What do you do when you’ve got three hours before your flight leaves from Split airport, and you’re about 45 minutes drive from Split itself but passing the motorway exit for somewhere called Trogir?
If I’d been behind the wheel that day, I’d have put my foot down and gunned it for Split. It’s a place I’m overly fond of, having discovered it quite by accident during a supposed beach holiday that S and I booked – our first beach holiday as a married couple in fact, back in 2011. We had no idea that the nice beachside hotel we’d booked was just down the road from a real life Roman palace, and soon all our plans for lying out by the pool vanished. Instead, we spent the 5 days poking our way around Split, marvelling at the Roman artefacts and pretending we were time travellers. That’s the last time we’ve ever tried to go on a beach holiday.
So, back to 2015. I was very keen to go back to Split, but S insisted we didn’t have enough time to get there, park, have a look around, get some dinner and still get to the airport for our flight. I sulked. I didn’t want to go to Trogir. It sounded all industrial and ugly. Didn’t he remember how pretty Split was? How much fun we’d had there before?
But no. S was resolute. He didn’t want to rush. So I resigned myself to a couple of hours in Slough-On-Sea.
Imagine my surprise when this view greeted us from the car park we swung in to.
And then picture my face when we crossed the road and came to the most beautiful walled city that did not look industrial in any way.
Turns out, as we found out from some information signs posted helpfully for those ignorant tourists who discount poor Trogir, that the historic town centre is none other than a UNESCO World Heritage Site and there’s been a settlement here since the 3rd century BC. Most of the centre of Trogir dates from the 13th century, although its street plan is much older.
We went for a good old walk, uncovering plenty of interesting nooks and crannies and giving my camera a workout.
These winding streets were just perfection.
Then we found the perfect harbourside spot for lunch in the sun; the food was reasonably priced (unlike Split) and the atmosphere was incredibly chilled.
Sunshine, good company, good food.
We sat and ate our tasty food and admiring the view, whilst the sounds of music floated out over our heads from a school nearby. It was all excessively relaxing.
Of course we found me some ice cream to eat – check out the After Eight flavour, instant win.
We walked back past Trogir Cathedral which was beautiful, and appears out of nowhere around a bend in those crazy walled alleys.
This guy would like to know why you haven’t booked your tickets already.
All in all a magnificent day. Trogir, I’m so sorry I ever doubted you.
Would you stop at Trogir?
-Rachel
You can read more about my trip to Croatia here.
Linking up with Emma, Jessi, Angie and Carolann for their monthly travel link-up.
I LOVED this post. So worth getting off the beaten path! Trogir looks charming and pretty – plus, the history is incredible! It’s so hard to fathom something like that.
I’m so glad you liked it! Trogir was just stunning. I couldn’t believe how badly I’d misjudged it! History is one of my favourite things, so I was in my element. I just couldn’t believe how old and well preserved it was, and had lots of fun pretending I was an ancient Venetian. I’m not sure I did a good job but I had lots of fun!
what a lovely town! the winding streets are just gorg. love the cathedral too. so pretty! you can sense the air of peacefulness there 🙂
xoxo cheshire kat
It’s so beautiful, all ancient and so much beautiful stone. It was really peaceful, and felt like a place where people really lived and worked, you know? Not just like a glorified Disneyland. Lovely!
Trogir looks like a place worth visiting, It is so charming. Isn’t it wonderful when you unexpectedly “discover” a gem of a place, Rachel? Thanks for sharing it at #travellinkup
Absolutely! I think it’s also pretty cool when you go somewhere for which you have absolutely no preconceived notions. It makes the discovery all the sweeter, I think!
Such a beautiful place! All of the pictures look absolutely perfect.
It was gorgeous, such a great place to spend an afternoon – and an especially good place to chill out before a hectic airport experience. I loved it!
Trogir looks amazing! I’ve only been to Split and Supetar – Split was a bit too modern to me, but Supetar was perfection! I hope to visit Trogir someday 🙂
It really was beautiful! I’m so glad we went. I’ve never heard of Supetar, I’ll have to look it up. You found Split modern? Even the Roman palace? If so I need to go where you’re visiting because more ancient than Roman is COOL!
What a cute place! You really always find the best places to visit!
