Salona – the ancient capital of Dalmatia

Driving into Split on the main road from Trogir, you pass by what appears to be a large municipal park with some ruins. This is what’s left of Salona, Dalmatia’s largest and most important city two thousand years ago. You’d hardly credit it, even walking around the park, as it’s all very low-key, most visitors seem to be locals walking their dogs. On the day we visited, there were few other tourists, and it’s possible to enjoy the place in peace, connecting with its ancient past.

Hvar Artist Retreat – Sept 2013

This week has been a very exciting one for me – I’ve been able to share the lovely places, people and experiences of this island with some wonderful artists from California. We’ve explored some gorgeous locations armed with sketch books, cameras and paints. We’ve walked for miles, enjoyed some fantastic meals, great wine, and the…

Rosmarinus Officinalis

Rosemary and lavender – Hvar’s essential oils

One of the delights of Hvar is the variety of aromatic plants that grow naturally here. The island is well-known for its lavender (lavanda), but for many centuries, rosemary (ružmarin) was more important to the island’s economy. Rosemary is actually a close relative of lavender, both belonging to the Lamiaceae (mint) family of plants. The…

The waterfront at Stari Grad

Going back in time – the old town of Stari Grad

Stari Grad is an old town. If you wind back time by a couple of thousand years to the turn of the millenium, you’d find that settlements on the island consisted of Illyrian hillforts, mostly away from the coast, though the castle at Hvar town directly overlooked the harbour. And then there was Stari Grad,…

Windrose2

The Winds Have Names

In the Adriatic, you’d think there wasn’t really much extreme weather to talk about, especially if you visited in the high summer. OK, the odd thunderstorm over the mainland in the afternoon, but not out on the islands, surely? Yet you’ll see examples of windroses here and there, with the winds clearly named. There’s one…

Vineyard

A Walk in the Ager

We set out early this morning for a walk in the fields while it was still cool and pleasant. The “streets” of the Stari Grad Plain are wide enough for carts, and generally run in an easy-to-navigate grid pattern, though at the eastern end they tend to turn and meander a little more. Connecting the…

Kupinovik – Roman site

Kupinovik is the site of an ancient Roman villa rustica on the Stari Grad plain. It was a country house belonging to a Roman citizen in the first century AD, one Gaj Kornficiji Kar, a Decurion in Faria, who used to grow grapes and olives in the surrounding fields. Back then, it would have been…