Croatia - Trogir

We left Plitvice and drove through more lush, green countryside before crossing over a pass. Suddenly the country became dry and scrubby,  very reminiscent of the arid Greek countryside. They must get a lot less rainfall on this side of the hills.

Our first stop was Knin Fortress, an old fort that was built by the Croats but taken over in turn by the Ottomans, the Venetians, the Austrians, the French then back to the Austrians. We stepped out of the air-conditioned car and were hit with the heat. We nearly melted!

We really don't know who this lady was putting on the archery display for as there was only us there at the start, but we appreciated it anyway!

We saw these signs telling us to watch out for wild boar. There were also some warning to watch for bears and wolves!

We drove on to Trogir, a walled town on the coast, and had our first experience of trying to drive and park near a town that has no car access. The little parking available nearby was in high demand but we found something while we got ourselves to our rooms.

We were met by the owner of the hotel who promptly brought out the welcome drinks - homemade rakia, cherry liqueur, walnut liqueur plus a plum brandy. It took us a while to just check in!

Trogir was beautiful - narrow laneways, shuttered windows and gorgeous stone houses surrounded by a stone wall. Unfortunately, it was quite busy in places.

 We were only here for one night but it turned out to be really special. Firstly, the kids had gone back to the rooms and John and I thought we'd check out an interesting looking cathedral. We had to pay to enter and as soon as we went inside we saw people all dressed up - a wedding was about to start! They kept letting tourists in until the bride entered so a dozen or so of us sat quietly and watched the start of the wedding. Awesome!

After a bit we crept out and I saw a sign saying "Warning - Climb bell tower at own risk." Well that was like waving a red rag to a bull so off we went. The first part of the climb was up a spiral staircase and was quite claustrophobic but fun. We got to the top and the view was stunning. We could see over the whole city and out to the connecting islands.

Back down on the ground again we could see that all around the town areas were set up to watch the football (soccer) on TV that night. Croatia was in the final 16 which was a big deal. People wore Croatian football jumpers and the town was pumped. The kids weren't interested so John and I headed out to join the throngs in one of the squares. It was set up with tables, chairs and large TV screens and waiters and waitresses almost ran between tables trying to keep up with the orders for cocktails and beers.

The atmosphere was amazing. Most of us were tourists and we were all barracking for Croatia. Every now and then someone would get clapping going and horns would blast. Whenever Croatia had an attempt at goal people would get up and barrack them on. We watched all this under a gorgeous indigo sky that deepened to sapphire as the night wore on. It was great fun. We left at the end of the main match when it was 0-0. Croatia ended up losing which was a shame as they had most of the play, but we still had a great night.

Sorry that none of these photos have been adjusted at all. There was a hiccup transferring Photoshop from my old computer so you just have to see them warts and all!

Cheers,
Heather