Croatia; Beautiful Islands, Crystal Turkoise Sea, Fortresses, Waterfalls And My Scuba Dive

I was really smitten the first time I visited  Croatia and the cities of Split and Dubrovnik, while on an
Adriatic and Mediterranean cruise a few years ago.  I made a pledge to come back to spend time in this fabulously beautiful country!

Stepping into Split or Dubrovnik is like entering a time warp to the degree that the past seems forever frozen.  You can easily forget there is a modern world outside its ancient boundaries.

The cracked and very uneven marble stone pavement of Split has worn so smooth by human feet that is looks polished and can be slippery especially when wet.

I chose to return to Split for several reasons.  Besides the splendid beauty of the city, I was interested in seeing nearby Trogir.  Getting to Croatia is an easy hour and a half flight to Split from Paris, flying over the Alps, then Venise,  before the plane turns south towards Split.

From the air, the coast of Croatia looks literally dotted with islands, some big and as minuscule as pancakes surrounding by crystal clear turquoise green waters.

Split is actually built into and around the Roman Emperor Diocletian’s immense palace which dominates the whole area of the old city.  He ruled in 284 to 305 and was born and raised nearby.   He built this tremendous beautiful palace as a retirement home.

He was a notoriously cruel emperor, who seemed to relish persecuting Christians amongst everybody else who he did not like. He must have hired excellent architects and engineers as his palace is still perfectly standing.

Perhaps his renown cruelty ensured that the builders bent over out of fear to construct this palace in total perfection or risk cruel punishment or death if found to be displeasing to Diocletian’s cruel nature.

After the Romans lost power, the Venetian Republic Empire conquered the territory and have left their own unmistakable style throughout the city.

Split and Trogir strongly resemble Venise with extremely narrow paths and a labyrinth layout that can ensure getting lost to those who have a poor geographic orientation.  Fortunately, I am not one of them.

The night gives way to a special charm wandering around shadowy alleyways softly lit by lanterns here and there.  High walls surrounding you give a cloistered feeling as you feel they almost are leaning over you.

Large plazas filled with people suddenly appear out of nowhere after exiting a tangle of narrow paths usually in front of churches. In perfect revenge to Diocletian plans to wipe out the early Christians, Croatia is made up of a 87% Roman Catholic population.

I was told that their faith takes a major focus in Croatian social life.

 

This is quite evident as I was pleasantly pleased to see crucifixes and religious photos adorn some restaurant walls and even in the scuba dive shop I went to.

We attended a Sunday afternoon mass in Trogir.  Even though I couldn’t understand a word except for Jesus, I could follow the Mass looking at the Priest and the

cadence of the Latin responses. Thank goodness the ritual of the Catholic Mass remains the same wherever you go!

After two days in Split, we took the ferry to the island of Ciovo instead of Hvar.  Hvar island was initially our first choice but did not want to stay in Hvar Town,  nor depend on a rental car to get into town for groceries.

Ciovo is very close to Trogir, which is on another island close to the mainline, both of which are attainable by bridges. Trogir has been classified as a Unesco protected site and looks and feels like a miniature medieval Venise without canals surrounded with blue-green turquoise sea.

The fortress is a prominent feature, but the old city walls have been torn down. The twisted pathways seemed even more narrow than Split, just barely wide enough for a horse to navigate I guess.

The adorable Airbnb apartment on Ciovo had a wonderful view of the sea from the big balcony nestled among tall pines.  Sitting out on it for morning café or for dinner was a true pleasure as the air was perfumed with rosemary growing everywhere, pine and the fresh scent of sea breezes.

Owners Nenad and Josipa were wonderfull gracious hosts, who even offered to grill two immense pork chops for me and offered birthday cakes from their son’s party.

One of the highlights of this trip was a day visit to Krka Falls.  The word magnificent is not sufficient to describe the incredible beauty of these numerous exquisite waterfalls.  They were so numerous, I stopped counting!

We hiked more than two kilometres over bridges crossing rusting waters and frothing white foamed waterfalls, and alongside some huge and other smaller ones.   All of this from the Krka River and its nearby mountain source.

The immense energy I felt permeated the entire place due to all of the oxygenated water releasing vast amounts into the air.  I could feel the tingling on my palms just holding up my hands like a shaman.

It was exhilarating to be there not only for the supreme beauty but for the elation I felt being energised by these crystal clear waters.  Totally breathtaking and certainly one of the wonders of the entire planet!

