Finding the Roman Empire in Split

We're now in the city of Split, the second largest city in Croatia in the heart of the Dalmatian Coast along the Adriatic Sea.  Split owes its origins to the Roman Empire, namely the Emperor Diocletian (245-313) who was native to Dalmatia and built a huge palace here for his retirement.  After his death and the fall of the Roman Empire, a medieval town took root sometime in the 7th century.  The Venetian Empire took over the Dalmatian coast in the 15th century, developing and fortifying Split, and with that came the introduction of Gothic-Renaissance architecture.

Seeing Roman brick arches in the cellar

Today, the Old Town of Split is rooted within all of the development that has occurred within Diocletian's Palace.  The palace, or more accurately what's left of it, is a UNESCO Heritage site.  You can still see the Roman influence and architecture throughout.  For example, what was the basement or cellar of the palace is now a shopping court.  You can still see the original Roman bricks forming the arches atop all of the stone columns. Dioletian's mausoleum became the Cathedral of St. Domnius, and Jupiter's Temple became St. John's Baptistry.  Much like Dubrovnik and Trogir, the Old Town is a maze of stone alleyways and buildings.  Although we saw hints of Roman architecture in other places we've visited, the center of Split is unquestionably from Roman times.

Bell Tower at Cathedral of St. Domnius

Split is also a major hub for ferries traversing to and from many of the outlying islands.  It has a large harbor with ferries, cruise ships, and yachts all coming and going throughout the day.  We took the ferry to the nearby island of Hvar and spent a lovely morning walking the town and enjoying the beach there.  Split's harbor is near the waterfront promenade known as The Riva which is constantly full of people.  Being here on a Saturday night showed us that a lot of people get dressed to the nines as they parade about the Riva.

With all off the hustle and bustle of Split, there is still a large swath of parkland called Park Šuma Marjan. This is a forested hillside on the western end of Split that is very popular with the locals who hike, bike, and jog here.  We visited the park as it has

The Peristyle (main square)
Entrance to Diocletian's residence

one of the highest points with great views of both the city as well as the Adriatic and outlying islands.

Our time here in Split is quickly coming to an end.  We'll be visiting national parks for the next two days, trading our bathing suits and beach towels for hiking boots.

GPS Adventures

GPS, and Google Maps in particular, have made traveling in unfamiliar places so much easier.  We've been traveling a long time, well before the advent of cell phones and having turn by turn directions at your fingertips.  We're very adept at reading paper maps, but the technology today makes things easier and can quickly let you know alternative routes when there's congestion ahead or a road is closed due to construction.

Our closed border crossing

But it's certainly not foolproof. It had us turn the wrong way down a one-way street trying to get to our apartment in Mostar. As we were leaving Bosnia, it took us to a border crossing that apparently has been closed for a very long time, and then proceeded to re-route us down a narrow one lane road that dead ended into a field.  More than once it told us to turn right to go to a roundabout to make a u-turn to proceed in the opposite direction, when we could have easily made a left hand turn.

It's taken us down many a back road on this trip and we've seen the real country and not just the shiny parts all the tourists want to see.  For the few of you who read this blog when we travel, you know we've historically traveled with Mona's parents.  They're back home and not on this trip with us which is probably a good thing.  Mona's mom is very much not your glass half full kinda lady (Hi Mom!!) and she would have been freaking out every time one of these inconveniences occurred.  For us, it's just part of the adventure in exploring new places.

There's a reason this welcome sign is grown over --- this border crossing apparently hasn't been used in years.

Trogir

After Kravica Waterfall, we ended our time in Bosnia and Herzegovina and drove back to Croatia and the town of Trogir.  The historic center of Trogir is actually on a little island -- walled of course -- and is a UNESCO World Heritage site.  Trogir is just across a small bay from the city of Split where we will be staying the next three days.  The historic center is well-preserved and you can easily wander through all of the narrow alleyways. It is still very much lived in as we came across many apartments and local shops and restaurants that do not necessarily cater to tourists.  We enjoyed the casual, laid-back atmosphere as we had dinner at a cafe along the waterfront promenade people-watching and seeing the boats go past.  I wonder if there are any affordable apartments here?

Kravica Waterfall

After we left Mostar for the drive back to Croatia and our next destination of Split, we made a stop at the Kravica Waterfall. We will be visiting the well-known waterfalls in Croatia at Krka and Plitvice Lakes National Parks later in our trip, but Kravica Waterfall was not really on our radar.  We stopped for about an hour as a pit stop between Mostar and our visit to the town of Trogir in Croatia, and it was worth every minute and more.  It's a popular spot for the locals to come and spend the day.  The beauty of this waterfall speaks for itself, so I will just show some pictures and video.

