Split: Diocletian's Palace and Lucky Feet

Arriving back in Split from our island getaway, we decided to get up very early the next morning to beat the crowds. It's never fun getting up extremely early but it's well worth it to see such a beautiful place unspoiled by tourists. The main area of interest in Split is of course Diocletian's palace, however the name itself is misleading. Built in the 400s AD for Diocletian's retirement, it is less of a palace and more of an entire running fortress complex, almost like a town in itself complete with alleyways and buildings. It was also meant to house his militia which perhaps helps to account for its size. 

I found it a very unique place as in effect Diocletian's palace is what makes up the old city if Split, and unusually for an old town, it was one of the beautifully preserved and grand I had seen.

The one thing you of course can't tell from our photos is how swarming with tourists this beautiful old town is. There's something more magical about seeing old places without hordes of people; like without the reminders surrounding us one can almost feel as if they were there in the time it was built. 

The impressive front gate to get through into the old city also held brilliant acoustics, demonstrated by a group of people singing beautifully and capturing many a tourists attention.

The old windy streets in Diocletian's palace were beautifully preserved with barely a hint of our modern civilization around. The streets were very slippery with the rain however, and I was glad I had my walking shoes on. 

The old walls were extremely impressive even now, it wasn't surprising that in the 7th century the local inhabitants fled to the then long abandoned city for protection against the approaching Croats. 

A giant statue dominated the landscape just outside the palace walls. He had a rather avenging pose as if he were about to smite somebody, and I couldn't help but notice he also had a very shiny toe. Must have been lucky. 

Hvar Island Part IV: Overly-touristy Hvar Town and a Franciscan Monastery

Hvar Town, or Pharos as the Greeks named it, was the central hub for the island - as we soon discovered. Once a port town central to trade in the Adriatic, this slowly changed over time to as it became an early tourist destination, its popularity dating back to the 1800s. Although the water front was swarming with tourists, once you climbed the backstreets up the hill to the back of the town, the little alleyways were quiet and charming, and steeped in history. 

What I found strange is the proximity of the bustling tourist side to the quiet backstreets and crumbling ruins of old houses. It was an interesting juxtaposition, and I'm sure you can guess which I preferred exploring. 

The waterfront was interesting in its own way however, and certainly should not be dismissed. Perhaps an early morning walk before the tourists arrive would restore some of its charm. 

We did find by walking along the waterfront a way (passing all the sunbathing tourists in their expensive rented reclining chairs) a Franciscan Monastery and adjoining church of Our Lady of Mercy (clearly far less interesting than working on tans or eating subpar ice-cream as all the other tourists were doing - the place was almost empty!) A grand old building dating to the 15th century, it was very peaceful and dim- a stark contrast to the bustling and hot outside world.

As almost the only people in there, we wandered as we wanted, taking photos here and there. It was built in a rather old and interesting style, all white stone and carved, very different from the French and Italian style buildings. It reminded me of something from a King Arthur story. The courtyard at the back was also memorable, containing an ancient and weathered Cyprus tree said to be over 300 years old. Its great branches were held up by supports and through the leaves you could catch glimpses of the shimmering blue sea.

There was also a small but interesting archaeological collection, mainly made up of amphorae found on sunken galleys from around the area. There's something special about seeing artifacts that have lain out of human sight at the bottom of the ocean for over a thousand years.

Running out of time, we then made our way to take the ferry back to the mainland (alas!). 

I can safely say I will be missing Croatia's islands for a long time to come. 

Hvar Island Part III: Beach, BBQ and Beating the tourists to Stari Grad

Still blown away from our time at Gromin Dolac we decided to return the very next day! The roads were once again perilous, this time with a pile up involving a truck and a number of cars (including us) soon we were all backing awkwardly in a line trying to let the truck past. Finally we were able to pull over in a good place but a van wasn't so lucky, backing down a driveway only to become hopelessly stuck! We felt terrible for them but there was little we could do with our little car to help, so we continued on our way. 

Alas as Aslan said in Narnia, 'Things never happen the same way twice'  and we soon found our little cove was invaded by others. However all was not lost as we continued to walk around the rocks (accidentally startling some nudists in their natural habitat at one point) until we found a second much smaller secluded bay right at the end of the little peninsula.

 We enjoyed a second great picnic and much snorkeling was had. Necia even found a treasure chest, though only Yannick was brave enough to swim down and touch it (the snorkeling hero!) 

After a long day of sunbathing and snorkeling to our hearts content (does life get any better?) we headed off to Stari Grad (literally meaning Old Town) where our accommodation was booked for the night (good old Booking.com). Upon seeing the place I couldn't quite believe our luck! It was modern, large and rather fancy with an outdoor eating area and a barbecue! None of us having any barbecuing experience before, we logically decided to cook our dinner with it. 

We headed to the local supermarket, taking in the breathtaking views of the sunset over the beach as we did so, and stocked up for dinner. Although the stock was sadly lacking, we found sausages so all was well.

Getting the barbecue started proved to be a challenge, however Necia performed heroically and was soon our champion barbecuer. Here you can see one of our earlier attempts where we accidentally killed everything with fire. It still tasted good though!

The next morning we headed into the town to properly explore. One of the oldest towns in Europe (which is a pretty good claim to fame in my opinion) originally named Faros and settled by the Greeks it was full of historical buildings and squares. The town was in fact was occupied even earlier in Neolithic times, but of course there are few remnants of this left apart from pottery sherds and the like. Later in the 8th Century the Slaves settled here and it is to them the town owes its name change. 

Wandering the town was very pleasant, it was surprisingly un-touristy (as we would find out later all the tourists hung out in Hvar town and seemed to rarely venture away from it) we took full advantage and wandered to our hearts content. 

