Monday, September 11, 2017

Igalo to Split, Croatia

Monday, September 11, 2017

Today was a long travel day, as we headed north about 220 miles up the Dalmatian coast to relocate to another scenic resort city.  Split is Croatia's second largest city with 178,000 people.

The scenery up the coast was fantastic and reminded me of the coastal highway in California. I was lucky enough to get a seat on the seaside, but, unfortunately, it rained most of the day. I did get a few photos to show how grand the hills are and how these tiny villages nestle right below them.



We had to pass through customs from Montenegro to Croatia, then through a 12-mile strip belonging to Bosnia, and then back into Croatia. Croatia wants to build a bridge to one of its islands in order to bypass Bosnia, but that would essentially cut off Bosnia's access to the Adriatic Sea. Obviously, it is a touchy subject in the Balkans.

We stopped in Neum, the only city on Bosnia's coast, for a long rest stop. Caught a photo of me with our guide Ilona before continuing on our way.

Although it's hard to see, this photo shows an old fortified wall, one of the longest in Croatia at 3-1/2 miles, on an island.

After much coastline, we did pass by the Neretva Delta where they cultivate vineyards and grow fruit.

Then we arrived in Omis where we caught a view of the Cetina River emerging from its canyon. We had lunch along the river at Radmanove Mlinice Restaurant in an old mill. It was very local fare -- for starters we had soparnik, a thin, flat pastry with Swiss chard, onion and garlic, which was quite good, sort of like a pizza, 

 followed by cheese, prosciutto, and homemade bread. Desert was a little fried doughnut like a beignet.

We were scheduled for a boat ride on the Cetine River to take us back to our bus. Unfortunately, just as we got in the boat, it poured down rain. The boat was covered, but the awning was for sun not rain and it leaked. Oh well, everyone survived with few complaints.  A quick photo of me before the rain but with wind, as always. 

Took some shots from our little cruise in spite of the rain. The Canyon was beautiful and doesn't fit in the photos. 


To the left are little fishing huts that you can see in the following photo. We did forego a walking tour of Omis (you can see it here in this photo) and headed for Split. 

We arrived about 5 pm. Our hotel is located in the old part of town which is inaccessible by any vehicle. Consequently, we had to walk about 5 blocks (again, in the rain) to get there. But everyone continued to be good sports. We had been warned that this might not be as nice as our previous hotel because it is built in the ruins of Diocletian's Palace (built 300 AD). The whole old town is part of the Palace but much more about that tomorrow. However, my room is awesome and looks out onto a very old street. (Later the proprietress told me she picked the room out specially for me. Don't know why but glad she did.  Perhaps she identified with a woman traveling alone.) The image over the bed shows what part of the Palace our hotel is in. Apparently, the hotel restaurant is in the former bath.

Dinner at the hotel was delicious with orange flan for dessert. Afterward, I had to take a little walk around the town, which was quite lively. Tomorrow should be a fun day.


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