We leave Dubrovnik early for Sibenik as we plan on making a few stops.

Our first stop is in the town of Ston. What a great decision!

We are amazed with the wall complex built in 1313 to protect their salt factory. We are told that at the time 1 kg of salt was worth the same as 1kg of gold!! We visit the small factory and see the ingenuity to harvest that salt with the same process as years gone by. Very little automation. They use evaporation….It can be harvested 3 times a year and takes 10 days each time.

We hike the walls surrounding the city but will not have time to walk the more than one hour to the next town. The walls are very narrow and steep! What a feat!! Hard to believe their are holding a marathon tomorrow on the walls. Yikes!

We have a meal at Bakus on the recommandation of our host in Dubrovnik. The town of Ston is renowned for its crustaceans fishing.

A beautiful meal of oysters, marinated anchovies and salted sardines. Chuck finally gets his sardines!! All fresh, local and very good. We get a starter of fish pate. Love it!

Great view of the bay and all the traps for mussels, oysters etc..

The walls from the road leaving the area.

Our next planned stop was the town of Split but after driving to the main area of the city along the beach and seeing the invasion of cruise boats, tourists and commercialism, we decide to not even stop and keep driving. What a difference from Ston!

We arrive at our Hotel Bellevue, very well located on the water besides the old town and after dropping our bags, go for a walk in the old town to check it out a bit before our reservation at the 1 Michelin star restaurant Pelligrini.

Located right besides the Basicilica in the old town, the service at that restaurant is absolutely next level. Waiters coordinate depositing your dishes so that everyone at the table gets it at the same time! The sommelier is very friendly and knowledgeable and our waiter tells us a bit about the history of the restaurant and the town.

This restaurant was opened, is owned and operated by the chef and is only opened for 11 years. Most of the staff are in their 20s.

Flavours are well matched and the food is inventive but what will stay with us is the number of personnel on the floor constantly looking after their guests and their attention to details. Whenever a guest goes to the washroom, one of the staff will come re-fold the napkin on the table, one of them even using only a spoon!

The next day we decide to forgo the boat ride and drive ourselves to Krka which is very close. We first go to the main area nearest the bottom of the national park and again are overwhelmed by the number of buses and tourists. Although the falls are beautiful, The 2 km trail to see the main waterfalls is packed and we move at a very slow pace.

After a chat with one of the staff at the information desk, we decide to get in our car and drive the 45 minutes in the hills to the top of the park where the biggest waterfall are as well as some archeological site of Roman ruins.

We arrive to nearly no-one there and follow the signs to where Emperor Frantz Joseph and his wife Elizabeth had come to see the falls.

Upon continuing down we come to a belvédère where we have a great view of the falls.

We noticed some other trails further to the left and decide to go explore.

The trail is exceptionally steep and made entirely of gravel which can be slippery. But we continue on. Thoughts of having to climb it back start creeping in!!

We arrive at the end where the path simply stops at a cliff with a view to the side of the fall.

We begin the climb back at a good pace. Our hiking legs are now kicking in but we are completely out of breath at the top and have to sit for a moment! The heat of more than 30C does not help!

We then drive the very short distance to Burnum and the site of the recently discovered 1st century Roman legion training centre and barracks. It was built under emperor Augusta to quell a coup by one of his general.

Back home exhausted, sweaty and just in time for our 2 hours guided walking tour of Sibenik.

We meet Dario at the fortress of Baronne way above the city, driven there by our friendly driver ( thank god)…his knowledge of the area is spectacular as is the view from there. We have a particularly privileged view of the St-John castle that is currently under re-construction. Both of the castles were built in the 16th century under the Venetian regime to prepare for the ottoman attacks.

We can also see the whole city, the coast as well as the third castle, St-Michael which was the first one built.

That is where the king of Croatia wrote from in 1066 confirming the existence of Sibenik back to that year.

We are then driven back to the centre of city for a hugely informative walk around the city, Dario pointing out some of the 27 churches of the cities and their different architectural type.

We begin with the fortress of St-Michael where Brian Ferry just held an outdoor concert, and where some of the outdoor walls were used for the Games of Throne background scenes.

Again the view to the river Krka is beautiful. It is the river that separate Croatia in 2.

We see the bridge where the Serbs located their tanks to bomb the city in the 90s war.

We are treated to a visit to the Basilica of St-James where we are told it was the first time the “montage” technique was used to built the coupole, similar to LEGO, the structure is assembled ahead of time and then numbered to be re-assembled up at the top. It took 150 years to build this basilica using men and horse power to hoist stones weighing several tonnes.

We get behind the scene views because our guide’s wife is the conductor of the choir here.

The stairs to upstairs are built to enable the light to filter down below.

First time ordinary people were depicted in a basilica.

We finish with the monastery where one of the 3 most important libraries is located, holding some of the most ancient books of Croatia’s history as well as the only functioning organ built in the 1700s.

Along the way, Dario points out how much the medieval people loved their cats and dogs, building into their walls drinking receptacles. 😀

As well as a medieval water cistern used to hold 27,000 litres that is now turned into a cafe-bar. Interestingly, the restaurant we went to last night is built on its roof!

We finish a perfect day where my Iphone health app tells me we climbed 67 floors, with the town’s specialty: mussels. We learned also today that mussels love a mixture of fresh and salt water which they find in the mouth of the Krka river in the bay of Sibenik!!

Time for bed!!