Footnotes from Croatia

Split, Croatia

Mid-November didn’t seem like a propitious time to visit a country on the Adriatic known for its many islands. Elsewhere in central Europe—including Geneva where I was living at the time—the weather was predictably bone-chilling and gloomy. But with a work-related conference as catalyst for the trip, I hopped on a plane with my husband bound for Split.

Croatia is a relatively young country that gained its independence in the early 1990s after the break-up of the former Yugoslavia. It’s situated on the Dalmatian Coast and has jagged mountains and rolling hills dotted with small farms.

It also has 1,300 islands that draw visitors from all over Europe. The coast isn’t as built up as France’s Cote d'Azur, and the islands are close to shore and easy to reach.

Diocletian’s Palace

Split is a small city that grew up around the walls of Diocletian's Palace. While touring the Palace’s inner chambers, I crept through catacomb-like chambers with high ceilings and damp floors that felt more like a prison than a palace.

Known for killing the most Christians in the early days of Christianity, Diocletian had been Roman Emperor in the 3rd century before he retired to Split. Constantine became emperor after him, and when he converted to Christianity, he made it the official religion of the Roman Empire.

Sculpture Garden, Split

With my Swiss friend Vero, I explored the winding streets of Split and walked the length of the port to a grassy peninsula where an artist had built his home and workshop.

The sculptor, a student of Rodin named Ivan Mestrovic, had emigrated to the U.S. after WWII and spent the rest of his life in South Bend, Indiana. His house was on a grassy bluff overlooking the sea, and it had become a museum to show-case his huge marble sculptures.

In the Olive Grove

Local Olive Grove

Vero asked me to pick olives with her one day since it was the height of the season and we were surrounded by olive groves. Our hotel concierge arranged for us to go to a local family's grove, where we used a small hand rake (about 5 inches wide) to pull the olives off the branches and let them drop into a mesh net spread on the ground.

After we worked for an hour, the family invited us to share a picnic lunch with the staff, which included fresh breads, cheeses, ham, and of course olives. After lunch we followed the workers who gathered the nets and poured the olives into huge bins that were to be delivered to a nearby olive mill.

We visited the mill with them and watched as the olives were dumped into vats and pressed to extract the oil. There was an oil testing station where visitors could sample the oils before buying. The owners gave big bottles to Vero and I in appreciation of our efforts and interest.

Exploring Mountains & Beaches

The next day we took advantage of bright weather and hired a guide to drive us into the mountains, to a national park that had dozens of waterfalls formed by the Krka River as it roared toward the sea. Because the park was nestled in a cleft of the mountains, water from creeks and falls poured into the river from all directions.

We hiked around a series of waterfalls and only left the park at sunset as the day was short in early November. On the drive back to Split, we stopped in an old Roman town and strolled the narrow streets inside Trogir’s ancient city walls. The quaint town—usually swarming with tourists in the summer—was empty that night.

As the sunny weather held, we hopped on a ferryboat to the big island of Brac. While businesses and galleries were closed on Sunday in the tiny main town, we could still eat in a waterfront cafe and stroll along the bay to a cemetery loaded with flowers.

The sun was so warm at 1 p.m. that I put on my swimsuit and jumped into the bay for a quick swim. Though shivering after only a few minutes, the views made the cold bearable. On the return to the mainland, we were treated to sunset views of other islands along the Croatian coast.

 November, it turned out, was a perfect month to visit Croatia and have it to ourselves, with temperatures still warm enough to enjoy the beach in front of our hotel as well as the islands and mountains nearby.