My Visit to Croatia

Continued

Did you miss Part 1? I’ll wait while you find it and read it.

Continuing with an overview of my trip to Croatia.

The next day, (first on the ‘official’ tour), we met with our tour group, and the first stop was to Diocletian’s Palace. Although our photography group had already been there, it was interesting to have a local guide who told us about the history of the place. Diocletian renounced the throne and retired in 305. The palace he had built as his retirement home was constructed (a lot of slave labor) between 295 and 305. Diocletian died in 316, so he didn’t live there long. It’s more of a ‘city’ now than what you’d expect after seeing the castles in Britain.

Early that afternoon, we boarded our home for the next week, the Desire. It’s a 40 passenger yacht, and there were about 30 passengers. Eleven in our photo group, plus a couple from England, and then the rest were from Germany. Everything was done in both languages, and I brushed up a little (VERY little) on my college German studies.

The ship’s quarters were nice, although the climate control setup was the same as at the hotel. Either everyone had heat, or everyone had a/c, and it was up to the captain to decide which to turn on. They were still using a/c because it had been hot until we arrived, and they needed a replacement part for the heat. So, we had 2 very cold nights.

Our first stop was Trogir, where we boarded a bus for a trip to Krka National Park (there’s a severe shortage of vowels in the Croatian language.) A drizzly day, but we got some shots of the vegetation and their spectacular waterfalls. Photography lesson: How to soften the appearance of the water.

One thing the cruise company can’t control is the weather. Our trip deviated from the published itinerary on several occasions, but since everything was new and interesting, none of us minded. We missed the Blue Cave, which is more tourist attraction than anything else, so no great loss as far as I was concerned.

Our visit to Trogir included a concert by a quartet of Dalmatian Klapa (a form of a capella) singers. That those voices could produce such sounds was amazing.

From there, we sailed to Hvar for another tour. As with all our stops, our guides filled us in on the history of both the towns and the buildings. A few tidbits. In Hvar, there are Benedictine nuns who make lace out of threads from the leaves of fresh agave plants. Someone in our group suggested tequila might be a good use for the rest of the plants.

I committed a cardinal sin of photography on our Hvar tour. I’d forgotten to check my battery, and didn’t have a spare with me. It was on the Desire. I did, however, have a phone, and managed some halfway decent shots.

Our trip continued with a stop on the island of Vis. Point of interest: the cave where Tito hung out while he was avoiding capture during World War II. Not very impressive, other than the fact that someone used this cave to carry out wartime business. It was a cave. Dirt and rocks.

Another stop was in Korcula with a side trip to Ston for an oyster tasting, which was a new experience for me. But, when in Ston … Grilled, fried, and raw. Not bad. The grilled were the best for me. At least I was game to try them, unlike some of our cruise groups who requested a cheese platter instead.

Our final days were in Dubrovnik, where we had another city tour, plus plenty of time on our own, which meant time with our photography leader and taking more pictures. I took the obligatory shot of the Walk of Shame steps from Game of Thrones, although I’ve never watched the series.

The food everywhere was fantastic. I have a gallery of just my food pictures.

I also have a gallery of my trip in general.

And, another gallery of pictures of places and things mentioned in my novel, Cruising Undercover, set on this itinerary. Of course what happens in the novel isn’t what I experienced on the cruise.

I hope you’ve enjoyed a peek at my Croatia trip. Let me know by leaving a comment, or hitting the ‘like’ icon.