Well in this case full credit has to go to my lovely husband. I didn’t want to go at all. I’m so glad he insisted, or we’d have never found this gem!
Imagine, just imagine, if Slough (sluff) was like this and you could get that food and those views… I know what you mean though – you read a name on a map and it sounds meh!
Haha sluff. I feel able to make fun of it having grown up nearby – but my goodness if I had those views and that food just down the road I’d be very lucky indeed! Sadly, as we know, the reality is somewhat different… I should learn to not judge a place by its name!
I love when you stumble upon some great places that you weren’t expecting! Trogir looks so beautiful, and I love how much history it has!
The history was a major hit for me. I’m a total history nerd so I just loved it. How cool is Croatia that it’s got such an amazing historical city that people have never heard of? Even though it’s right next to the airport?! Madness. They obviously just have too much nice stuff!
You lucked out! What a beautifully charming place, it looks beautiful 🙂 The unexpected is definitely the best 🙂 (oh and After Eight ice-cream, droooool!)
I massively lucked out! It was such a pretty place to spend an afternoon, and relaxing too. The After Eight ice cream helped of course – one of my favourite chocs! Can you get them in Chile??
What a beautiful place to discover! Glad it wasn’t a disappointment 🙂
It was a lovely find! Totally not disappointing at all. I suppose that’s the upside of having very low expectations…?!
Oh man, it looks perfect!! I’d totally go. I still need to make it to Croatia though, I’m amassing a list of places I need to go there, so must do it soon before it gets too long!
It’s gorgeous. The whole country is stunning, you really can’t go wrong! I really hope you get to visit asap. I’d really recommend Split, and the whole coast is beautiful really. Let me know if you do end up going!
I’m so glad that you ended up taking this unexpected trip! It must have been tempting to go back a place you already knew you loved, but sometimes it’s good to try somewhere new!! My best friend is from Croatia and he goes back every summer to see his family. I know that one day I will go with him, and I will ask him to bring me to Trogir because these photos are just stunning.
Yes!! What a good choice of best friend 😉 You should definitely take a trip with him, it’s always best to travel with a local anyway. Trogir was stunning, but the thing about Croatia is that there’s just so many places like this. It’s an incredible country, I know you’ll love it!
cool! I still haven’t been and it’s in my country:)) #travellinkup
Haha! It’s always the places closest to us that we never visit. I’ve still never been to Buckingham Palace…
Absolutely beautiful photos. I can’t wait to go to Croatia one day!!
Thank you! I really recommend Croatia. So beautiful, and everyone is so friendly. I hope you make it!
Croatia is definitely on my bucket list!
It’s just awesome. I’ve never been somewhere in Croatia that I didn’t like!
I have never had of Trogir before, but it looks like a charming place to wander! 🙂 I would also really love to visit Croatia one day soon – it always looks like such a great summer destination!
It was utterly charming. And so much history! Good food, too 🙂 It’s a fantastic summer destination, and it gets hot too. Good excuse to eat plenty of ice cream!
Wow! looks great, and even better because it was unexpected. I’ve never been to Croatia, but it is always on the list because everyone raves about it so much. Now I can add Trogir to the itinerary 🙂
Croatia is seriously so beautiful, the people are so nice and the food is great. It’s fantastic if you’re a history nerd like me, too. I can’t recommend it highly enough! I hope you do make it, and I hope Trogir makes the cut!
Wow! The nooks are spectacular and the crannies are just divine 😉
Aren’t they just?! Never have I seen finer nooks and crannies 🙂
Travel discovery perfection!
That’s what I thought!
Trogir is really one of the most beautiful old walled town I know ! One interesting information – Trogir is a small island between mainland and island Ciovo.
That’s an awesome castle. Yes, it’s an island and you sort of wouldn’t know it when you’re visiting. I’m glad you share my opinion of Trogir, I was really blown away by its beauty.
I’m with you – based on the name alone I would not have been inspired to visit! Fortunate for the rest of us that you’ve adventured into it and found this beautiful place. Thanks for linking up!
Yes! It’s just an unfortunate sounding name, isn’t it? I’m so glad we went, it’s just beautiful. And thanks for hosting!
Wow! I wasn’t aware that Croatia is so stunning, Rachel! Thanks for sharing this beautiful spot with us, definitely on my bucket list!