiter.  Later, the mausoleum was converted to a small Catholic Cathedral and Jupiter’s temple was converted to a baptistry.  A haphazard collection of medieval homes and palaces were built inside the original walls of the Roman palace as Split became a fortified city for protection from the Turks.  The mixed history and architecture makes for a visually stunning city.  

We stayed in a small apartment about 100 yards from the old palace walls and spent a time on a walking tour, in some museums and walking the old streets.

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We also found a location with the best mango gelato…

Trogir

While staying in Split, we took a day trip to Trogir. This is a small island that has been a continuously occupied urban center for 2300 years.  It has been part of empires/countries of the Greeks, Romans, Hungarians, Muslims, Venetians, Hapsburgs, Napoleonic, Yugoslavia, Italian, German, Yugoslavia ( second time) and finally, the independent country of Croatia since 1995 (following a 4 year war for independence from the former Yugoslavia).  In addition to the great history and ancient architecture, we had an awesome lunch of homemade gnocchi and Dalmatian Pasticada, with cheese from the island of Pag as an appetizer. We have had amazing food on this trip so far.

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Next up, down to Dubrovnik, the southernmost part of Croatia and a day trip to Montenegro.