Trogir

I love this little place.

We started out, again in bright sunshine which became hazy by late morning, to visit Split the second largest city in Croatia, it looks a bit of a sprawl from a distance but the centre had been built around the palace of the Emporer Diocletian.

He built it for his retirement and lived there for eight years. Two centuries later at the beginning of the 7th century, after the fall of Rome, the Croats came and started to build a city here. They converted the people to Christianity and the emperors tomb became the cathedral and the Temple of Jupiter the Baptistry. Houses were built both inside and outside of the palace walls and 2000 people still live within it's gates. It is a UNESCO world heritage site and very interesting as much of the original structure can still be seen. We were also treated to Klapa singing, a Croatian tradition of acapela singing.
Another world heritage site is the Island of Trogir a few miles up the road. Very small and delightful with twisty narrow streets and limited traffic. We had lunch over looking this harbour area accompanied by an elderly busker whose guitar playing was non too good and his enthusiastic singing even less so. He sang in several languages and included Silent Night in English and The Battle Hymn of the Republic as well as an English/ Croatian version of Jingle bells! Our first Christmas carols of the year! He was hilarious.

The white limestone for the buildings both here and in Split is quarried from the island of Brac and is world famous having been used for the White House, the parliament buildings in both Vienna and Budapest and the Aya Sophia in Istanbul amongst others.

It is a truly delightful little place, my favourite so far and another pleasantly warm day.