Eventually we headed for lunch by walking around the waterfront until we reached an old restaurant that had once been a Hermitage! Can't beat that for eating surrounded by history. 

We tucked into Dalmatian ham (with a splash of good olive oil) and Plavac - a lovely Croatian red wine - while under shade from the beating sun. I've said it before and I'll say it again, could life get any better?

Hvar Island Part II: Beachside paradise and the town of Zavala

I had read that Hvar island had a number of abandoned hamlets which appealed to my sense of adventure and inner archaeologist. One such hamlet named Gromin Dolac was also mentioned in a blog post as having an excellent secluded beach, so we decided to give it a go. We soon discovered the unsealed gravel road that wound along the cliff edge was a rather terrifying experience, as it was wide enough only as a one way road, but was used both ways. This led to a number of instances of backing arduously along these roads until we found a bend large enough to pull over in - driveways were rather lacking, and when caught between the cliff edge and the mountain it's hard to have somewhere to go! 

Nevertheless, as we wound past the deep ochre dirt from which wizened olive trees grew from, with the sparkling blue sea dropping away below us, it was unforgettable. And, it turned out, all worth it. The road to the village suddenly dropped down, too steep for anything but a 4-wheel drive, however there was an area to the side that we could just squeeze in to park. Having done so we began descending down an old path that headed in the direction of the sea, picnic baskets in hand and hopes high. 

The tiny path wound down suddenly leading to a pebbly cove with an overhang of rock full of blessed shade for our picnic, and a water so clear and blue I couldn't quite believe it was real and instantly wanted to go swimming straight away. Best of all, there wasn't a soul around.
We had found it! The kind of place that adorns travel magazines, but leads to busy beaches with cocktail bars blaring music and pay by-the-hour umbrellas on the sand. But this place was the real deal, it was empty, the water so clear we could almost catch fish, and it was all ours. 

After lunch we clambered the rocks, explored the cove and snorkeled the clear waters to our hearts content. It was without a doubt, the best beach we found in Croatia, and perhaps in all our travels. After our luxurious afternoon only broken by a few locals coming to share our cove, we headed for the nearby town of Zavala to check in to our accommodation and work out our dinner plans.

The great thing about Croatia is the cheapness of their apartments and hotels, this is tempered by the fact that their campsites have become resorts which are more expensive than the hotels themselves! It makes it far more worthwhile to find private apartments where not only do you feel like your holidaying in luxury for a ridiculously cheap price, but you also get to meet the local owners who are usually extremely kind, giving advice, food and often wine!

Seeing as the town only had one restaurant, life was made simple for us. However being the only restaurant it was also quite busy - asked to come back in a while we wandered the beach and the stony coastline killing time. Yannick introduced me to the fun that is running around with a cellphone light and with a camera on long exposure and so we passed the time while I capered madly on the beach trying to draw words in the air. Oh Croatia how I miss you!

Hvar Island, Vrbroska and Jelsa - the singing Men and Fish Picnics

A little tired of the big cities and tourist throngs, we decided to hop over to some of Croatia's islands which to me almost felt like it made up for missing the islands in Greece the year before. Before too long we were landing on Hvar Island, and heading for our accommodation. Here we were treated to some more Croatian hospitality as upon arriving at our apartment, the owners informed us there had been a misunderstanding and booking.com had doubled booked us, leaving them with no space to house us. Not only were they extremely apologetic, but they found us new accommodation in the same price range not far away, and while we booked it online they plied us with their homemade (and extremely delicious) wine.  Soon we were driving off to the town of Vrboska, and our little hotel. 

The owner there was very friendly and offered us some tips on where to eat and park the car all over the island! By the time of our arrival we were hungry. so we headed off to find a restaurant and see the town by night.We were soon treated to a random and beautiful moment of a singing boat, as we stood on the bridge over the river and a little fishing boat full of what I assumed were fishermen sang Croatian folk songs which carried beautifully. It was somewhat surreal and I felt pretty lucky to have stumbled across it. 

We also rather enjoyed our dinner that night, as the restaurant was very good. Necia had the best chicken of her life (who knew bbq meat could be so good!?) Overall it was a night to remember. 

The next morning we also wandered the town, taking it in by daylight. The beautiful reflections of the bridges on the still water and the little stone houses made this village truly picturesque.

It was however only a village, so it only took so long to see it all. We left still in the morning to head to the nearby town of Jelsa which was meant to be a pretty harbor town. Developing in the 14th Century as a port it prospered economically - unfortunately today that prosperity comes mainly in the form of tourists. We saw many signs advertising fish picnics which seemed to comprise of getting stuck on a fishy smelling boat with many other tourists and loud music and chugging about the bay eating fish sandwiches. I felt horribly sure they involved mustard too. We soon fled to the relative safety of the narrow alleyways to escape such horrors.

The architecture of old Croatia is something definitely worth commenting on, as every city or town we went to had something interesting or beautiful to offer. This tiny church of St. John, built in Baroque style was extremely charming and well worth wandering to. The square itself and surrounding houses dated to the sixteenth century and clearly showed why Jelsa has become such a tourist destination. The square also offered some much needed shade which I quickly took advantage of - Croatia summers are certainly beautiful but the midday sun can be a little unbearable!

A sweaty climb up a nearby tower afforded us beautiful views of the town and was well worth popping up. We also had it to ourselves as the other tourists had kept to their fish picnics and waterfront views. All the better for us!

With many hours sunshine still left in the day, we decided to find a beach to head to for some much needed relaxation and swimming. Much googling occurred before we decided to follow directions from a random blog post and hope for the best. Next destination the beach paradise of Gromin Dolac!