We were heading for the town of Trogir, which is about fifteen miles west of Split and which is the best preserved Romanesque-Gothic complex, not only in the Adriatic, but in all of Central Europe and inevitably therefore a UNESCO World heritage site.
It was mid morning when we arrived and the town was already very busy.
Posted in Beaches, Croatia, Europe, Food, History, Natural Environment, Travel, World Heritage
Tagged Dalmatia, Life, Photography, Split, Travel, Trogir, Zadar
While the current travel restrictions are in place I have no new stories to post so what I thought that I would do is to go through my picture archives and see where I was on this day at any time in the last few travelling years.
On 8th June 2009 I was in Croatia visiting the medieval town of Trogir…
Trogir is about fifteen miles north of Split and is the best preserved Romanesque-Gothic complex not only in the Adriatic, but also in all of Central Europe and inevitably therefore a UNESCO World heritage site. It was mid morning when we arrived and the town was already very busy. The old city is built on a little island, only separated from the mainland by a few yards and with access to it over a small bridge.
Click on an image to view the Gallery…
Posted in Beaches, Cathedrals, Croatia, Europe, Food, History, Literature, Postcards, Travel, World Heritage
Tagged Cathedrals, Life, Photography, Podstrana, Split, Travel, Trogir, UNESCO
After paying the entrance fees I was delighted to spot a door to a spiral staircase and a climb to the top of the bell tower. There was a large sign that stated that going to the top was at the visitors own risk and absolving the church of all responsibilities. We were about to find out why!
Posted in Cathedrals, Croatia, Europe, History, Travel, World Heritage
Tagged Life, Photography, Podstrana, Split, Travel, Trogir, UNESCO
Now that the rain had stopped we walked along the quayside as far as the old medieval castle that stands guard (or at least used to stand guard) at one end of the island. It wasn’t open so after walking around the walls we headed directly back to the centre of the town where it started to rain again. It was time for more shelter so we chose the grandest building in the town, the thirteenth century church of St. Lawrence, which is the most significant work of the Romanesque-Gothic style in Croatia.
After paying the entrance fees I was delighted to spot a door to a spiral staircase and a climb to the top of the bell tower. There was a large sign that stated that going to the top was at the visitors own risk and absolving the church of all responsibilities. We were about to find out why!
The first third of the climb was straightforward and uneventful up the sort of staircase that we have negotiated many times but then the stone staircase stopped abruptly at a first level and the next part of the climb was up a set of precarious wooden steps that had a handrail but nothing else to prevent a careless visitor falling through and ending up in a tangle of broken bones on the stone floor at the bottom of the tower.
Worse than that was the prospect of slipping and falling the other way which would have involved a fall through an open stone window and onto the court yard below with little real prospect of survival. During the fatal fall however there would have been some excellent views because the higher the steps climbed the view over the roof tops towards the sea on one side and the mountains on the other got better and better.
This was more like the Tower of Terror than the Tower of Trogir. At the top of the hazardous wooden stairs was a second level where the bells were and then some even more dangerous iron stairs to negotiate to complete the climb to the very top of the tower which involved a struggle through a small opening without any handrails at all and which opened out into the final level where there was time to enjoy the spectacular views and to contemplate and reflect on just how perilous this climb was and to worry about getting back down again.
This was even more unnerving than going up because it was now possible to see just how precarious the decrepit steps were. The iron was rusting away, the wood was decaying and holding all of this lot up was a series of concrete plinths that looked as though they were in imminent danger of collapse. Generally I like climbing towers but I wouldn’t tackle this one again in a hurry and I can confess to having been genuinely concerned and very, very pleased to get back to the bottom.
Posted in Cathedrals, Croatia, Europe, History, Travel, World Heritage
Tagged Life, Photography, Podstrana, Split, Travel, Trogir, UNESCO
Trogir, Croatia and the Tower of Terror!
The first third of the climb was straightforward and uneventful up the sort of staircase that we have negotiated many times but then the stone staircase stopped abruptly at a first level and the next part of the climb was up a set of precarious wooden steps that had a handrail but nothing else to prevent a careless visitor falling through and ending up in a tangle of broken bones on the stone floor at the bottom of the tower.
Worse than that was the prospect of slipping and falling the other way which would have involved a fall through an open stone window and onto the court yard below with little real prospect of survival. During the fatal fall however there would have been some excellent views because the higher the steps climbed the view over the roof tops towards the sea on one side and the mountains on the other got better and better.
This was more like the Tower of Terror than the Tower of Trogir. At the top of the hazardous wooden stairs was a second level where the bells were and then some even more dangerous iron stairs to negotiate to complete the climb to the very top of the tower which involved a struggle through a small opening without any handrails at all and which opened out into the final level where there was time to enjoy the spectacular views and to contemplate and reflect on just how perilous this climb was and to worry about getting back down again.
Posted in Cathedrals, Croatia, dubrovnik, Europe, History, Travel, World Heritage
Tagged Life, Photography, Podstrana, Split, Travel, Trogir, UNESCO
As usual the Easyjet flight was late taking off and also arriving so added to its statistic on late or delayed flights that Michael O’Leary delights in gloating over when he provides benchmark statistics in the Ryanair in-flight magazine each month. Easyjet are frustratingly relaxed about flight times and I think on the whole I prefer the Ryanair approach.
Continuing north with the Dinaric Alps soaring above us inland and catching the clouds as they rushed in from the sea we stopped again at Primošten, not because there was anything in particular to see there but just because we liked it there.
Posted in Croatia, Europe, History, Hotels, Travel, World Heritage
Tagged Adriatic Sea, Croatia, Diocletian's Palace, Hvar, Krka National Park, Pink Inn, Primosten, Trogir, Šibenik, Šukosan
We were heading for the town of Trogir, which is about twenty kilometres north of Split and is the best preserved Romanesque-Gothic complex not only in the Adriatic, but also in all of Central Europe and inevitably is a UNESCO World heritage site. It was mid morning when we arrived and the town was already very busy. The old city is built on a little island, only separated from the mainland by a few metres and with access to it over a small bridge. This is a popular visitor attraction and parking is inevitably at a premium and at fifteen Kuna an hour easily the most expensive of the week.
Posted in Cathedrals, Croatia, Europe, History, World Heritage
About thirty kilometres south of Šibenik the road came to the town of Primošten, which was once an island but is now connected to the mainland by a small bridge and a causeway. We stopped here for a break and walked to the top of the town to the church of St George that was surrounded by a graveyard full of spectacular monuments and headstones all lovingingly cared for and with vacant spots waiting for family members to join the already deceased. The sky was blue and the strong wind from the south made me optimistic that with all that weather coming from sort of Africa way that this was the turning point and that in the days ahead there were surely cloudless blue skies and soaring temperatures to deal with.
Posted in Cathedrals, Croatia, Europe, History, Natural Environment, Travel, World Heritage
Tagged Croatia, Diocletian's Palace, Pink Inn, Podstrana, Primosten, Split, Trogir, Šibenik
Continuing north-west with the Dinaric Alps soaring above us inland and catching a few clouds as they rushed in from the sea we stopped at the attractive little town of Primošten which occupies an especially pretty little promontory jutting out from the mainland into the sea. In the past Primošten was situated on an islet close to the mainland and was protected by walls and towers and it was connected to the mainland by a draw bridge.
Have Bag, Will Travel 