Croatia

August 11, 2019

Return to Croatia

After a fascinating and sobering visit to Bosnia & Herzegovina while on a 2012 tour to Slovenia, Croatia and Bosnia, we returned to Croatia to visit its gorgeous Plitvice Lakes National Park. Located in a very mountainous area, the park consists of roughly sixteen lakes connected by rivers, streams and loads and loads of waterfalls. The waterfalls mostly flow over travertine and they are every place you look. Although humans have lived in the area for thousands of years, the park was never fully conquered by them.

We rode in our tour coach to the edge of one of the lakes and then took a small ferry boat that was pulled across the lake (no motors allowed). From there, you walk on dirt paths next to the rivers, lakes and falls until the paths disappear and you are walking on suspended paths of wooden logs over the water.

At one point on the wooden path, the waterfalls were cascading down towards me on the one side and dropping way below me on the other. With railings being somewhat intermittent at this point, this made me a tad nervous. But I took a deep breath, said a few prayers and kept going. The whole park was incredibly beautiful. I kept taking photos and videos as we continued moving ever further down into the valley.

Finally we reached the valley floor where we were completely surrounded by the mountains, the waterfalls and the pools of water that then dove underground. How did we get out? A switchback trail up one of the mountains. It rose gradually, so it wasn’t too difficult to climb. We also stopped at several points along the way for more photos. At the top, we were met by our tour coach and taken to our hotel, which was located within the park. Unfortunately the restaurant within the park had burned down that morning, so we needed to leave the park to get some dinner.

The next day we headed for the capitol of Croatia, Zagreb. Settled by the Romans, Zagreb has been continually inhabited ever since. It was quite far inland in a mountainous region. In 1094, the settlement was named Zagreb and its Hungarian ruler began building its cathedral.

We took a walking tour of the Old Town. As we reached the Stone Gate, we found a lovely statue of Saint George and the Dragon. We continued up hill to Saint Mark’s Square. The centerpiece of the square is the 13^th century Saint Mark’s Church. The south portal contains several Gothic statues. The roof is decorated in colorful tiles.

The Croatian Parliament building is also located in the square. A short distance away is a plaque dedicated to Nikola Tesla, who was born in a small town in what eventually would become Croatia.

Now we were going downhill again. As we neared the Tower of Lotrscak, we encountered some girls dressed in the Croatian national costume selling flags and other souvenirs. I bought a flag for fun. It was May Day, which is like Labor Day in Europe. The tower dates to the 13^th century and was part of the fortified walls that once surrounded the part of the city that was at the top of this hill, including Saint Mark’s Square. A cannon is fired from the top of the tower at noon daily. This was a real cannon, not a recording of one.

From the wall at the foot of the tower, we had a great view of the lower part of the city. Going down some stairs from the wall, we found restaurants below to have some lunch. Then we went on to Jelacic Square where a political rally was taking place. The square was laid out in the 17^th century and was the main square of the city.

We spent the night in Zagreb and then headed back to Ljubljana the following morning. That was our last day of the tour.

Next time – the start of another 2012 trip – this time to the Baltics and Scandinavia. 2012 ended up being my last year of taking multiple trips in the same year. I changed jobs at the end of the year and the amount of vacation time I had coming to me each year also changed.

Ferry to main part of park
Some of the waterfalls
More waterfalls
On one side of floating wooden path
On other side of wooden path
View from switchback
Zagreb Cathedral
Interior
One of the squares in Zagreb
St George near the Stone Gate
St Mark’s Church
Gothic statues
Croatian Parliament
Plaque celebrating Nicola Tesla
Looking back up the street
Croatian national dress
Tower of Lotrscak
View from wall of lower part of city

July 28, 2019

The Kingdom of Dubrovnik

Fans of “Game of Thrones” might recognize Dubrovnik as King’s Landing, a stronghold of the Lannisters. However there are many, many reasons for someone who has never seen “Game of Thrones” to love Dubrovnik. Founded as Ragusa in the 7^th century by Greeks, what eventually became Dubrovnik was under Byzantine rule, Venetian rule, and Austrian Hapsburg rule (as part of the Kingdom of Dalmatia) before Croatia became part of Yugoslavia.

Somewhere in there, it was briefly the Kingdom of Dubrovnik. In addition to its own city walls, it also built what was the second longest wall in the world after the Great Wall of China as a territorial wall out in the country. I managed a photo of that wall as we left Dubrovnik after spending a couple of days in that beautiful, old city.

