Diocletian's Palace in Split (Dioklecijanova palača)
A quick look at the resplendent view of the palace from the hills surrounding the city will quickly establish why practically any emperor would be more than happy to locate his palace at the site that Diocletian chose for his retirement home. Construction began in 293 and was completed in ten years and utilized a variety of materials from all around the region, including white stone shipped from the island of Brač to sphinxes transported all the way from Egypt. Diocletian's palace has become the quintessential 'living museum,' as modern shops and citizens live and work inside the walls of the ancient palace complex.

The part of the palace known as "the basement" was built during the reign of Diocletian to support the apartments placed above it and, until 1956, was unexplored and cluttered up with the detritus of thousands of years of history. Now, it's been cleaned and opened for visitors. Because it mirrors the floor plan of the original imperial living quarters, a visit to the basement can help visitors envision the layout of the palace. And, because exploring the depths of ancient palaces is difficult work, the steps leading up and out of the northern end of the basement to the Peristyle can be a perfect escape. At one time the central courtyard of the palace, the Peristyle is now one of the central meeting points in town, with people leisurely sipping coffee, surrounded by an array of ancient architectural structures.

The Basilica of Euphrasius in Poreč (Eufrazijeva bazilika u Poreču)

The Old City of Dubrovnik (Stari grad Dubrovnik)
Almost two kilometers in length, Dubrovnik’s city walls are among the best preserved and most attractive on this planet, and a walk along them is an absolute must. The defenses were built between the 8th and the 16th century. The fact that on the land side they are almost 6m thick in places shows their primary purpose as defence against attack from the mountainous hinterland – the Ottoman Empire, for example, lay just a few kilometers inland. The walls were strengthened by myriad towers and bastions, and were never breached – the Republic of Dubrovnik only fell after Napoleon’s armies were invited in on condition that they would respect its independence. Two further fortresses, Revelin to the east and Lovrijenac, on a headland just west of the Old Town, provided additional strategic defence. Revelin is a venue for concerts during the Dubrovnik Summer Festival. Lovrijenac is one of the most atmospheric venues of the festival, with traditional performances of Hamlet taking place under the stars. Your ticket to the city walls includes entrance to Lovrijenac, and it's well worth visiting. It was for some time used as a prison, and is surrounded by delightful parkland with some of the best views of the city, a great picnic spot. The Minčeta fort, just north of the Pile gate, with its stylized battlements, is one of the symbols of the city, and St John’s fortress houses the Maritime Museum and Aquarium. Apart from the fortresses, each of which has its own story and character, the Pile and Ploče gates are also masterpieces. From these gates, you now access the Old Town over stone bridges ending in drawbridges spanning the moat, now filled with park benches and orange trees. Above the gates you’ll see reliefs of St Blaise, protector of the city.

The Plitvice Lakes (Plitvička jezera)
A sultry oppression sat over the fields and mountains for months. People and animals, meadows and gardens yearned for refreshing, gentle rain. The Crna Rijeka river, ordinarily a cheerfully babbling stream, dried up. The people's prayers and pleading were all in vain the skies showed no mercy on them. But then the Black Queen with her glittering entourage appeared in the valley. The people cried for help, asking for water, without which they would all perish. And the Queen took pity on them: with great thunder and lighting, heavy rain began to fall in an instant, bringing life to the people and animals, fields and meadows. The rain poured and poured, and the waters began to grow, until they formed the lakes as we see them today."

Thus reads just one of the many legends that surrounds the forming of this series of sixteen lakes that step down hill, connecting to each other by waterfalls. Plitvice really is the most unique natural sight in the country, having been formed, so an alternative and more coldly scientific theory reasons, by triffids! Well, not actually triffids if truth be told; the lakes are in fact formed by lumps of moss, but how else does one think of pleasure pool building plants?

In 1910, a student of the region wrote that the lakes are ‘… rather out of the way, remote from the lively and modern thoroughfares, out in the Croatian karst, some 9 – 10 hours by coach or nine–sitter public omnibus, with a change of horse's at Jasenica’. Well you may not be depending on that type of horsepower to get here, but apart from that, should you trek down here in the summer then the experience is going to feel fairly similar – because Plitvice is now on the main thoroughfare from the north to the middle and southern parts of the coast, and believe us, this small road gets busy!

However, rest assured, the park is well worth the potentially nightmare journey. Let’s get the technical bit out of the way shall we? It is entirely true that the lakes are built by plants. The warm, aerated water of the streams that permeate the park are ideal to promote the growth of mosses. The mosses sit in the water and catch in their roots the dissolved limestone that the rough water sweeps down. This material is then called travertine. Over time this limestone hoard builds, new mosses jump on the top and round it all goes again. Leave to stew for a few thousand years and hey presto, you have yourself a series of lakes consisting of waters trapped by the limestone barriers that the mosses have built.


Further than this, these mosses, perfectionists that they are, are not satisfied with their creation and continue to feverishly construct new barriers. Measurements of the depth of the water taken in 1855 were 3m lower that those recorded in 1958. These glistening blue and green lakes are linked by waterfalls as the water tumbles onwards down the staircase that the barriers create, the tumult ending 135m below the point at which it started, as the waters leave the final lake in the series and plunge in one last 72m dive to join numerous cascades racing to fuse with the Korana River.

Around the lakes stands dense forest with the occasional glade – mostly the result of human engineering for the sake of livestock. Many paths lead through the park and around the lakes providing you with a superb playground to wander about in, feeling insignificant in comparison to the majesty of nature; the power of the waters; the vigour of the forest; the achievements of moss.

The Šibenik Cathedral (Katedrala u Šibeniku)
Trogir Old Town (Gradska jezgra Trogira)
The Stari Grad plain