Imotski. It’s been on my list of travels for waaay too long! Few days back, we decided that it was enough. Few rainy days got to us and a sunny Saturday was simply a perfect day for a trip!
Since we stayed in Split, with wife’s family for few days, Imotski was quite close – just a bit over an hour drive from the center of Split.
So we followed the signs to the hinterland of Split and straight to Imotski.

Fortress Topana

Fortress Topana is located on the rock above the amazing Blue Lake. It is still on the highest position in town just like in it’s heyday. Imotski dates from the 9th century AD and was probably built by the Croatian duke Trpimir. The centuries that followed seemed quiet but the Turkish invasion marked the end of peace and from the year 1493. to 1717. Imotski was an important stronghold of the Ottoman rule in Dalmatia. Once the Turks left, the fortress was slowly loosing it’s importance and it was completely abandoned in the 19th century when the modern Imotski was formed.

The inside of Topana

Today, the fortress is well preserved and offers a lovely panorama of Imotski, Blue lake and the surrounding area. The town is fairly small, less than 5000 inhabitants and the curiosity is that is well known for Mercedes cars. Many of the Imoćani worked in Germany from the 60s and the sign of success, when they would visit the old country, was always a Mercedes.
The architecture of the old quarters is very traditional and typical in all Dalmatia: stone houses and narrow streets. Still quite charming!

Blue Lake

But more than anything else, Imotski is known for it’s two spectacular lakes! Modro (or blue) and Crveno (or red). Both located within the walking distance of the town, lakes are well worth the visit if you are staying in Split or even Dubrovnik! Two lakes have been formed when the underground caves collapsed and the holes filled with water. Blue lake dries out about every 10 years, and than the locals play soccer divided in two teams: “Elfs” and “Werewolves” – creatures from local folk tales.

Blue Lake is easy to reach and there is a trail all the way to the bottom. The water level is about 50 meters but back in 1914., it was recorded that the water was spilling above the southern sides of this natural basin! That means that the water level was over 150 meters! Seems that the earthquake of 1967. opened some small holes and the water level will hardly ever reach those levels…

The blue lake and it's 500+ meters high sides!

Only 1,5 Km away from the center of Imotski, up the lovely walking path, the mysterious Red Lake is located.
The water of the lake cannot be reached easily since the slopes are very steep. The lake got it’s name after the red rock of the slopes while the water is unnaturally green. The lake is famous for being a nearly 500 meter deep hole with water depth at 250 meters (and under the sea level) but several expeditions proved that the lake continues much deeper into a cave (or caves). The local legend tells a story of the creation of this amazing sight: arrogant local woman, married to a rich man called Gavan, defied God and he made their big house or Gavanovi dvori, disappear in this abyss.

The Red Lake

But there is much, much more to this wonderful area than these two spectacular lakes! I was not even aware of the beauty, the scenery, the rivers, the canyons… Imotski area is simply a gem (and I am coming back for more!) Although the best way to get back to Split is to follow the road back, we went forward from the Red Lake and drove to the lake of Prološko Blato ( a retention) which is simply stunning!

Prološko blato

All the villages in this area are very beautiful and the nature is so unspoiled with sheep and horses on pastures. The area offers probably the most spectacular walks in Croatia! We are definitely working on including them in our Tours in Croatia programs!

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Zadar, it’s numerous monuments and great spaces, was an inspiration for artists from the earliest antiquity. Just recently I have found this amazing, original woodblock engraving (print on paper) dated C 1890. This is from a publication on the Mediterranean . The print  has been hand colored in watercolorIt is in excellent clean condition on good art paper.It has a thine white card backing. It measures approx 31cm x 23 cm.

Charlie W. Wyllie - Zadar, Capital of Dalmatia, Porta di Fosse

This wonderful engraving was done by British artist Charles William Wyllie (1853-1923)
It depicts the late 19th century scene in front of the main land gates to Zadar showing merchants and sailors in this small, wonderfully protective harbor. Fosa is now very different but maybe even prettier than depicted here.

