And in the blink of an eye… We’re headed home soon.
Travel logistics had us headed to Trogir next because it is the closest town to the airport and we had a very early morning flight booked in a couple of days. Fortunately, Trogir turned out to be a very charming last stop for us.
The historic part of Trogir, which is a UNESCO World Heritage Site (known as a city-museum) is located on a small island situated between the mainland and a much larger island on the other side.
Founded by Greek colonists in the 3rd century B.C. as Tragurion, Trogir has had 2,300 years of continuous occupation. As with everywhere else in this region, there is a rich and deep history there. Most of the existing town dates back to the 1100’s because quite a bit of it had to be rebuilt after an 1123 raid by the Saracens. “Saracens” was somewhat of a blanket term generally referring to Arab tribes/people from the Middle East.
We had the ambitious goal to simply walk around and look at stuff.
When the Uber driver pulled up at our hotel, I would have thought he’d taken us to the wrong place if I hadn’t already seen a picture of it. It was hidden behind a large frontage area that had a bakery and outdoor seating for a restaurant. I’d picked it because it was a short walk across a parking lot to a footbridge that crossed to the island.
It was a very interesting bridge! This bridge, opened in late 2024, replaced an older one that had become dilapidated.
It crosses this narrow canal.
This is standing at the top. To the left are seats. Between the seats and the steps, there is enough room that a bike could be rolled smoothly up and over the bridge.
There is a woven “hole” in the bridge meant to be used as a hammock if someone is so inclined.
This is the other side.
It was a short walk through a park before we officially entered the city walls. The historic center is quite small and could be toured in one day. We had two days and enjoyed having the extra time.
We’d managed to enter onto a “street” that crossed the old town from the bridge side to the waterfront. 
There aren’t signs explaining what significance certain buildings might have. Modern Trogir is a bustling tourist attraction. The buildings have been turned into shops and restaurants. In the side alleys (which we enjoyed getting lost in) any open space seemed to be stuffed with outdoor restaurants or bars.
One restaurant had their “fish of the day” on display outside in a glass case.
We popped out onto the waterfront promenade area, which is called the Riva. It was quite wide and lined with larger outdoor restaurants on the town side. At the dividing line between town and promenade, so to speak, there was this church. St Dominic Church and Monastery dates back to the 1200’s.
On the dock side -lots of medium cruise-type ships were arriving and departing. The first thing I noticed toward the far end of the Riva was the old castle.
It’s official name is the Kamerlengo Castle. Kamerlengo is a word that describes a chamberlain (someone who oversees and manages a royal property) or financial administrator. It is the work of the Venetians who controlled the town from the early 1400’s through the early 1800’s, The tower at the left of the picture was already there (late 1300’s) and part of the town’s defenses. After the Venetians conquered Trogir around 1420, it was decided to expand the defenses further.
The castle sits at the corner of the island on the Riva side. On the canal side (just down from the pedestrian bridge), the Venetians built St. Mark’s Tower at the edge of the island. It had a bit more to it in the old days, but this is what is there now.
We took a gelato break!
We managed to find the Cathedral of St. Lawrence. The Saracens destroyed an earlier church on this site when they invaded. After they were ousted, construction was started on this cathedral in the early 1200’s. It wasn’t finished until some time in the 1600’s.
Across the square from the cathedral was what used to be the Church of St. Sebastian, built in 1476-77.
Also found on this main square was the town’s “loggia”. I only took a picture of the entry steps of it. It wasn’t much bigger than what you see in the picture. This was built in the 1400’s and may have been used for town trials.
More wandering:
This is the North Gate into the old city. It honors St. John of Trogir, whom was a bishop there until his death in 1111.
When we got back into the side alleys, the walkways were obviously very old. They were laid between the 1200’s and 1400’s,
The building below was the home of an art shop.
There are still people living in the old town.
We’d heard that there was a historic bridge to be viewed…so we went looking for it. We found this one and, frankly, wondered what all the fuss was about? Turns out, we found the wrong one (had a 50/50 chance…ha ha). The real historic bridge is now the one that got away… but I looked it up and it has been remodeled in recent years, so I’m not sure if we missed much?
While wandering around on our second day, Mike had noticed a restaurant back in the alleys that had signs for home-made pasta dishes. He said we should try it. At dinnertime, we walked back over the pedestrian bridge and were pretty impressed with ourselves that we were able to find it again. (The old town is very small and compact, but there are still a lot of alleys weaving through the place).
I didn’t remember to take a picture of the restaurant, but I did take a picture of my dinner – it was delicious! (Four cheese tortellini.)
We had just enough spare change after that for one more stop at a gelateria.
After that it was back to the hotel for final packing. We stopped at the front desk and requested that they arrange a taxi for us because we needed to check out at 4:30 AM. They were so nice! They said…”Oh, you’ll be checking out before breakfast. Can we make you a lunch to take with you in the morning?” We said thanks, but no thanks.
Mike set an alarm for 3:45 and we settled down, hoping to get as much sleep as possible on a night before a flight. At 3:30 AM, we were both jolted awake by a loud chiming noise. What the heck was that? -we asked each other. We heard it a couple of times. Was it a Croatian version of a fire alarm? Then came some heavy knocking on our door. We’re looking at each other and saying -“Not about to open that door!”
Of course, we were wide awake by then, so started getting all of our luggage and carry-on items organized. I mentioned to Mike that I had noticed that these rooms had doorbells…could that have been the chiming we heard? We thought maybe someone had been knocking on the wrong door? No idea. Mike went to take a quick shower and while he was in the shower, I heard the chiming again! I decided it had to be the doorbell and I opened the door.
Standing outside was a woman with an apron on and she’s saying… “Taxi !!” And showing me her watch. I told her – “We asked for a taxi at 4:30, not 3:45!”. She happened to be one of the rare people we came across this whole trip that didn’t speak English. I ended up grabbing my phone and going to the “notes” app and just typing in 4:30 and showing it to her. “Ohhhhhhhh”, she said and waved her hands in apology.
When we went down to check out, we got an apology note and she held up our lunch-to-go. We thanked her, but said, no thanks… The taxi driver was there waiting (I hope not for an hour!) and off we went to the airport. We had a long travel day ahead.
We both really enjoyed our travels in Croatia. I would definitely go back to see more of the country. I loved the history, the people were welcoming, the scenery was lovely, and I liked the food (as a very fussy eater).
“There is no real ending. It’s just the place where you stop the story.” -Frank Herbert
*** Thanks for going on this journey with us! Until next time! ****