Last Days In Croatia: Back In Split

For the last time until we start the journey home, we don the backpacks and trudge through the streets, this time in the half light just before dawn. Korcula rubs its eyes and awakens, swifts and swallows start to swoop and call, the Adriatic is as calm as a lake as our catamaran pulls away from the quayside.

Korcula Town looks beautiful as we wave goodbye to the islands, as alluring at dawn as it is as evening falls. Just under three hours later we are in Split ferry port, breakfasting alongside the ferries for the third time in these past five weeks.

It feels good to be back here. The Riva, so reminiscent of a French Riviera seafront, is lively and atmospheric and as attractive as we had remembered. Split feels strangely familiar, more familiar than we expect given that our first stay here was only a couple of days.

Some people dedicate their lives to the strangest of pastimes. Take taxidermist Ferenc Mere, who spent a decade of his life, from 1910 to 1920, preserving and stuffing dead frogs, which he then shaped to mimic human forms and created all manner of scenes. The result is a bizarre museum called, predictably, Froggyland, which houses displays of these frogs in poses varying from construction sites to dancing classes, sporting contests and chamber orchestras. It’s a weird and humorous place. Unfortunately we weren’t allowed photographs, so the examples below are from the internet.

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As our return to England and the onset of quarantine beckon, we take the train out to Kastel Stari, a pleasant little seaside town on a shoreline which once sported 16 fortified castles in a 12-kilometre stretch. Works are ongoing to gentrify these small towns into coastal destinations, and they appear to be making a decent job of it. We also land the cheapest beer of this entire trip, at 18 kuna for a half litre, meaning the price range has been 18 (£2.25) to 37 (£4.62) for the self same beer in similar bars. That’s some price range.

As you wander around this country admiring its ancient and natural beauty, it’s hard to imagine the brutal warfare which took place here less than 30 years ago as Yugoslavia disintegrated. Yet for many here the scars must still be raw. There are, of course, memorials commemorating both the dead and those seen as heroes. Kastel Stari is home to this startling mural depicting those atrocities, which culminates in a series of gravestones bearing the Croatia flag. It is extremely evocative:-

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It’s become humid by afternoon, and thunder rolls around for many hours until breaking into a huge storm in late evening, providing a fabulous lightning display to accompany our delicious Dingac wine.

For the final full day of this splendid 5-week adventure we take a lunchtime boat from Split to the ancient town of Trogir, where we complete what we could call a clean sweep, in that every single place we’ve been to has been fabulous. Trogir, first settled by the Greeks in the 4th century, is a startling collection of seriously well preserved ancient buildings, including castles, a cathedral and palaces. It’s possibly the best preserved of the ancient cities we’ve seen throughout Croatia, and that’s really saying something.

To cap it all, the compact centre, being the original town of Trogir, is actually on a tiny island separated from the mainland by a narrow sea canal, making it all completely charming. Quaint bridges connect the old town to the newer part on the mainland, and to the island of Ciovo on the other side.

And so our five week tour of this wonderful country comes to a close with one last terrific fish dinner (probably an even better gregada than before) and one last bottle of delicious wine. There’s one last pint of draught Pan beer en route to Split airport and our time is done.

Croatia has been an absolute revelation and we have loved everywhere, seriously. Rarely do you visit quite so many delightful places on a single trip to a single country; yet ironically, if it hadn’t been for COVID and those travel corridors, we wouldn’t even have been here this year.

And that’s the thought we will carry with us into our 14-day quarantine.