I enjoy ruins, ghost towns, abandoned places and everything historic. Imagine my excitement when I first entered Nakovana! Last Saturday I was visiting my new friends in Trpanj (Raguz family) and they took me to a very special place that does not get that many visitors: abandoned village of Nakovana deep in the hillside of…
Tag: History
Archaeology tour of North Dalmatia
North Dalmatia offers a wealth of truly spectacular archaeological sites mostly unknown to the general public. From the immense riches of thousands of years of continuous living on Bribirska glavica hill, to mysterious rock on top of Ostrovica and all the way to Vrana, in less than 50 km! Without even mentioning at least 5…
Spring of Zrmanja river
… continuing from previous post on Una River spring So after the picnic, we continued down the Gračac – Knin road to the village of Zrmanja Vrelo clearly indicating that spring of Zrmanja river is nearby. Since my “obsession” with visiting all the springs – and tasting water at the very spring – of all…
Best Restaurants of Croatia – Šopot
Looong overdue, here comes a post on one of the greatest places serving traditional food. “Šopot” restaurant, located in Šopot near Benkovac is one of the best traditional restaurants in the region. Well worth you turning right when coming off the highway and heading towards Biograd. It is easy to reach and your only worry…
Hiking to the bottom of Blue Lake of Imotski
The Blue Lake (Modro jezero) has been dry for over three months now and no one even remembers when was the last time the drought was so serious… I had a post on Modro jezero a while back so I won’t go into too many details. Just a few basics: – the depth of the…
Christmas in Dalmatia
As the sun was slowly falling behind Pasman Island, on a day before the Christmas Eve, I took my son and went squid fishing. The evening was beautiful and scents of cold December night were already upon us. The seascape of my childhood and my ancestors, had that ghostly, unreal appearance. The sea was calm…
Winter hiking in Dalmatia – (archaeology hike)
Sunny winter days are great for getting outside and enjoying nature and various historic sites. Basically, I am not interested in beautiful nature if there are no ruins. I love all sorts of historic sites and, luckily, there are more than plenty of them around where I live and many of them that I am…
Euphrasian basilica in Poreč, Istria
It has been a while since I first visited Euphrasian Basilica in Porec – back in 1987 while we took a field trip to Istria. Located in lovely Porec town, it is one of the most exceptional monuments for early Christian architecture and art in Europe and listed with UNESCO as a World Heritage Site….
Dubrovnik Cable Car
Dubrovnik Cable Car (or aerial tram) is the latest attraction in Dubrovnik and is already a must do. Dubrovnik did have an older cable car in operation since 1969 but the facilities have been destroyed in the recent war in early 1990s. Completely restored, the operation started again in 2010. So, on our last visit to…
Novigrad in Dalmatia
There are places that keep you returning to and you can hardly ever guess what the reason is. Novigrad, on the shores of Novigrad sea is one of those places. Is it for the iconic view from the road above it? Maybe the maze of narrow streets and old traditional houses or the history of…
Sacred places of Illyria
Illyria is probably not the best name for the region that is still so mysterious as we struggle in getting answers to even the basic quastions about the ancient inhabitants that lived here. It encompasses Dalmatia and it’s hinterland including Hercegovina in modern day Bosnia and Hercegovina as this region shared a lot of history…
Fresco painting in Istria
I still have some nice stories from Istria to share… One of them is the story of wonderful fresco painting workshops in charming Roč town. Thanks to my Istrian partner Zdenka, of Istriana Travel, we are adding this great program to our list of private tours in Croatia. And we had to check it in…
Triple barrel cannon by Leonardo Da Vinci. In Benkovac?
I love when I find or just hear about something quite rare. Although it will be in the news soon – as the exhibition on Klicevica opens tomorrow – this is a fairly first report on this interesting triple barrel cannon. I first heard about this canon few months back while hanging out with my…
Murter Shipyard
The wooden shipbuilding tradition on Croatian shores started probably with first humans coming here. Eventually, the Illyrians became so skillful in both shipbuilding and sailing that their liburna ships were adopted by the Romans after they conquered this side of the Adriatic. But, times are changing and ship building too. From the glorious liburnas to…
Grbac sparkling wine
Istria does not stop to surprise! Thanky to my friend, business partner and guide – Zdenka of Istriana Travel – I visited one of the most interesting traditional wine cellars in the country. Not only it is traditional but it is a wine cellar that produces only sparking wine using only the traditional method. The…