Croatia - Week 41

Monday 25th March

After spending another peaceful night at Camping Galeb in Omis, we took the bus from outside the campsite and went into Split for the day. It was wonderful. The sun was shinning and the place was alive with people enjoying themselves.

The Diocletian Palace, a UNESCO World Heritage site, was just amazing. It’s one of the best preserved Roman remains in the world and is a city within a city. Emperor Diocletian had it built in the 4th century as a fortified retirement home! Its labyrinth of courtyards and alleyways just begged us to explore.

We visited the tourist information office to see if there was a walking tour available. Unfortunately we’d missed it as it had started at 10:30 in the morning. The lady was kind enough to give us a self guided one instead. We followed the route to the marked numbers on the map and read the huge information boards as we went.

We had such a good time we ate both lunch and dinner out, and by the time we returned to the campsite it was dark.

Tuesday was a different kettle of fish. The wind had got up during the night and it was chucking it down with rain. We’d been warned about the “Bura”.

Bura is a wind that blows along the Adriatic coast. It blows from the land to the sea, gaining strength and power as it cascades down the mountainsides before hitting the water, fanning out and causing a mess of the sea. And wow, does it blow!! The van rocked while we tried to sleep.

Next day it was still windy but the sun was shinning again. We set off north to Trogir. We parked up along the edge of the water with the locals.

It was yet another gorgeous preserved old town protected by UNESCO. A mix of Renaissance, baroque and Romanesque buildings, that lies on a small island connected to the mainland and the island of Čiovo by bridges.

 We admired all the amazing work done by the stone masons over the centuries.

We visited the 13th-century Cathedral of St. Lawrence and climbed its bell tower for some fantastic views.

We wandered around the little cobbled streets for ages in the sunshine.

Most of the shops and cafes were open and I even treated myself to a hair cut. Trogir was definitely worth visiting.

We parked in the car park next to the ferry that night and in the morning we left and drove to Nin via Sibenik.

We found a lovely little campsite, camping Peros. The owner was lovely and explained that we could walk into Nin and told us we must visit Zadar as, in his opinion, it was the most beautiful town in Croatia. He even showed us on a map, where we could park Harriet.

So the next morning, after doing the washing and hanging it out, we walked into Nin.

The old town of Nin is situated on a small island in the middle of a shallow lagoon and used to be connected to the mainland by two beautiful stone bridges. They had been damaged by flood water so were being renovated.

We crossed over on a wooden board walk instead. From there we could see some traditional salt pans. Nin is famous for salt production and has been harvested the same traditional way for centuries.
We visited the church of the Holy Cross which has been referred to as the smallest cathedral in the world. It may be small but because of the position of its windows and relativity to the sun, it acts like a kind of calendar. According to the sun’s rays, the exact date of the equinox and solstice can be determined, wow!

We also visited the ruins of a Roman house and a Roman temple.

We went inside the first Croatian Cathedral, St Anselm.

We walked around the edge of the island and rubbed Grgur Ninski big toe for luck.

It was a dejavu moment for us as we’d seen the bigger version in Split. Grgur Ninski (Gregory of Nin) was a bit of a rebel in his time. He was a 10th-century bishop, who opposed the pope and introduced the Slavic language in church. It wasn’t the prettiest old town we’ve seen, but we could definitely appreciate the history of the place.

The following day we drove the 10 miles to Zadar and parked up. The parking meters said it was free on a Sunday so that was a bonus.

Zadar (which sounds like ta dah rather than radar) was yet another UNESCO gem. It’s a combination of old and new, probably due to the damage it received during WW2.

Lonely Planet says ...
Boasting a historic old town of Roman ruins, medieval churches, cosmopolitan cafes and quality museums set on a small peninsula, Zadar is an intriguing city. It’s not too crowded and its two unique attractions – the sound-and-light spectacle of the Sea Organ and the Sun Salutation – need to be seen and heard to be believed.

There were lots of people there, just sat on the steps listening to the haunting sounds of the sea organ. I love unusual things.

The sun salutation was a huge solar panel that lit up at night, we presumed, by releasing the energy from the sun from the day time.

We drove back to the campsite after enjoying yet another brilliant day in Croatia.