From Bale, it was an easy day trip to the island of Brijuni, a place we had long wanted to visit. Since the 1990s it’s a National Park that anyone can go to, but before that, it was the summer residence of Yugoslavia’s President Tito and off-limits to all but government officials and foreign dignitaries.…
One of Istria’s most iconic towns is the lovely Rovinj, which we last visited as students many moons ago. In going back, I was a little afraid that the intervening years and busloads of tourists would rub the magic off my carefree happy memories of the place. But as it turned out, Rovinj in September…
From the top of Istria, we now headed back in time to try and find a glimpse of the Histri, the iron-age tribe after which Istria is named. Displaced by the Romans in 177 BC, their last stand was at the hill-fort of Nesactium (or Vizače in the Istrian dialect). The site takes a bit…
On our trip up the north Dalmatian coast last year, we missed seeing Asseria. It had been high on my list of ancient ruins to visit, but hey, you can’t do everything at once and it gave us an excellent reason to go back that way. It’s an iron-age hillfort, originally built by the Liburnians,…
Day two of the retreat saw us in Stari Grad, the oldest town on the island, and indeed one of the oldest in Europe. As the former Greek colony of Faros, this place was already old in the 16th century, when Petar Hektorović built his summer residence here. Tvrdalj was originally on the waterfront, bristling…
Our week of exploring the Dalmatian coast is up and it’s time for us to head back home. On the way, though, we’ll be visiting another of Croatia’s National Parks – the spectacular Paklenica canyons. Velebit mountain is a huge coastal ridge, part of the Dinaric range bordering the eastern side of the Adriatic coast…
Interesting how the fates of two nearby prehistoric settlements should go in such different directions. Take for instance Iader and Aenona, both Liburnian towns on the Dalmatian coast, within about 14 km (9 miles) of each other. Both were mentioned by Pliny the Elder some 3,000 years ago. Iader is now a thriving city with…
Zadar is one of the few places on this trip that we’ve visited before, but that was only as a quick detour and we hadn’t actually stayed overnight. The old city is a lovely place to stay, as you can forget about driving, and simply walk around. And after dark it gets particularly magical! Anyway,…
Just inland from Šibenik lies the beautiful Krka National Park. Basically, it’s a deep canyon cut into the high karst plateau by the river Krka as it wends its way down to the sea. There are spectacular waterfalls, lakes, caves, natural rock formations, interesting flora and fauna – plus there’s cultural heritage, starting with the…
Dalmatians say: To taste good, a fish must swim three times – once in the sea, once in olive oil, and once in wine! Although I’m generally not a fan of munching olives, I have to admit they are good in combination with cheese and anchovies to accompany a glass of wine. And I definitely…
Go Hvar 
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