We arrived in the afternoon and checked into our hotel a short distance from the walled old town. After touring the larger city of 42,000 that comprises Dubrovnik now, we went on an optional dinner to a farm up in the mountains. Everything that was served to us was grown on the farm, including the brandy and wine. They had what was known as a “black kitchen” which was separate from the other buildings and had an open fire in the middle. The smoke would go up through the thatched roof. We ate our dinner in a 200 year old stone cellar.

Our walking tour of the old town, the next morning, began at the Pile Gate. Parts of the walls surrounding the old town date as far back as the 8^th century. In the 9^th century, the city survived a 15 month siege by the Saracens, which showed how well fortified they were.

The Pile Gate is really a series of gates with twists and turns. The idea is to make it not entirely easy to just walk into the city. We encountered Big Onofrio’s Fountain just inside the final part of the gate. It was built in the 15^th century as an outlet for the water from the aqueduct. From there, we visited the Franciscan Monastery Museum, which included one of the oldest apothecaries in the world (in use since the 13^th century). They had some pills on display that made the giant pills that we have now look almost miniscule. I didn’t see how anyone could have swallowed them.

The monastery was on the Placa, which was one of the main streets. We took a side street (called Od Puca) to see Saint Blaise Church, built in the 18^th century. Next was Gundulic’s Square with a smaller version of the Spanish Steps in Rome.

The Rector’s Palace was built in the Venetian style in the 13^th century as the offices and residence of the Rector, who was the ruler of Dubrovnik. We weren’t allowed to take any photos inside of the palace, but I managed a photo of nearby Assumption Cathedral through an open window and one of the courtyard of the palace from the walkway above. We finished up our tour with the 15^th century Bell Tower, the 15^th century Orlando’s Column, and the Old Port before having about three hours of free time.

It was a very hot day and most of the group immediately headed for food and drink. I wanted to make sure that I did a boat ride and the wall walk. So, since we were at the Old Port, just steps from the ticket office, I bought a ticket for a boat ride for a panoramic tour of the Old Town and a nearby island. Then I bought a gelato to cool me down until we could get on the boat (which had another group on it and would be back in about five minutes).

There was a nude beach on the far side of the island. Interestingly enough, there wasn’t a single decent body in the group. They definitely weren’t there to show off, unless they had seriously flawed images of themselves. When I got back to the port, I didn’t see any of the group around, so I picked a place in the harbor that had seafood and settled in for a light lunch that had been caught in the vicinity of Dubrovnik.

It turned out that, due to the heat, most of the group had opted to return to the square with the replica of the Spanish Steps and had spent most of their time having a long meal and drinks while not moving around much. There were a few others who did the wall walk for a short distance, mostly downhill, and only one couple that did a boat ride. I was determined to do the wall walk, so I just bought some extra bottles of water and paced myself. I also started with the part that went uphill so I would get the worst part over first.

There was no shade on the wall either. Fortunately I had my archeologist hat, long-sleeved, gauze shirt and tan-colored jeans. I also slathered extra sunblock on any part of my body that might see the sun – such as my face, neck, ears, and the backs of my hands and fingers. Didn’t want to take the chance on getting any nasty sunburns.

I mounted the steps up to the wall at the Old Port, paid the fee and was on my way. All the way to the round Minceta Tower was uphill. The views were amazing, however, so every time I stopped to catch my breath, drink some water, etcetera, I also took some photos and marveled at the beauty of the city. The tower was built in the 15^th century at the height of the Turkish threat. The interior provided some much needed shade (even though it meant I had to climb even more stairs to get inside), so I lingered there for a while, eating a couple pieces of melting chocolate and drinking a few swigs of water before making my way back downhill toward the Pile Gate.

I went about three quarters of the way around the circumference of the walls. The trip was about half way uphill and half downhill. I was really glad I went uphill first. I checked my watch periodically to make sure that I wasn’t running late and could continue to pace myself in the heat. I had allowed plenty of time, taking in to account the need to stop every once in a while to take in the gorgeous views and take photos in addition to keep from passing out in the heat.

After descending at the Pile Gate and leaving the old town of Dubrovnik, I stopped off at a place that served fresh-squeezed orange juice. I was actually about fifteen minutes early for our rendezvous with the tour coach, so I sat down at a picnic table in the shade and had a chat with a local whose dog highly resembled my Miniature Schnauzer/Miniature Poodle mix at home. The human knew English quite well. The dog acted as if he did too, but was likely just reacting to my tone of voice. He was quite open to being petted by a stranger speaking a different language who was a little homesick for her own dog.

Once we reached the hotel, I stopped off at the mini market next door to buy some food for dinner. Then I took a long bubble bath (without wine as alcohol and heat don’t work that well together when a person is already on the edge of dehydration). Then I watched a movie and had dinner before turning in for the night.

