I woke up early today to get some shots of the sights before anyone else was out and about. There was a lot to shoot before the city walls opened so I wandered by the same sites I had checked out last night. First stop was the Church of St. Blaise; it was rebuilt in the 18th century according to its 17th century design. It’s as stunning on the inside as it looks on the outside.
Another place I really wanted to shoot this morning was the Big Fountain of Onofrio, built in 1438-1444 by Onofrio de la Cava who also built the city’s water supply system. Alongside the fountain stands the Church of St. Saviour whose architecture is in the Venetian-Dalmatian style. I didn’t get a chance to see inside this little church but hopefully on my next visit I’ll be able to spend a little more time exploring.
At 8 am I was second in line to climb the steps for the top of the city walls. I was told there were over 700 steps along the wall and boy it felt like a lot more. The walls offer amazing views of the town below and the surrounding area.
There was so much to see from here that it ended up taking me an hour and a half to walk the entire wall. My walk started out a little cloudy but by the end the sun was shining. Near the Pile gate (where I entered and exited the wall) is a Franciscan Monastery so I decided to check this out quickly before my check out time of 10am. This place has a beautiful cloister and has one of the oldest pharmacies in Europe. Unfortunately no photos can be taken of the pharmacy itself but the cloister was fair game.
I quickly made my way back to the apartment to get ready to check out and get to my next destination – Split. I had to take a local bus from Pile gate to the bus station where I picked up the intercity bus to Split – an over four hour drive that would have me crossing the border into Bosnia and Hercegovina before crossing back into Croatia. My apartment was a short walk from the bus station and of course when I got there I found out I was on the third floor. Frane, the owner, was kind enough to help me with my stuff up the stairs ( no elevators in the old town). Once I situated myself and had a short rest I grabbed my camera and off I went into town to see what I could see.
After a little shooting I stopped for dinner at a little placed called Villa Spiza. A little hole in the wall that took me 30 minutes to find but had the most amazing food; I had mussels and clam risotto. Amazing! After gorging myself on great food with some vino I wandered around town to get some more night shots.
After a couple hours of shooting I decided it was time for bed as I had another early morning ahead of me.