I got it on eBay for 20 USD… pretty good

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Village of Vrana, near Biograd and Zadar, is filled with amazing treasures. The area was inhabited from the earliest days of civilization since it was lying on fertile soil with numerous fresh water springs and it was close to the sea.
This area has over a dozen great fresh water springs that almost never go dry. That was realized by the Romans once they conquered Liburnia in 1st AD. Since the coastal area between Vrana/Pakoštane and Zadar is very fertile, numerous villas rusticas were build by the Roman colonizers.
The demand for fresh water supply grew and the Roman authorities decided to build an aqueduct from Vrana to 41 km away (26 miles) distant Zadar.

The small cave

The aqueduct was starting at two springs nearby the cave. Both springs: Biba and Subiba are still in use today for entire region of Biograd. Both springs, combined with the water from the cave, was more than enough to supply Zadar, ancient Jader, and, according to some experts, it was even capable of delivering 57 liters per second. Quite an achievement considering that the engineers had to get all that water up the hill and then find the best route to distant Jader. And not only that, the water was also used for many villas rusticas along the route…

Remains of Roman pipes

Even now, the stone pipes, that were later combined with led ones, can still be found under ground. Although majority of people think immediately of arches and beautiful overground aqueducts like the one in Segovia, Spain – most of the aqueducts were buried under ground or only few feet above the ground. The area around the aqueduct was also well maintained and even guarded, since these were some of the most expensive parts of the infrastructure.

Remains of the aqueduct near Sv. Filip Jakov - seen from the main road

The portion on the picture above is going through my friend’s field. Since he is an archaeologist, he is taking good care of the monument and even put a small sign marking what it is.

Several other curiosities are connected with this aqueduct: the engineers used a very different led pipe technique than ever and anywhere before. The led pipes were used to bring the water from the springs to siphons and raise it to the hill over Pakoštane. But, if the builders used that to bring the water over 5000 meters of Vrana marsh, the total weight of led used would be over 500 tons making this an extremely costly project. They probably considered making an arched aqueduct over the marshes (and that would be SPECTACULAR!) but the marsh of Vrana Lake was probably very bad place to put the columns and pillars i, since the soil was too muddy.

The entrance to cave

Recently, the cave was cleaned of ugly graffiti and the simple, yet helpful, handrail was put in place. The tourist board of Pakoštane finally came to senses that Vrana is an amazing location filled with attractions for curious travelers.
The main cave is fairly big and impressive. There is a smaller cave from which the water flows out. That, smaller cave, is also known for several species of bats but the water is quite high these days so it is impossible to get inside. The water actually flows from all sorts of places and openings and it is good to bring good boots. Not in the summer when there is hardly any water.

The cave

Romans even had a small altar for the nymphs and it was dedicated to obscure deity called Bind – Neptunus. The only other mention of that deity was found on one location in Bosnia.

There are several other interesting things in the cave as well: Borelli family grafitti from 19th and even 18th century and a plate in the memory of a 1899. visit of Hapsburg archduke “Karl Stipan”.

Vrana cave is so nice to visit with kids! Perfectly safe and quite unusual and interesting. It makes a great trip for everyone and especially if combined with rest of the attractions: Vrana castle, Maskovic Caravansary, birdwatching…

We always drink water when here!

Contact us for a private program or custom tour in this area: www.tours-in-croatia.com
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All that

The finest klapa band and one of the finest videos about Dalmatia!

Tuna fishing has a loong tradition in the Adriatic. It probably dates back to the Illyrian times and Greek colonization in the 5th century BC.
I recently purchased a lovely postcard from the early 20th century showing a traditional tunara or observation point in small town of Bakar near Rijeka.

Tunara in Bakar

Tunaras were used up to the quite recent dates and some of them are still standing. There is even an ancient tunara on the island of Pag but I still have to get there.

