Last Full Day In Croatia: Trogir, Art, Etc.

I did a side-trip on Thursday from Split to a medieval town about 45 minutes away by bus:  Trogir.  The truth is that the weather was so bad for the first 3/4's of Thursday (my first bad weather in 10 days in Croatia) that any place would have been bleak.  It was rainy and incredibly blustery.  So, I can't give Trogir a great review -- but it might have been different had Mother Nature cooperated.

The best part of the town that I saw was St. Lawrence's Cathedral.  This church was started in 1213 and completed a few centuries later.  But the door, the door!  The Slav mason Radovan carved the door in 1240, and it was very cool.  It's hard to see in the pics here just how detailed the carvings are -- but I'll do my best.

The cathedral's interior had some very nice sculpture and artwork too.  Otherwise, the town was fine but pretty desolate given the weather and given that it is not yet high season.

On returning to Split, I visited the Split Art Gallery, which is a small (mostly) modern art museum right outside the Palace walls.  This was a pleasant surprise.  The current exhibition on the lower of two floors had some incredibly cool art from the past 10 years or so.  This exhibition makes it seem like the Croatian art scene is pretty happening.  Some samples:

Just a couple of last things about Split in case you are there any time soon.

First, there is a dynamite wine bar/resto that just opened a week ago.  What I loved about it is that they have a varied selection of wines by the glass, and they also have awesome food that includes light/healthy options.  I was a little surprised by how difficult it was to eat healthy in Croatia.  Although the coast is rife with fish options, other than that, it's tough to find good selections of healthy fare.  "Zinfandel" is an exception.  I ate there 3 times -- yes, 3! (I got comped the last time) -- and I had different dishes each time.  Each of them was scrumptious and had both seafood and copious amounts of veggies.  The wine was superb too.  In particular, I had a Croatian Gewurztraminer that was as good as any Austrian or German Gewurztraminer I've ever had -- and definitely better than the Californias or Italians that I've had.  The waiter told me that this Gewurztraminer is the only one in Croatia, and that it's made by monks.  (Not sure any of that is true).  Here's an article about Zinfandel (http://www.croatia-split.com/blog/cafes-and-bars/zinfandel-a-new-wine-food-bar-opens-in-split.html).  There's no website yet.

Second, I stayed in an apartment rather than in a hotel.  Magnolia Apartments was terrific.  The apartment was a good size, immaculately clean, modernly appointed, and in a good location.  It took about 6 minutes to reach Diocletian's Palace.  They cleaned every day, brought over fruit and tea, and were available for recommendations about where to go and what to see.  You should look into Magnolia if you're going to visit Split.  (http://www.booking.com/hotel/hr/la-magnolia-apartments.en.html.)

I'll have final thoughts on Croatia later on in the weekend.  Right now, let me just say that it is SOOOO good to be back in ROMA!!!!