Split, Croatia

I've been to Croatia before on a Danube cruise, but the places we visited  (like Vukovar) had been largely  destroyed  during the Croatian war of Independence in the early  1990s.  While I was there I asked the guide what was the best place to  visit  in Croatia  if I was to  come again and surprisingly he said Split rather than Dubrovnik.  I'll  be  visiting  both on this cruise,  so we shall see.

Fascinating fact of the day. Split and  Dubrovnik are both on the Dalmatian  coast - and  yes, it is where the Dalmatian  dogs come  from. They were bred in this area thousands of years ago and  spread to the rest of the world from here. 

We were booked on the UNESCO World Heritage tour, which included  both the old town of Trogir and the historical  areas of Split.

We started in Trogir,  where we visited the 13th century Cathedral  of St Lawrence. 

The old town area is still mapped out in the original  pattern of the Roman town although the town was almost completely  destroyed by  the Saracens in the 12th century,  so most of the buildings are medieval.   We had some  free time in Trogir  so Denise and I  went and had a radler in a nice pub in one of the medieval squares.

After this, it was back to Split, where we visited  Diocletian's Palace (a very nice retirement  home for the former Roman emperor).

We also visited the  old town  area  which looked rather  Venetian.  Not surprising really  as Split was part of the Venetian  empire  at one time, with the Doge also having the  title  of Duke of  Dalmatia.

It was a long day touring the area and we didn't get back to the ship until  nearly  7pm. So it was dinner  followed by an after  dinner  drink in the piano bar  before heading  to  bed.