Croatian Walls

Most of our time in Croatia has been spent in old, walled cities and towns.  While with Marcia and Lee, we visited the UNESCO World Heritage Sites of Dubrovnik, Split and Trogir, along with the Walls of Ston.  After they returned to North Carolina, we stayed in Hvar for four days.  No pictures of half naked men here, just alleys, squares, forts and churches.

Dubrovnik is a picture-perfect town.  Almost too perfect - Euro Disney may annex it at any moment.

Split isn't nearly as well-scrubbed as Dubrovnik, but we all found it to be slightly more interesting than Dubrovnik.  The old city was actually a palace built for Roman Emperor Diocletian in the early fourth century.  Nearby residents took up residence within the walls in the seventh century and people have been living there ever since.  As a result, the architecture in the city is very mixed and layered; Roman remnants are incorporated into Romanesque, Renaissance and Baroque styles.

Trogir is smaller than the other two cities.  Not as grand as Dubrovnik and not as varied as Split, it was still worth the trip and saved the day after our Krka disappointment.

The Walls of Ston are fortifications five and half kilometers long linking the towns of Ston and Mali Ston.  We were told by a misinformed and proud Croatian that it is the second longest wall in the world after the Great Wall of China, but it's actually the third longest in Europe.  It does kind of look like the Great Wall of China from a distance, so I won't be too hard on ol' Tomislav.

Hvar doesn't quite have the same impressive walls of the other towns, but it does have yachts.  Lots of big, expensive yachts.  Despite its being a "hot destination" (I hate that term), it's still a cool town to wander around.