day four - sibenik, krka national park and split

We approached Sibenik, Croatia in the morning, coming in to its bay-like harbour fronted with red tile-topped houses:

Our guide, Maria, met us at the tender and we began our walk around Sibenik, once a lively cultural center of Renaissance Croatia.  First documented as a town in 1066, Sibenik has been under Hungarian, Venetian, French, Austrian and Yugoslavian rule, before returning to a Croatian government after the war of the 1990's.

We knew we were in a truly foreign location when we saw this truck parked along the road, near several private sailing yachts. Having absolutely no idea what the advertising written on the side of the truck meant, I took the photo and used Google to translate it when I got home:

     cleaning and washing of facades
     hard floor surfaces
     sandblasting of stone
     washing vehicles, ships, industrial plants

We also got a good view of our ship, L'Austral, resting at anchor in the bay.  Note the prickly palm tree trunk at the right of the picture.  We saw palm trees everywhere in Croatia - another surprise.  Shortly after we got ashore, the ship's horn blew and it sailed away to Split, where we would meet it later in the afternoon.

The Cathedral of St. James (Katedrala Sv. Jakova) dominates the city center.  Badly shelled in 1991, Croatian and international experts have restored the building over several years.  The cathedral was originally built between 1432 and 1555, and includes work by Juraj Dalmatinac, who designed the 72 faces on the outside of the apse:

Mainly faces of the financial contributors to the building of the cathedral, the artist included himself more than once, taking full advantage of his artistic license.  Sometime later, the Door of Lions, featuring Adam and Eve, was designed by Bonino of Milan:

I love this shot of an avenging angel looking down on the square:

And finally, the front facade of the cathedral:

We also visited the Civic Museum and saw the Church of Saint Barbara (below) on our way to the bus:

Next was an easy bus ride to Krka National Park, established in 1985 to protect the middle and lower stretches of the River Krka. Bus traffic into the park is regulated so that vehicles move only in one direction on the narrow roads.  We were entranced with the beauty of the area, so restful and very well maintained.  While we were there, Tauck set up a wine and cheese tasting for our group and we were also told there was a large group of US Marines (in civilian clothing) visiting for the day.

Several old mill buildings have been restored:

Steve told us that when he had been at the park several weeks prior, there was practically no water rushing over the falls, but because there had been heavy rain in the past few days, the falls were roaring:

Back on the bus, we took off for Split, which is the largest Dalmatian city and the second-largest urban center in Croatia.It is considered to be nearly 1800 years old.  L'Austral was waiting for us upon our arrival and we all went on board for lunch.  We decided to take a break in the afternoon and not go on the walking tour of Ivan Mestrovic's sculpture gallery (100+ steps) and Diocletian's Palace, as our disintegrating knees were crying out in pain.  Eight plus hours of touring and walking in one day was about 3 hours too much for us.  We did see the city from  the ship, however, and also watched harbour traffic as we sat on our balcony and read books in the 75 degree weather:

We especially liked the yacht "Ari," but saw only crew members on it:

One of the downsides of traveling with an organized group is that it's difficult to schedule your own down time - you're always missing something.  But after hearing about all the walking and steps done that afternoon by our dinner companions, we knew we had made the right decision.