Mostar

We've taken another side trip out of Croatia, this time to Mostar in Bosnia and Herzegovina.  Most folks (us included) tend to just say Bosnia, but it's not the official name.  It's BNH for short. 😀. We didn't know much about Bosnia before this trip, but have since learned quite a bit.  We like using the Rick Steves guidebooks, and as he says, it's a country "with three faiths, three languages, and two alphabets."  We experienced all of this first hand.

Old Bridge

Bosnia is likely the most ethnically diverse of the former Yugoslavian countries. Bosnians are generally Muslim, Serbs are Eastern Orthodox, and Croats are typically Catholic. On the drive to Mostar, we saw both the Roman and Cyrillic alphabets.  We also saw numerous mosques as well as Christian churches.  We stayed in the heart of Old Town Mostar, adjacent to one of many mosques, and we heard the Muslim call to prayer multiple times during our one-day visit. About half the population in BNH is Muslim, and this is our first visit to a primarily Muslim country.  In both the architecture and food we could see the Ottoman (Turkish) influence.  In fact, Turkey has a consulate located in the heart of the Old Town.

Old Bridge at night

The main draw for our visit to Mostar was to see the Old Bridge (Stari Most).  This bridge has spanned the Neretva River for over four hundred years.  In fact, it's the longest single-span stone arch in the world.  The bridge was destroyed during the 1990s war for independence.  It was rebuilt using new stone that was hand-carved from the original quarry.  The Grand Duchy of Luxumbourg contributed significant funds to its restoration and is recognized with a plaque on the bridge. They did an outstanding job with the restoration as it is difficult to tell that it was reconstructed less than 30 years ago.

Running along the river after you cross the bridge is what's known as Coppersmith's Street.  There are lots of little shops selling all kinds of things made of stamped copper. Some of the larger pieces had very exquisite detail.  We ate dinner at a restaurant next to an 

Our Bosnian "Meat Feast"

offshoot stream of the Neretva, a lovely setting that could have inspired the San Antonio Riverwalk.  We had what I lovingly referred to as a "meat feast" -- a dinner for two that had samplings of traditional Bosnian meats including Ćevapi, a type of sausage that is often considered the national dish of Bosnia and Herzegovina.  As a proud carnivore, I can attest that all of it was delicious.

We only had the one day for Mostar on this trip, and it was a very fulfilling and enjoyable day.  Hopefully, we will make a return trip one day.

Montenegro Adventure

Dubrovnik is at the far south of Croatia, less than an hour's drive from Montenegro. Being that close, we couldn't pass up the chance to add another stamp in our passport so we drove down for a half-day adventure to the town of Kotor.  Kotor is located on the Bay of Kotor, inside the mountains from Adriatic Sea.  It is apparently a popular cruise ship port of call as we saw three different cruise ships docked during our visit.

It was an easy drive from Dubrovnik, and because both countries are not in the Schengen zone of the European Union, we had to stop at the border to show our passports and be admitted into the country.  Once in Montenegro, we were quickly next to the water and drove around the Bay until we reached the town of Kotor about 2 hours after we left.

The Town and Bay of Kotor

Main Square and Clock Tower

The Old Town in Kotor still has its defensive walls surrounding the town and extending up into the adjoining mountain until it reaches the St. John Fortress at the top. We hiked halfway up to the Church of our Lady of Health. This church was built in the 1500s.  The views of Kotor and the bay are excellent from this vantage point.  Because it's tucked into the mountains, it reminds us of the fjords we've visited in New Zealand and Scandinavia.

Cathedral of St. Tryphon

The Old Town is very well preserved with the stone lanes and narrow alleys.  One of the best preserved structures is the Romanesque Cathedral of St. Tryphon which was first built in 1166.  It's most recent extensive preservation efforts were in 2016.  One of the interesting features is that instead of a side chapel as you find in many cathedrals, St. Tryphon has a small chapel on the 2nd level.  I was able to visit the second level and onto the balcony between the two towers overlooking the square.

Compared to Croatia, Montenegro is not as wealthy a nation and we could see that on our drive to Kotor as we passed a number of abandoned and dilapidated buildings.  Grittier might be a good term to use.  Kotor seems to be in better shape, probably in no small part to the number of tourists like us.  Definitely a place worth visiting.

A Hole in the Wall

Buza Bar

While Cocktail Bar Massimo in Korčula town was a fun experience with great ambiance, Buza Bar in Dubrovnik probably has it beat. A literal "hole in the wall" leads you to this very unassuming bar on the rocks outside of Dubrovnik's walls where you can watch the boats go by and soak in the sun and the sunsets. There's even an area for swimming and several folks were enjoying that while we were visiting.  The drinks may have been a little expensive, but the view was priceless.