Visit most ancient Roman sites and you’ll invariably be greeted with ‘keep off’ signs, barriers and staff who say ‘no’ whenever you deviate from a well-trodden path. But Split in Croatia is different because the famed Diocletian’s Palace remains in use today as a home for some, a place to stay for others and as…
Category: Croatia
Zagreb at Christmas
Mist hung around the hills and valleys north of Zagreb as we flew into the city’s modest but modern airport. The sun was shining, the temperature crisp. We were in town for a December weekend break in 2018, to visit the award-winning Christmas markets and experience one of Europe’s lesser-known capitals. We found a city…
Zagreb, war and broken relationships
Zagreb and its residents may have been full of Christmas cheer during our weekend in the city but we spent a day wallowing in break-ups – the violent collapse of the old Yugoslavia and the more personal stories of lost love. Image of War: The Museum of War Photography opened as recently as 2018 –…
Croatia: A day trip to the island of Lopud
There are something like 1,000 islands along the Croatian coast. Lopud is one, part of the Elaphiti chain that lies just a few miles from the city of Dubrovnik. Its main attraction in rocky Croatia is its sandy beaches. During our stay in the beachside suburb of Lapad in 2015 we couldn’t avoid the touts trying to…
Croatia: By the Adriatic at Lapad
Croatia has a memorable coastline. It’s jagged, scarred and never dull. Hundreds of islands of all shapes and sizes, covered in greenery, lie in the sapphire blue of the Adriatic sea, some inhabited, some deserted. From thousands of feet up in our Monarch aircraft in the late summer of 2015, I watched the islands float by….
Croatia: Joining the crowds in the city of Dubrovnik
The fans of cliche tell us that travel broadens the mind. But it’s also a curse. There are times when we, as tourists, threaten to overwhelm and destroy the very destinations we’ve travelled so far to see. Dubrovnik’s old town is but one example. Croatia’s most popular destination, it’s a city under seige from swarms…