Croatia : Part II - Dalmatian Coast

After finishing capital city Zagreb and the beautiful Plitvice National Park in Part 1, we reached Split on the Dalmatian Coast

Croatia’s oldest (and second largest) city was founded in 305 AD by Roman Emperor Diocletian. He built a magnificent fortified palace by the sea as his retirement home, after he gave up the throne in Rome (he was apparently the only Roman Emperor to have retired voluntarily from his throne). Till today, the walls of Diocletian Palace and some structures inside survive and form the centre of the town of Split. It is supposed to be one of the finest surviving examples of a Roman palace and in 1979 UNESCO declared Diocletian’s palace a world heritage site

Split is the site of a natural harbour and it is a port of call for many Mediterranean cruise ships. The passenger ships berth right next to Diocletian’s Palace

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Croatia : Part I - Zagreb & Plitvice

Croatia ? Sounds vaguely familiar, but don’t quite know or remember ?
Croatia is on the Mediterranean sea, across the Adriatic from Italy. There are thousands of islands off the coast - also called Dalmatian coast. Lots of coastal towns, pretty as a postcard, with their orange riled roofs. It is one of the erstwhile Yugoslavia republics. Like most of the other East European countries – Austria, Hungary, Czech Republic – Croatia has opened up to the world only in the late 1990s and it is still not fully explored. It also helps that the country is generously endowed with a beautiful Dalmatian coastline, lots of Roman outposts, the magnificent Plitvice National Park (pictured above) and genuinely nice citizens.

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