Next time – we venture in to Bosnia & Herzegovina, which still had lots of war damage.

View from hotel
Black Kitchen
Dining Cellar
Big Onofrio’s Fountain seen through final part of Pile Gate
Monastery
Version of Roman Spanish Steps
Venetian Rector’s Palace
Assumption Cathedral seen from Rector’s Palace
Courtyard of Rector’s Palace
Boat ride
Another view of city from boat
Old Port seen from wall
A house along the wall
Minceta Tower on wall
Downhill from tower
Approaching Pile Gate while on the wall
Second longest territorial wall in the world

July 21, 2019

After leaving Ljubljana on a 2012 trip to Slovenia, Croatia & Bosnia, we drove along the Adriatic Coast in Croatia to get to the town of Zadar. I had been intrigued by Croatia because it was mostly along the coast and had a long history which was pretty much intact.

Although the area had been inhabited since the Paleolithic Age, the Croats themselves didn’t arrive until the 6^th century. In the meantime, prior to the advent of the Croats, the area that became Croatia underwent both Greek and Roman rule. When faced with possible Ottoman conquest in the 16^th century, Croatia asked Ferdinand I of Austria to come and be their king. Shortly after World War I, Croatia became part of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats & Slovenes. Then, after World War II, it became part of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. In 1991, came the Croatian War of Independence.

Founded in the 9^th century BC and located in the part of Croatia known as Dalmatia, Zadar is the oldest continuously inhabited city in Croatia. At different times it had been under Roman control and then Venetian control. The traces of both can still be seen. During its Roman era, the town was fortified with walls and gates, which are still partially there. The Venetians did quite a bit of building. Several of the houses and other structures they built are still there.

Our walking tour began at the 12^th century Cathedral of Saint Anastasia. Just outside of the church some children were using inline skates. The tour director made a comment about Rollerblade being a US company. Their headquarters originated in Minneapolis. Although the cathedral seemed kind of plain to me on the outside, but was quite lovely inside.

Nearby were the remains of a large Roman Forum. Some of the columns were still standing. But some of the columns had been incorporated in the base of the 9^th century church of Saint Donatus. It is a tall, circular church which is the largest pre-Romanesque church in Croatia and very simple in its design. Once upon a time it had a dome.

We came upon a house with a Venetian balcony on our way to the Sea Gate. Venetian-style balconies tend to jut out from the building and are fairly ornate. At some point, owners of this particular one had it enclosed.

We spent the night in Zadar and then left the following morning for Split. On the way to Split, we passed a very old castle perched on top of a rather steep mountain.

The second largest city in Croatia, Split was originally a Greek colony in the 3^rd or 2^nd century BC. Roman Emperor Diocletian built a palace there in the 4^th century AD. It later became a Byzantine city and still later a Venetian city.

Although called a palace, Diocletian’s residence is much more of a fortress. Originally it was right next to the Adriatic. But it is now set back a bit with a lovely beach between and a few restaurants. We began our tour by entering through the Coppur Gate (which used to be on the sea) and immediately went to the cellars of the palace, which were completely original. Other parts of the palace had some changes made to it over the centuries. Some of Game of Thrones was filmed there.

Diocletian had been a major persecutor of the early Christians and had put many of them to death. When he died in 312 AD, he was buried in a mausoleum in his palace in Split. We weren’t allowed to take photos in the mausoleum, which was quite tiny. I did very much enjoy the irony that his body was still there and that the mausoleum was turned into a church not too terribly long after Diocletian died. So, for centuries now, Christian services have been performed right in the presence of his body.

We exited through the Golden Gate. There was a dramatic, modern statue (1929) of Bishop Gregory of Nin (who lived in the 10^th century and was quite the revolutionary) outside of the gate in a park. A tower in the northeast corner of the structure is the most intact from Diocletian’s time. Over the centuries, people moved into parts of the palace. There are still multiple apartments in existence in the walls, towers and other parts of the building.

Walking around the outside of the palace, we saw the Iron Gate with a clock tower that I really liked. It was such a mix of original, medieval, and several other periods. The gate is still being used. Originally it was the military gate.

We walked to the 14^th century Narodni trg Pjaca (square), which looks very Venetian. Another nearby square, Vocini trg Pjaca, was 16^th century. In our free time, one of the Australian couples and I wandered through the market and bought some items for lunch. Then we sat next to the sea in a shaded area and ate lunch before we needed to get back on the tour coach.

Next time – beautiful, medieval, walled Dubrovnik.