We left the Italian
coast again and went over to the Balkan coast of the Adriatic Sea – again. This
time we’re in Croatia, with over 1,200 islands. We’re anchored off the town of
Split, and so we tendered into the port for the first time (we’ll do it again
in Montenegro). The view from the ship into the harbor was quite nice.
Our first stop was the
ancient town of Salona, which had been buried. Archeologists have discovered
remains of temples, amphitheaters (they estimate the population by amphitheater
seats x 3), early churches, burial grounds, and baths. As was custom, the
burial rounds were outside the “city limits.” The walkways down into private
tombs was quite interesting; the carved marble sarcophagi were for the
nobility, and they are in amazing condition for being so old – and they’re just
sitting out in the environment with no covering!
We then drove along the
Riviera of Seven Castles (only one remains) to the island city of Trogir. The
city self is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It’s connected to the mainland by a
bridge, and there’s the typical fortress at the up-river end of the city. The main
stop inside the meandering city was the Cathedral of St. Lawrence.
Twelve noon arrived and
we were treated with a symphony of bells and chimes to ring in the mid-day. We had
little bit of free time, so we stopped at an outdoor café for a lunch – plates of
Dalmatian ham and cheese. We had to try the local beers; they were good!
Croatia is the only
country on this cruise that’s not using the Euro as its currency, so we
exchanged euros for kuna, and pulled out some for our international money
collection. One interesting thing to note about their coins is that they use
Croatian words for even-numbered years, and Latin words for odd-numbered years.
With all the transactions we did, we never received any even-numbered year
coins (might have to do some online trading to get them!)
Stuart
I have heard and read wonderful things about Split. I hope to get there one day as well!
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