From Zadar to Split

On the next two days I cycled on from Zadar to Split, visiting Šibenik, Primošten and Trogir on the way. Always trying to avoid the "Magistrale" - the main road running all the way along the Croatian coast - I meant to go out from Zadar on Ugljan Island first. But the way from the hostel to the ferry station in Zadar took a bit longer than expected and I missed the ferry by just a minute or two (the ferry had just closed its doors and was about to leave...). So I continued on the mainland instead.

Šibenik - Katedrala sv. Jakova

Still trying to avoid the traffic on the "Magistrale", I took some smaller roads out of Zadar, which went well first, but after a while I got kind of lost somewhere on a road that wasn't paved anymore, and suddenly turned back towards Zadar. So I found a path back to the "Magistrale" and continued there. Actually the traffic there wasn't nearly as bad as expected. This may be due to the fact that the "beach season" is over and not so many tourists (and people serving them etc.) are driving along the coast, and also because there's a relatively new motorway that follows the coast a bit further back in the mountains... I guess people doing longer distances are driving up there.

Trogir - Castle

After the first day from Zadar, I got to Šibenik - a historic town famous for its Katedrala sv. Jakova (Cathedral of St. James), a UNESCO World Heritage Site. On the next day, I continued along the coastal road, which on this part is almost free of traffic because there's a road a bit further back in the country, which is actually shorter because the coast line is not quite straight around here. On the way to Split, there were two more interesting towns - Primošten, a small town built on a hill on a small peninsula, and Trogir, a historic city (and yet another UNESCO World Heritage Site) which is situated on a small island between the Croatian mainland and a larger island outside.

Amazing sunset just before arriving in Split

Split is a nice city to visit, with a nice seafront promenade that must be very crowded in summer, but empty when I visited because it was quite cold, and a traffic free old town with small nestled streets around the city's trademark bell tower of the ancient cathedral of Saint Doimus. Great views on the center can be admired from nearby Marjan hill.

Saint Doimus cathedral in Split at night

I was lucky with the weather again, a couple more cold but sunny days in Zadar and Plitvice, and partly sunny and partly cloudy (but relatively warm) on the way to Split. At night in Split, it started raining for the first time since I entered Croatia! Quite heavy rain in the middle of the night, but on the next day it was nice and sunny again (cloudy in the afternoon and evening).

Split

More pictures in the gallery!