In Croatia, although small, there are hundreds of really cool spots that I still have to visit. One, visited recently, easily makes the top 10 list of the strangest and coolest places I have seen in a while! It is nothing particularly exceptional, it is not something breathtakingly beautiful but it is just a very cool and unusual place. It is a mysterious exhibition in an abandoned military tunnel on the island of Šolta.

I have stumbled upon the information on one local forum and ever since wanted to visit personally. It took me several months to finally find time to go to Šolta and once there, we drove to the small inlet on the western side of the island where the remains of a former Yugoslav military base can still be seen.

One can also see where former canons were placed. Now gone, I am not sure if they were taken down by our military after the war or by the scrap metal collectors operating (devastating) numerous places on the coast.

Military tunnels are no mystery to me as we have visited several over the years and one this past summer on Vis Island: https://atomic-temporary-6581387.wpcomstaging.com/2014/11/29/military-tunnels-of-vis-island/

But this one is different. Completely!

Instead of holding the remains of former army life, traces of the times that passed by, this particular tunnel on Šolta someone turned into a gallery….

Someone has made large prints of photos of famous people from the mid 20th century and placed them on the walls of several rooms inside the tunnels.

There are also some giant fuzzy spiders hanging from the ceilings!

The main “gallery room” is the most impressive although I could not recognize several faces…

And there is also a guest in one of the rooms that could not find his way out 🙂

I could not find any details on this tunnel. No details who created this, what is the message behind this “installation”… Maybe to remind us of that crazy part of the 20th century (60s and 70s) when these tunnels were built?

But the place is just great and well worth visiting! And preserving the exhibition as is! Please note that abandoned military tunnels are not 100% safe so do not visit unless with a local.

There is one exit to a small cove. Although there is plenty of air in the tunnels, fresh sea breeze coming from this exit seemed to bring all the famous rosemary and myrtle scents of Šolta.

Visiting these tunnels was a very different experience. One does not expect something this unique and different to be found in a completely abandoned place. Just faces of once important people in tunnels long abandoned. And that eternal scented breeze of Šolta finding its way through the darkness.