For The Love of Travel

Brač is a Croatian island in the Adriatic Sea. Supetar, the island’s main town, offers a horseshoe-shaped beach and ferries to and from Split. A 50 minute journey with large gulls riding the thermals, accompanying us across.

My first stop is at it’s best known white-pebble beach Zlatni Rat (Golden Horn), a favoured windsurfing site outside the resort town of Bol. The Golden Horn is the most spectacular of all Croatia’s beaches. It’s not just its shape that makes it so beautiful and unique. The pebble beach is surrounded by crystal clear sea, that goes from turquoise blue to dark blue in just 10-20 meters. Like a tongue, it extends almost half a kilometre into the blue sea, and grows by the application and deposition of small gravel pebbles around the submarine reef, and it’s top changes it’s shape, adapting to the rhythm of the waves and sea currents.

Next stop in Bol, is the Dominican monastery, which houses Tintoretto’s ‘Madonna and Child’.

Founded in 1482, this monastery was damaged by the Turks in 1571 and later fortified with a tower. Palms, orange trees, hydrangeas and lavender bloom in the cloister garden, and there’s an interesting little museum packed with fossils, ancient Greek inscriptions, Greek and Roman coins, and beautiful religious icons dating from the 16th to 18th centuries.

Bol’s little port is rather picturesque….with a Renaissance-baroque palace with an art gallery, a square and a castle, and a complex of houses of original folk architecture lining the hillside.

On the recommendation of Trip Advisor customers, decided to pop in for lunch at the Kopacina restaurant, in Donji Humac. Glowing reviews about its Brac cuisine, especially lamb. A lovely terrace setting as well. And you know how I (guiltily) love lamb! Well I must say the sous-vide lamb was extraordinary 😱. So delish!! And no need for dinner after that helping!

Last stop, the pretty harbour of Bobovisca with crystal clear water, that was originally built for the ships of the Emperor Diocletian.

A fantastic day, really loved that little island.

Another early morning start to beat the heat and crowds….to see the main draw card in Split – Diocletian’s Palace. It’s an ancient palace built for the Roman Emperor at the turn of the fourth century AD, which today forms about half the old town of Split. While it is referred to as a “palace” because of its intended use as the retirement residence of Diocletian, about half of it was for Diocletian’s personal use, and the rest housed the military garrison. Gaius Aurelius Valerius Diocletianus (nickname “Jovius”), was known for restoring government efficiency after the near anarchy of the 3rdC. His reorganisation of the fiscal, administrative, and military machinery of the empire, laid the foundation for the Byzantine Empire in the East and temporarily shored up the decaying empire in the West.

I particularly liked the shape of the vestibule (in a rotunda form), which was once the first section of the imperial corridor in the Palace that led to the Imperial apartments.

Diocletian was adamant in appropriating the Egyptian custom of having a sphinx, the guardian of holy grounds, guarding the entrance to temples and tombs. On his orders, 12 sphinxes were shipped from Egypt to adorn the palace facades. 

Last stop for the day, the Mestrovic Gallery. Ivan Mestrovic, 1883-1962, displayed a carving talent from a young age. He studied formally at the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna and his graduation iin 1901, marked the beginning of a brilliant artistic career, with subsequent exhibitions in Europe’s cultural centres. He traveled throughout Europe and studied the works of ancient and Renaissance masters, especially Michelangelo and French sculptors such as Auguste Rodin. 

The bible; folk epics; his incarceration by the Ustache in WW2 and his longing for peace and harmony, also formed the well of inspiration for his works.

Leaving Zadar, I travelled south, calling into a little Dalmatian town some Melburnian friends had recently visited and enjoyed – Tisno. It’s on Murter Island, located at the narrow strait separating it from the mainland. Tisno was first mentioned in 1474 during the Turkish invasion and during the war against the Venetians when refugees fled to Tisno to seek shelter.

It has a memorial-site dedicated to the several hundred Croatian civilians killed and dropped into a local pit in the aftermath of World War II by the communist Yugoslav regime.

Sibenik was the next stop, known as a gateway to the Kornati islands and the oldest city on the Adriatic. I believe the series “Game of Thrones”, used the narrow cobblestone alleyways in  a number of episodes. The 15thC stone Cathedral of St James is decorated with 71 sculpted faces.

Sibenik is especially known for its charming, car-free old town, which was built up a hill and with more than 2,800 steps, is also known as the “City of Stairs”. I let my drone do my walking on this 36 degree day!! 

Onwards to the tiny village of Skradin, with its pastel-coloured houses on the waterfront – it lies on the Krka River and is the gateway to the Krka National Park. I planned to take the 25 minute ferry ride upstream to access Slapovi Krke, a beautiful cluster of waterfalls. Unfortunately by mid afternoon, there was no-where to park the car to access the ferry, so I continued on to Split.