10 FREE locations in Dalmatia, Croatia

Hello World!

When we started blogging life we thought we need to travel outside Croatia all the time, for people to be interested in our stories. Luckily, we realized you don’t need to escape your country or hometown to be interesting, what you need to do is EXPLORE it MORE. 

Split,  Croatia

We know it is not easy to travel 365 days in a year, but you can easily walk around your city every single day. When you get enough of your town (if that is even possible when you live in a place like Split, Croatia) you can explore it’s surroundings. That’s exactly what we have been doing recently.

Split city is located in DALMATIA region, so let’s break down some FREE highlights of this area.

1. SALONA

Near city of Solin there are remains of ancient Roman town Salona. At it’s entrance you can find beautiful martyrs (Manastirine) and Tusculum, while at the south part there are remaining of the Roman forum. There is small fee only for the Archaeological museum, which we skipped and enjoyed only outdoors. If you have time, it is perfect picnic spot.

Roman forum
Tusculum

Near Solin you can also find remains of the Hollow Church (Šuplja crkva) on the Jadro river bank. 

Jadro river
Hollow church, Solin

2. KLIS

On the mountains above Split you can find small village of Klis. It is mostly known for it’s Klis Fortress, were TV series “Game of Thrones” was recently shoot. The entrance fee is 50 HRK per person. Since this was FEE FREE trip, we didn’t go inside, however we admired the views from it.

View from Klis Fortress 

Nearby, we also found the most magnificent bridge that gave us serious Harry Potter vibes. 

3. NUTJAK FORT

Fort is located near city of Trilj, on Cetina river bank. There aren’t many signs on the road (although it should be, because this place is pretty incredible), so follow the instructions here: MAP. From the main road turn onto dirt road, which leads very close to the fort.

Nutjak fort is also famous for it’s wild life: birds, lizards, but also snakes, so if you have any phobia, skip this one. If you are a nature lover, prepare your photo gear and take your time, they crawl all around.

Nutjak fort, Trilj
Cetina river view from Nutjak

4.  GREEN LAKE

We visited Blue and Red lake near Imotski before (find that story HERE), but this time we decided to visit it’s less known sister Green Lake. This gorgeous “Cinderella” is located near town Ričice and it is man made accumulation lake, not natural one. Still, we found it mesmerizing and totally worth of visit! You can come with your car, over the dirt road, all the way to the middle of the lake. It looks like you are walking on Mars.

Green lake, Ričice
Green lake, dam 

5. PROLOŠKO BLATO

Again, near Imotski there is another nature phenomena that is out of this world and it is called Prološko blato (mud). It is a huge wast flooded area with the lake in the middle. You can ride your car around the field, but be careful because water created crests, so you will find many “dead ends”. Also, there is big reason it is called mud field. Water variates during the year, so there are periods when the field is almost entirely flooded and there are dry periods. We were there in semi dry period and walked around. I had marvelous idea to skip over water stream to get to Franciscan monastery, on the other side of the crest. I fell so deep in the mud that I almost lost my shoe in it :). Btw. monastery was not worth it.

Maya in the mud up to her knees
Prološko lake, Proložac
Prološko blato from above, I took this pic with my phone

6. RUDA river SPRING/SOURCE

Like the name says, this is Ruda river spring. To find it, there are no markings on the road (approximate location – HERE). I’ve put request to Google Maps to update on location, so you can easily found it next time, but in the meantime just ask the locals. It always works :).

When you come to old mill ruins, don’t just stop there, go behind it. Follow concrete path, because it leads you to were spring is hidden. You can walk all the way to the spring too, follow woods path on your left. Just be careful because the water is crazy fast and below the spring is a rocky waterfall.

