From Pula we traveled down the coast to Split in Croatia. A long drive, and to save time we thought we’d go by the coastal highway J instead of driving a 100kms inland before turning south on the freeway. Though to be honest we had a hard time following the signs to the coast road as all the signs to Split (way point) always looped back to the freeway and the inland road. Finally, we came across a sign which either a fed up local or tourist had fixed the problem by spray painting over the word “Split” with the sign where it directed you back to the freeway and manually writing it on the sign that directed you to the coast road. Finally we were going the right way (yah).

As it turned out the coastal highway was not the best idea for speed but the scenery was spectacular. It snaked itself along the cliff face south with lots of slow moving traffic and multiple gear changes. We drove as far as Senj before having lunch and turning inland over coastal hills to the freeway, now only about 30kms away. The freeway is a toll road and either the Croatians don’t like to use it or its costly, as it was virtually empty. The majority of drivers were tourists (number plates in Europe carry their country of origin on them). Needless to say we made great time and arrived in Zadar in just over an hour of driving.

Zadar was nice, but it didn’t live up to the description in the Lonely Planet book, which described an amazing walled city. So we decided not to stay there, just have a look around and move on. Zadar is a mix of architectural styles, which made it sound so attractive, unfortunately there has also been a lot of modern development within the city wall now.

Its highlights were the Venetian built main gate, the Five Wells that used to supply the city with water till the 19th century, the church of St Donat and some Roman ruins. We were treated to a wedding ceremony of a different nature. The bride and groom march through the city together to the church with the entire congregation behind them playing music and singing, we assume a wedding song. It was pretty cool to watch.

Our next stop was the Krka National Park where we spent the night in a little village called Skradin, as you approach it looks like an old run down village as the first church you see is abandoned with its roof falling in. You travel a little further in and there is a beautifully kept pedestrian street with designer label shops! It was a very nice place to spend the night, with expansive boats moored at the marina, one very nice boat up from Malta (The big white one in the photos). Skradin in located within the national park and it’s from there you catch the free ferry up river to get into the entry point. The park is a series of lakes and waterfalls and it was nice to get back to nature for a little while.

Not far form Skradin is Trogir another UNSESCO listed site, a tiny island based village that you can completely walk around in 15 minutes and see all the sights but certainly worth it and better than Zadar. A little further south is the largest city in Dalmatia, Split. Most of Split is a modern resort town with numerous hotels offering all standards of accommodation. Besides the water the biggest attraction for visitors is the huge Roman Diocletian’s Palace, a little different to what we were expecting.
Diocletian Palace is one of the most impressive Roman structures in the world, the palace was a virtual city with temples, military barracks and residential areas. Its free to enter and its now just another part of the city, with the main Roman temple being converted into the Cathedral of St Domnius and the other buildings being occupied by locals as homes or shops and cafes for tourists. One piece of advice, you don’t really need to pay to enter the temple of Jupiter, as you pay your money and then step into a small room with a statue and some stone carvings, just look at the picture in the gallery and be content.

It takes maybe an hour to have a look around the palace and cover the tourist sites so unless your staying for the beach related activities there isn’t much more to see.