In front of the major multiple falls, there was a cordoned off place for swimming.   Since there wasn’t any beach, it was a challenge to get down into the clear waters from surrounding rocks.

I followed the path of a little stream slowly immersing myself in the rustling cold water being very careful to avoid stumbling on the very large pebbles in my way while keeping my balance.  Once out in the pool, the surrounding current was fairly strong in some places, so I wedged myself within some rocks to keep from weaving back and forth.

The photos taken are somewhat dimmed in colour by a plastic case covering the iphone that I use when in the water.  It keeps the phone perfectly dry in immersion and is very practical as long as you don’t foolishly take the necklace like holder off your neck and drop it as I did at the spa baths in Switzerland and had to retrieve it from the bottom!

Trogir has a magnificently preserved fortress said to have been used in the popular series Games of Thrones, which I have never seen.

This tiny courtyard was filled to the brim with plants, reminding me of my own overcrowded balcony in Paris.

Trogir is fairly small and easy to walk around.  This cute little bunny rabbit was also taking a stroll to take in the sights!

Costumes guards and medieval damsels can be seen to add to the ancient scenery of the city.

The waters along the coast of Croatia are crystal clear, drawing scuba and snorkelling enthusiasts from all over the world!  Though most of the beaches are pebbly requiring either sea shoes or toughen bare feet, there are some sand beaches here and there.

The reasons Croatian beaches are mostly pebbles is because the country’s coastline is dotted with over 1200 islands which creates a barrier against strong currents and waves breaking up pebbles into sand.

Swimming in June was still somewhat chilly, at least for me, though Nenad said his kids had no problem.   By the end of July and August, it would be great.

I wanted to have another opportunity to make a scuba dive, and take advantage of Croatia being a solicited site to do so. The first and last time was in Aruba in the Carribean.

The young divers at Blue Nautica went over the basics for beginners and were very reassuring in general.  I felt in shape to do the dive as have been doing weight training and cardio for several months, in addition to all my walking.

I liked the fact that we would be seeing an underwater museum and even more specifically was the Stations of the Cross, that Catholics do in processions on Good Friday.

The boat trip out to the small island was beautiful before we were left to relax on the beach before being suited up with wetsuits for the dive.

I did feel a little anxious but also felt I would be well watched over.  After tugging to get the wet suit on, sitting in the waves to wet the interior of the suit, I was ready, feeling the hardest part was over.

I learned to walk backwards with the flippers on and then the guys attached the tank and harness to my chest.  A weight belt went on last, tied too tight for my comfort but said to become “looser” under water.

Last minute practice with the regulator, pressure buttons to rise or descend, hand signals and mask and off we went plunging into the deep with my buddy instructor hovering above me thank goodness.

As I started to swim amongst the willowing seagrass I felt so relaxed and started to praise God for giving the chance to dive again, busy admiring the surrounding sea bottom.

I soon started feeling water creeping into my mask.  Retrospectively I don’t remember that we practised dealing with this.  Unfortunately, I started to feel increasingly anxious and communicated that to my buddy instructor.

As we surfaced I was rather panicky and like my panic patients often describe felt short of breath.  Though my instructor was reassuringly comforting, I felt it best not to go back to the dive, taking in account my age and that perhaps I needed more practice with dealing with water in my mask.

I tried not to feel like a failure as I had at least made it down for a while.  I focused on what I had accomplished again and felt proud that I had the courage to attempt scuba diving once more!

Aimée, who had never dived before fared better than me and was able to complete the dive except for coming up with scraped hands.  She was so enthralled with a submerged Jesus statue that she ended up with several cut fingers from adhering molluscs!

On the boat ride back to Trogir, we both felt triumphant and celebrated our dives with some delicious Posip at a harbour wine bar, our favourite white wine of Croatia.

Our last day we launched on octopus salad on the harbour front of Trogir, aware that returning to Paris we would be engulfed with a severe heat wave.

Before we boarded for the flight back, we picked up some fig cakes and of course some cherry liquor at duty-free. A strong tailwind had us back in Paris in a shorter time than it took getting to Croatia.

Soon as we exited the plane the air felt like a furnace in our face. Not surprisingly it took more time getting home in late afternoon traffic that flying back!

I love Paris but when it is this hot and without an airconditioned apartment, it gets downright difficult to sleep!  Croatia was “cool” in comparison and I found myself missing the comfort of our air-conditioned apartment and lovely sea breezes.

Finally, the temps started to go down yesterday!  Vive la vie Parisien!

P.S.  My culinary adventure in Croatia will be published next week, as combining them both resulted in a post way too long!