A Travellerspoint blog

October 2007

Split and Trogir

sunny 24 °C

The harbour at Split was packed with ships and boats of all sizes when we arrived. It's a busy place with ferries, cargo boats and schooners plying the waters of the Adriatic...

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It's October and most of the quayside restaurants and bars have rolled up their shutters for the winter. But the palm trees still make a pretty sight in the warm sunshine...

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Just around the bay is the ancient town of Trogir where the pleasure craft lay in the calm waters and the views of Split backed by mountains was superb in the late afternoon sun...

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Trogir has lots of interesting scenery...

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But Split has many ancient buildings, ruins and churches that are well worth a visit...

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These places will be thronged with tourists in July and August but now we are into October Split and Trogir are peaceful and picturesque.
However, some of the streets are so narrow that you might have to walk sideways.

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Posted by Hawkson 16:26 Archived in Croatia Comments (0)

Happy Birthday in Hvar

sunny 25 °C

Hvar, (pronounced Ha whar), is just one of many Dalmatian islands that dot the Croatian coastline and the first thing we noticed was the tremendous welcome we were given by the locals as we stepped off the ferry. We soon realised that the welcoming committee was made up entirely of landladies hoping to snare us into their B&Bs or self-catering apartments. It is the very end of September and tourists are scarce. But the weather is still warm and sunny, the soft sand beaches are deserted and the sea is still balmy.

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Getting around Hvar at this time of the year can be a little tricky so we hired a car - a funny car with squealing wheel bearings and bad brakes...!

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The roads were twisty and narrow, but this tunnel was barely wide enough for our mini car...

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The views of the island were enchanting

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And we discovered some picturesque little harbours

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To venture further afield we took a tour boat to neighbouring islands to visit castles and to explore blue grottoes that have been carved into the cliffs over millennia...

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And then we returned to Hvar for a very special birthday dinner of freshly caught fish under a starry sky.

No one was more surprised than Sheila when the waiter announced to the entire restaurant amid the orange
trees that it was her birthday and patrons from many different countries all sang, "Happy Birthday."
A moment on Hvar that Sheila will never forget...

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Happy Birthday Sheila.

Posted by Hawkson 15:49 Archived in Croatia Comments (0)