Grand staircase – formal entrance to the city of Korcula.This Venetian symbol of St Mark is very prevalent along the coast of Croatia because Venice ruled this area for 400 years.The view from our room. Still on the Adriatic Sea.Notice the ancient pot in the corner, looks rather small, right?But not really!This old clock tower even shows the phases of the moon. Still correct today.The view from the top of the clock tower.Walked around to the west side of the island to see the sunset and came upon this mousehole. (A harbor with a small opening).Enjoyed the sunset.Any Whovian will know why we found these statues terrifying!!!I just really liked this concrete sailboat on one of the squares. Oh, yes and the guy standing by it, too!Nice view of the city at sunset.
Hop on this boat andgo south to the island of Hvar.And we’re there!Literally up 200 stairs to our home.Passing pomegranate trees. “Is this heaven?”Our terrace for the next 2 nights. Should have stayed right here for the entire time!Walk this beautiful path along the water.Find a swimming area.Ahhh! A bit chilly and not easy to walk into due to the slippery rocks, but no complaints here!Much needed rest after lugging our things up all those steps. This is their idea of a pebbly beach. Felt more like rocks to us! Wonder what these people would think if they saw our beaches!Agave everywhere. If you look closely, it has lots of stringy things on the leaves.And the nuns here make these pieces from that agave string!Best breakfast of the entire holiday!Sooo good!With a beautiful view of the “street” and this 15th century sistern.
Some places we stayed didn’t include breakfast so we found this little corner of the town.I just liked this – thought I’d share.Nice arches.We walked up this path away from townfor this nice view of Split.Cool shot of old vs new.Klapa singers in the vestibule of the palace.This hole was above the singers. Used to be a dome back in the day.This black sphinx is the only one of Diocletian’s collection of 13 that is still intact.At noon the “emperor” welcomed everyone to the palace.Walking along the Riva – a path next to the harbor.At night the square was filled with music and everyone enjoying themselves.I could tell you who sculpted this and the name of the piece but I overheard a tour guide saying “looks like a he’s taking a selfie!” Funny…
Split has some of the best Roman ruins this side of Italy. In the fourth century A.D., the Roman Emperor, Diocletian (245-313 A.D.) wanted to retire in his native Dalmatia, so he built a huge palace here. The complex took 11 years to complete and roughly 2,000 slaves died in the process. Eventually, the palace was abandoned. Then locals, fleeing seventh century Slavic invaders, moved in and made themselves at home, and a medieval town sprouted from the rubble of the old palace.This is a drawing of the old palace and Murph is pointing to our home for the next 3 days.One of the four gates for entering the palace.The octagonal building was Diocletian’s mausoleum until the Christians he persecuted turned it into a cathedral. Now the smallest cathedral in Christendom.Typical street scene.Nice arches & windows.Entrance to our place – thru the doorway and up a couple of flights.Our room, complete with Roman walls.And a tiny kitchen with tiny ice cubes in the tiny freezer. ICE!!!This is not just another sexy pic of me – trying to illustrate how high the steps were when we climbed up the bell tower.
All this hiking and stair climbing is making me very strong!Different park, different waterfallsand so beautiful!Right!?!A little geology.More water!A bit of history!
If you’ve seen the movie Avatar, I think you’ll understand why we think this place was the inspiration behind Pandora. Plitvice (PLEET veet seh) Lakes National Park. These were the tallest in the park at 250 ft.Lakes were a beautiful turquoise.Just in case you’ve forgotten us.Could not believe how clear the water was!Water rushing under and around staircases and boardwalks.Love these reflectionsBeautifulWaterfalls like this everywhere!Sixteen lakes connected by hundreds of falls.Even climbed up to a cool and drippy cave.Walked 20K (12 miles) the first day and loved every minute.
Nice view of the old town.Boat yard we walked by a lot. Cool to watch them restore these old boats.Amazingly relaxed dogs, often laying in doorways. Cute!Typical street scene with shiny marble walkways.So Venetian (right Casey & Shyla?).Biked around the Golden Cape, just outside of town.Went on a sunset cruisefor beautiful views like this.
Murphys on the Move 