Dalmatian Hinterland

This was the first of my two automobile adventures in Croatia.  I was looking forward to escaping the tourism that abounded in Spilt in attempt to enjoy the "real" Croatia.  I intended to visit a few important sites near Split, including the island town of Trogir, the interior of Dalmatia and the ruins of the Roman town Salona.  Renting a car was the best way to accomplish this exploration.

On the map below, click on the city's name to proceed to the information about it.  Click the small thumbnail picture to return to this map.

Map courtesy of Michelin's website

During my Friday adventures in Split, I found the local Hertz office in town.  I requested that the office change my pickup location from the airport to the in-town office.  The change would save me a trip to the airport, to which the bus schedules were inconvenient, or a taxi ride.  They were more than happy to oblige and even promised to upgrade me to a better car.

(Well) So, I got up about 08.30 on Saturday morning and headed to the Hertz office.  I had been upgraded to a four-door white Fiat Punto.  The agent explained to me that the primary advantage of the upgrade was the car's air conditioning.  In retrospect, I agree with and thank her for the upgrade, as I found the air conditioning very handy.  She explained the contract, steep at 18¢ per kilometer (~29¢ per mile) and the car's features.  After reacquainting myself with stick-shift, I was on my way.

Probably the most difficult part of the drive was getting out of Split.  Fortunately, I had walked some of the route the previous day, so at least I knew how to reach the main road exiting Split.  From there, the route to the autoroute was signposted very well; in fact, I was impressed at how well the roads were marked.  Far from being an autoroute, though, the road passed through small towns and winded along steep mountain sides.  The post speed limit never ventured above 80 kilometers per hour, but, when possible, drivers rarely obeyed it.

Upon leaving Split, I headed west along the coast.  The first several towns are named Kaštel-something, indicated that there was a protective castle or fortress in the town.  Split's airport, in fact, is located in one of these towns - Kaštel Stari.  From the road, I could not see any of these castles; they must be along the coast.

The first major stop was Trogir.  There is so much information that I have included its information on a separate page.  

The next stop, an unexpected one, was in the small fishing village of Marina.  From the road, I saw a tower in the harbor that looked very interesting.  The five-story square tower had the Venetian lion on it, which I would discover had been placed on anything built along the Dalmatian coast between the 15^th c. CE and 18^th c. CE.  The tower was built in the late 15th c. CE by the bishops of Trogir to protect the natural inlet that was important to merchant shipping.  It was repaired during the 17^th c. CE Candian War and again in 1971.  The building is now the Hotel Kaštil, with a small restaurant on the first floor.  It seems linke a great place to wallow lazily an afternoon. 

The next stop was Primošten, which appeared to be a beautiful little town on approach from the autoroute.  Like Trogir, it is an island town, by this one was built much later than its southeastern neighbor.  Parking is available on the outskirts of the town, about 1 kilometer from its entrance.  There were a few street vendors at the town gate, but not enough to cause a crowd like in Trogir.  The crowning jewel is the Crkva Sveti Juraj, a 15^th c. CE church at the top of the town's hill.  The church was locked, so I wasn't able to look inside the building.  But it has a beautiful courtyard that overlooks the bay that surrounds the town.  There are graves along the courtyard's border; the most prominent is that of Msgr Jošip Arnerić, who was bishop of Šibenik from 1961 to 1986.  I walked back through the city, which was quiet on this hot early Saturday afternoon.  On the southern edge of the island are a number of cafés with great views of the marina.  I decided to have lunch here, which consisted of a margharita pizza and two bitter lemon drinks.

After lunch, it was back to the Punto and northward to Šibenik.  There was really nothing exciting on the drive - it was more two-lane road along the coast.  I arrived in Šibenik and made my way to the water front.  I found a parking spot on Obala hrvatske mornarice, which cost HRK 4 an hour.  Unlike the US where there are parking meters at every spot, thee was a central box where you pay and receive a ticket.  The ticket then must be placed in the front windshield of the car.

Šibenik first was mentioned in 1066 when its fortress Tvrđava svete Ana, housed King Petar Krešimir IV.  The Venetians controlled the town between 1116 and 1124 and again between 1125 and 1133.  Thirty-four years later, Austro-Hungarian kin Stephen IV chartered the town.  In 1412, the town, along with the rest of Dalmatia, was bought by Venice, which ruled until its fall in 1797.  Šibenik then was absorbed into the Austro-Hungarian empire until it collapsed in 1918.  The town was occupied by the Italians at the end of World War I, but was returned to the Kingdom of Serbia, Croatia and Slovenia in 1920 through the Treaty of Rapallo.