Tunara still standing (Wikipedia image)

Tuna fish was always one of the most important fish species in the Adriatic and the waters of our shores were always full of food for them. The Atlantic Bluefin is one of the dominant Tuna species and it is widespread in the entire Adriatic. Of course, not as much as it was before since the years of heavy fishing resulted in fish hardly reaching sizes/weight as it used to. Especially big were the fish caught near Šibenik so even it the 15th century local writer Šizgoric wrote how the fish caught in the St. Ante Channel near Šibenik were of monstrous proportions! It is even documented that the largest fish caught in the Adriatic was 850 Kg or 1873 lbs and that is nearly 400 lbs more than the one caught in 1979 and considered to be the biggest: http://www.bigmarinefish.com/photos_bluefin_tuna_pg4.html

Today, tuna is rarely fished with old methods and most of it is caught for farming. Even tuna farming is closely related to Dalmatia: the first farms were started by Croatians in Port Lincoln, Australia in the early ’90s. Later, they brought the method to their home town of Kali on Ugljan Island and that’s where the tuna farming in Croatia started.

Modern tuna fishing (Jadran Tuna image)

Tuna fishing is now spread on several locations in the Adriatic but catching tuna is not as easy as it used to be. The overfishing in the Mediterranean has nearly destroyed the population of the fish and tuna farms are taking in smaller and smaller fish which never reproduced.
Adriatic tuna is in high demand because of it’s distinct flavor but future generations my never taste this great fish.

Towing tuna fish cage (Jadran Tuna image)

Another popular form of fishing is Big Game and there is even an internationally recognized competition taking place each September/October in Jezera on Murter Island.
Quite popular due to good size fish caught here!

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Recently we stopped at Toni restaurant after hearing about great chocolate cake they serve. We decided to go for a dinner and have a bit of everything. This restaurant is famous for sea food and they take particular care in getting the best.

Toni Restaurant

We started with their famous sea food apetizers. I ordered all just to have a taste: tuna carpaccio, octopus salami, anchovies, fabulous conger eel pâté and simply amazing marinated cuttle fish!
This last one alone is worth the visit!

The apetizers

One of the tastiest things served, and is always on the menu, is their bread. Especially with these apetizers and the pâté!
We went with French wine for this occasion. 2004 Chateau Thieuley Merlot was a very good choice although I am not very fond of French wines.

For main course, we went with Toni’s personal favorite: Orada u tisno (Gilthead in tisno). Hard to explain but recipe, originating in south Dalmatia and Calabria in Italy, is a somewhat unique way of preparing fish.
The fish is cooked in a covered dish with water and tomatoes merely covering it. This ensures that all the tastes interlace in an unique blend that gives baked/cooked taste and tomato sauce, that comes with it, is simply superb!
This gilthead was almost 3 Lbs and that is plenty for two!

Gilthead seabream "u tisno"

By this time we were almost full!
Not good when you know that we just came for the desert )

And what desert!
Just recently I had few chocolate cake sin Paris but non of those fancy chocolate cakes are mach to this one!
Simply worth the visit even if you are coming from Australia!

The Perfection!

If you like chocolate, and who doesn’t, this is it! The journey is over.
In combination with chilled Kabola Muskat that we always have, this is simply a superb experience!

Restaurant Toni is located in their family home that rents rooms and apartments. It is on the main road to Murter and it is just on the curve after the bridge. Has a parking and you can even come by boat since it is right on the sea.

You can go to their web site directly or contact us for booking your experience at Culinary – Croatia

More in our Best restaurants in Croatia:
Pelegrini
Pojoda
Griblja

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Lavdara. It has been a while since I was there. Maybe 6 years now… We had a lovely trip with some friends:barbecue, beer, wine and some stretching on lovely April sun.
Since then, I was planning to get back on several occasions but simply too busy or always something else (excuses, excuses…). It is an island after all and not reachable as anything on the mainland.

Recently, the authorities of Zadar decided to replace the ancient stone blocks that cover the streets of Zadar with new, Istrian stone. The old one came from Lavdara and had a very characteristic brownish color (some sort of pale, pinkish butterscotch).

The ancient quarry on the northern shores of Lavdara (not my original image!)

Lavdara was a quarry ever since the Roman times. Their engineers figured that the stone quality was satisfactory and fairly easy to extract from the sea level. Usually, the stone that is constantly in touch with the sea water is not good but this one was ok so they carved the shores of Lavdara for over 3400 ft in length. Approached with special boats and took the stone to Zadar (Roman Jader) where it was further processed, carved, shaped for all the beautiful monuments, walls. Maybe even sculptures.
The process continued for centuries and was abandoned in full only in 1965. when the last of Kukljičani (people from Kukljica on Ugljan Island) turned to tourism or found jobs in Zadar which started recovering from WW2 devastation.

April sun...

So, it was always a pleasure to return to such a historic place. This is one of my favorite islands and there is something strange about it. Reading more and more about this unique place, I was becoming even more fascinated. What we did not know at the time of a visit, but have seen from the sea, there was once a wealthy local family living on Lavdara. Ruins of their mansion is all that is left…

Burning callories after lunch...

Now this is a great teen-horror movie scenario! Group of teens (ok, lying, we were all 25 – 30 but same in those movies), after a lovely picnic decides to explore a ruined mansion hidden deep in the island. And this place makes your imagination go wild! Not a place where I would like to hide on a stormy night!

Actually, the last inhabitants of the house: Anica, Vera and Krstina Dominis (who left in 1966) spoke of a scary sound that was appearing in the last days of October for past decades of their life there. Someone was talking about a house ghost appearing just before the All Saints and some blamed wind howling through a crack in the ground or something similar.
Since it appears only on specific time of the year, ghost sounds more likely! )))

Ruins of an old mansion

So we walked through abandoned groves and fields to reach this house. The stories connected are not scary at all.
It was once a lovely property of a rich local who moved there with his family and staff. The Zadar family of Cendolini owned the house for 270 years till it was bought by the famous local family Petricioli. Zovanin Petricioli married Ana Sifert from Rijeka but died in 1850. and gave her the island and the house. After his early death, Ana married again for a merchant Fortis of Trogir but she died in 1852. and her inheritors sold the island and the house to Dominis family from Sali and Cvitanovic from Iz who even divided the house. Both Dominis and Citanovic were shepperds. Eventually, the Cvitanovic family sold their part of Lavdara to people from Sali and left the house in 1927.

No one will look through this window again...

The house was then only inhabited by the women and children of Dominis family. They lived a fairly lonesome life on the island but they were known for laughter and smiles and were often visited by people from Sali. Their men were not constantly on the island and, if they needed help, they would start fire and signal with smoke that they had a problem (illness or simillar). So, after they left in 1966. the house was slowly deteriorating which is a pity. It is most likely from early 1600s and should be restored as one of the finest examples of traditional architecture in the area.

The inner court with some stables

Several people tried to buy it but there are so many owners and they cannot agree on anything…
Same story over and over.
The whole property is in a shape of a fort which came handy in the past since several pirate raids of the house have been recorded. The pirates knew that they had little chance entering over the walls or passing guns so they would attack in the evening when the sheep was herded back to the stables and the doors were wide open.
There are 6 rooms on the first floor and few kitchen spaces since the families were quite big at those days. The ancient furniture was still to be found…

The antique bedpost

Not only that Lavdara has a very interesting history but the geography is equally as interesting: There are two interesting caves on the island and several wells of mixed water (sea and sweet water). There is even a story of roman horse racing track on this island but that makes no sense. Or does it?

Spring on Lavdara

But story of Lavdara is always about stone. Even the name comes from LAPIDARIA which is Latin for quarry.
This is the island where the stone was quarried for Zadar from Roman days till today. From this stone the most beautiful buildings in Zadar have been built: the university, the hospital, churches…

The stone of Lavdara is now being replaced with new, from Istria. This Istrian stone is new, white…has no soul. Many people of Zadar feel like the city is now taking a big step backwards destroying some of the most picturesque streets of the ancient quarters. The excuse is that the old stone is now too slippery (true), carved too much (true) and that the city should replace it so the tourists can walk more easily.