Like most Dalmatian towns, Šibenik is a collection of narrow streets and medieval homes under an imposing Venetian fortress.  The waterfront is quiet with very little activity.  Šibenik is a sleepy hamlet that time seems to have passed.  There are only a couple of sites worth visiting here:

• On Trg Nikole Tommasea is the church dedicated to the same man - Svetog Nikole Taurlića.  There is a fresco above the main portal that is barely noticeable.  In the courtyard behind the church is a statue dedicated to the Croatian king Petar Krešimir IV, who not only unified the Croatian people but also founded the city.  A picture of this modern-looking statue is shown above.
  
• The second, and probably most impressive, site is the Kathedrala Sveti Jakova.  Constructed in the 15^th c CE of marble from the islands of Brač, Korčula and Rab, it is the world's largest church built entirely of stone - meaning no wood supports.  On the apses are seventy-one sculptures of ordinary citizens; they are worth a look.  The church enforces its strict "no-shorts" dress code, so I was not able to enter the building.
  
• I did not see the third site, the aforementioned fortress - Tvrđava svete Ana.  It was constructed in the 15^th c. CE by the Venetians to protect the town from Turkish invasions.  I could not find the path to hike up the hill.  Quite honestly, through, I was so hot that I didn't feel like climbing another hill.

After a short time is Šibenik, it was time to take the Fiat Punto into the Dalmatinska Zagora, the Dalmatian hinterland.  I followed Route 33, which passes through Drniš and Knin.  This area is highly agricultural, with plenty of fields for grazing.  I didn't see many planted crops, probably because of the poor quality of the soil.  In addition, land mines still exist in the fields - a remnant of the recent war.  I stopped just outside of Drniš to take a picture of the town's hilltop castle.  A passing tow truck thought I was having car troubles and slowed to a stop about fifty meters from my vantage point.  Once I got into the car and started the engine, he departed.  it's nice to see that there is some common courtesy remaining in this country.

As I drove further inland, the conditions of the buildings near the road deteriorated.  I'm not sure if this is a consequence of bombings during the recent civil war or if abandonment had taken its toll.  In this region, many Bosnians were removed forcibly to the neighboring country, while the same fate fell upon Croats living in Bosnia-Herzegovina.  A number of the homes did not have roofs - the red tile had fallen while the wood supports still stood.  It was a chilling sight and a poignant reminder that this region had been engaged in a civil war just eight years earlier.

Knin was the furthest inland that I would travel on this road trip.  The town was first mentioned in the 10^th c. CE under the name of Tenen.  During the early years of the Croatian kingdom, it was home to a number of rulers.  It came under Turkish rule, then passed to the Venetian Republic in 1688, which held it until the Republic's fall 109 years later.  Most recently, it was the center of the Republic of the Serbian Krajina and witnessed a number of important battles during the five-year Croatian independence movement (1990 to 1995).  The fortress that looms over the town originated in the 10^th c. CE, but the current structure dates from the 18^th c. CE.  The fortress appears to be an army base, as there were plenty of army personnel roaming around the city.  The city seemed depressed, with a number of stores closed and boarded up.  The only open, and thriving, businesses were the few cafés that lined the city's streets.

From Knin, I headed southeast on E-71 in the direction on Sinj.  It was a beautiful late-afternoon drive, with the mountains on both sides of the road.  About halfway through the section of the journey, I came upon the southern south of Peručko jezero, a long, narrow mountain lake.  The road was removed from the lake, so I could only see it from the distance.  With the mountains and the nearby lust forestation, it was an outstanding view.  

At Sinj, I headed south to Klis, where the road separates into two routes.  There is a new autoroute that leads into Split; this is the least scenic of the two options.  The second possibility takes drivers to old Klis, which has a fortress guarding the strategically important mountain pass.

This older route then leads drivers to the Roman ruins at Salona, which now is known as Solin.  I have included information on this site on a different page.

After visiting Salona, I ventured back into Split.  I had worried about parking the car, as the hotel did not offer complementary parking and I wasn't sure where the city's "free" parking was located.  I parked about two kilometers from the hotel on the main road leading out of town.  I assumed that this would be a safe bet; I was correct, as the car was in the same location the next morning.

Back to Croatia Main Page

Email comments to the site's creator