Do we have to adjust everything to tourists or people come to Croatia to enjoy our tradition? I know my clients appreciate the authentic experience…

Secret Dalmatia Tours in Croatia

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I started writing this blog to let people know of all the riches that can be see in Croatia and to promote my web sites. But, it is becoming more of that, it is becoming a bit of a guide to all that can be seen in Croatia but also to our customs, way of life… It is also a diary of my travels and explorations. I enjoy far more visiting remote hilltops that 5 star hotels but that is part of the job.

My only goal is that people see Croatia, and especially my Dalmatia, as it really is. Not simply to rush through our major attractions and most popular destinations, but to lie down and watch the clouds on Hvar, snorkel on Kornati, sleep on the boat and listen the small fish bit the algae bellow…

Dalmatia is the “curse” of beauty, historic heritage, great food and wine… While I lived in US for 5 years while going to The New England School of Art & Design, I kept thinking about coming home smelling that figs rotting in the fields, sea water dried on a pier, drinking water from Krupa spring.

Stop for a second when here, and relax. You are in Dalmatia – the most beautiful part of the World.
Hundred posts have gone by and hundreds are to follow!

Enjoy the photo bellow that was one of the places that started this adventure with Secret Dalmatia!

Ruins of Burnum

Plitvice Lakes National Park is one of the most visited parts of Croatia. It is situated in the mountainous Lika region. These amazing 16 lakes connected with countless waterfalls, are one of the most beautiful places in Europe in general and it is no surprise that this National Park often gets voted as the most beautiful National Park in all of Europe!

Amazing colors of October!

We go to Plitvice at least once a year and try to see it on our way to Zagreb or coming back. It really does not matter what time of year you go since each season is simply spectacular!
This Fall we were going to Zagreb for a brief meeting so we stopped on Plitvice coming back. Getting to Plitvice is easy: there are signs everywhere!
National Park is open every day from 8 AM and closing time depends on the season. More information can be found on their informative web site: http://www.np-plitvicka-jezera.hr

The šark is 132 Km away from Zadar, 134 from Zagreb and about 260 Km north of Split. Using highway, for most part, is highly recommended.
Pleanty of parking places surround two main entrances and there are several restaurants in the vicinity although I would recommend stopping at picturesque Rastoke near Slunj for food!

The scenery is amazing!

The view!

The entrance ticket is about 110 Kn or 15 Euros per person and includes all passes to electric boat and the electric train.
There are numerous walking trails and wooden bridges across the lakes and waterfalls makin Plitvice superb place for hiking! Besides, the park is far bigger than the lakes area so you can even decide to hike in the forests above the lakes or even go on a horse back ride.

The caves.

The lakes

We, at Tours in Croatia offer private tours of Plitvice from almost all corners of Croatia (Zadar, Zagreb, Šibenik and Split) and the tour runs year round since all seasons are amazing in this beautiful corner of the World!

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“Mrtvi dan, skale van!” (All Saints Day, bring out the ladders!)
This old proverb is rarely used these days when fashionable “Extra Virgin Olive Oil” is taking roots even here, on the shores of Dalmatia.

Traditional olive picking would start somewhere around November 1st and lasts through the winter, sometimes even till mid January or, like in Sali on Dugi Otok, even later…

Olive tree

Olive tree is the “sacred tree” of the human kind and olive trees have been grown with special care and attention. Same applies even for picking – I still hear my uncle yelling at us, kids, when we would brake a branch while picking! The traditional process is fairly easy: bring out the ladders and big sheets of fabric or anything similar and divide into groups. Some climb the tree, some climb the ladder but most stay on the ground collecting the fruits that fall down on the fabric.
Small trees don’t need any of the equipment and those are usually picked from the ground.
Some areas in Dalmatia, keep the tree growing in width and not in height (by putting weights on the young branches) so they don’t need to climb at all making everything very easy.

Picking the olives on small tree

Olive picking is not an easy job and injuries and lost eyes are quite common!
However, being on fresh air and enjoying family, is pure fun that gets rewarded by olive oil. In the past, and even today, people would work for olive oil since that is a job that demands as many hands as possible. It was customary to give workers one or two liters of oil per day (for food and light) and they would even get some food. Since both the owners and the workers were usually quite poor, most of the day they would work with eating only dried figs.
In Murter, the owners would throw the workers figs on the ground so they would eat them as they find them not to loose time sitting down.
Now we prefer to grill some meat and fish while in the fields and that seems a better way !

Nice and ripe!

There are some 5 mil trees in Croatia now and that is still a small number. Portugal, of approximately same size has 38 mil.In the past, there were many more trees and it was even noted that Brac island alone had about 1 mil!
Most of the olive groves are in Istria and Dalmatia and the recovery started quite recently when government begun subsidizing planting of olive trees. Probably the best move they did! Everyone was planting new trees and olive oil was regaining it’s role in our cuisine. We, at home, use about 8-10 liters per person in a whole year which is way above what “regular” Croatian household spends but still quite bellow Greeks who use 26 liters per capita!!!

Olive oil on Croatian coast was regarded as one of the highest quality “in the World” even from the Roman times: see Apicium here.
The comment in this book is addressing olive oil from Liburnia and saying that Liburnia is southern Istria. That is not correct: Istria was Histria and Liburnia was the region from Histria to the banks of Krka river now in North Dalmatia.

Islanders from Pašman Island coming to their "overseas" lands

The groves pictured are in Primorje region: just between sv. Filip Jakov and Biograd. It was a huge Vila Rustica estate and farm in the Roman times so we can talk about a continuing tradition of growing olive trees here for nearly 2000 years! The olive grove belongs to my aunt’s family from Mrljane but they have too many trees ob Pašman Island so they let us pick these.
Many of the groves in this region are owned by the people from Pašman Island (town of Tkon in particular).
On this video you can see them preparing to go home after a long day in the fields:

Today a “battle rages” between the supporters of traditional and new, fashionable Extra virgin olive oil. We, who grew up on traditional olive oil, have (had) a tough time getting used to bitterness and grassy taste of extra virgin oil. Besides, it is not for cooking but mostly made for dips and salad dressing.
I have become quite fond of this modern olive oil and really enjoy all the different possibilities it offers. Just recently we enjoyed a fabulous combination of very young oil with roasted, salted almonds at Alen Bibic winery.
But, this extra virgin oil has nothing to do with Mediterranean tradition since this method was almost impossible in the old days and no one practiced it! The problem was that there were very few olive mills and the means to transport the picked fruits to the mills were quite slow. That is why olives were kept in barrels with sea water to preserve them till the producer’s turn at the mill would come. We still keep our olives in sea water and we had to wait our turn even last year! Now, 4-5 new mills opened in our region this year alone and we can all have extra virgin olive oil… if we wanted to.

The fruit of the Gods!

When you talk about the Mediterranean tradition, then only the traditionally made olive oil can be considered as the “real” one. Now the supporters of extra virgin olive oil are trying to give all sorts of evidences to prove that their oils are healthier and better but personally, I can care less. I like them both and use them both. Not because it is fashionable thing, but because I like them. I know of NUMEROUS Istrian olive oil makers who sell all their extra virgin olive oil production in Italy or Zagreb for “top Dollar” and going to Dalmatia to get the traditional one since they like it better. Fine by me!

The best thing out of all this is that new groves and trees are planted every year, people are investing in new technologies and designing various bottles/packages and more and more families can support themselves on their own land! That is very important for smaller islands and one of the best examples is Olyinthia on Šolta Island which is famous for it’s olive oils!

Click for olive oil tours in Croatia or to enjoy our gastronomy tours of Croatia.

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