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Ruda waterfall
Ruda river
Ruda spring and mill (phone picture)
Ruda source (phone picture)

7. GRAB river SPRING/SOURCE

Grab is the sweetest little village famous for it’s mills and river spring. Everything is very well marked, so you cannot get lost here. Our advice is to park your car right at the city entrance, near the church, and walk from there. Grab charmed us completely. Nature is beautiful and heritage is so valuable. There are couple of mills that are still in function, we stopped by “Čosića mlinica” and “Samardžića mlinica”, where they ground grain to water run. If you want to buy homemade flower, you can do it there.

Čosića mill
Grab river 

8. CETINA CANYON BRIDGE

We found this beautiful bridge, in Cetina river canyon, completely by accident. On our way to Imotski, we found marking on the road for “Kreševski most (bridge)”, in Kreševo village, and decided to pursuit it. You can find directions -> HERE. Again, it is not direct link, but there are markings on the road, so you should easily find it, once there.

The bridge connects mountaineer road from Kreševo to Blato na Cetini, so if you are up for a nice walk a long Cetina river, this is the perfect place.

9. CISTA VELIKA WELLS

These ones you cannot miss, they are right on the side of the road! That said, we missed it, hahaha. So keep your eyes open when passing Cista.

Besides wells, the area of the Cista Velika has other historical findings like tombstones and fortresses, so if you have time, stop and explore it more. We only stopped to see wells from Turkish times. They were obviously water source once, but now they are incredible photo shoot location.

Wells in Cista Velika
People also use it as a garbage bin, so sad about it

10. TRNBUSI and BLATO NA CETINI

Two little villages in Dalmatia hinterland, located on beautiful Cetina river, which have several magical river banks and locally owned picnic spots. I would say it is more summer location, because in summer time you can swim in river and definitely refresh your body and soul in it.

Cetina river (phone picture)
(phone picture)

Hope this was helpful! If you end up going to one of this locations, TAG #dianomaya so we can see it!

Should you wish that WE ORGANIZE PHOTO TRIP to these locations, let us know in Instagram DM and we will make it happen!

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Do you want to hike with us?

Hello world!

We have been in Croatia for couple of months, mostly stuck in office. For bigger parts of our day we are on a computer or a phone (aren’t everybody?), so we enforced the rule to “go outside” at least once a day. Are you #teamgooutside?

Since we are based in Split there are a lot of beautiful places to go daily. Everyday, we try find new picturesque place to share on our Instagram stories. Are you following us on Instagram jet? @dianomaya

Hiking with Mosor

Once a week we go outside the city, to spice up our life. Our friends are members of MOSOR hiking association and they are always inviting us to go hiking with them. Finally, we found a date when everybody was available, weather was perfect and tour sounded amazing. We went hiking to top “Sveti Ilija” on Rilić, from Gradac city.

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I have a bad knee and we weren’t fully equipped for this activity, but we love views from top of the mountains. Chasing those kind of views is priceless!

To give you some facts: Rilić is southeast part of Biokovo, Dalmatian mountain. It is about 3 hour hike from Gradac to the top, on 773 m altitude.  From “Sveti Ilija” top you can see unforgettable views of Gradac city, Bacina Lakes (Baćinska Jezera) and islands Hvar, Korčula, Mljet & Pelješac. And we saw it alright!

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This wasn’t our first time hiking. Didn’t I say we love views from top of the mountains? Last year we did one day trip to Nature Park Biokovo. We drove with a car from Makarska all the way to the top. In video below, you can see astonishing views from Ravna vlaška – 1 228 m, Štrbina – 1 338 m, Vošac, 1 422 m and Sv. Jure – 1 762 m. From each of this lookout points you can see central Dalmatians islands (Brac, Solta, Vis, Bisevo, Susac, Lastovo and Korcula), well… practically whole south Dalmatia 🙂

Last December, Diano went with his friend Pave & Kawasaki KRL 650 off road to Kozjak. Kozjak is little mountain above Split city. They started in Šestanovac, drove trough Omiš, Split & Klis. First stop was Sv. Jure church, viewpoint on 676 m. Second, Sv. Luka on 779 m. On their way back, they stopped at Klis fortress. Fortress defended Split from Ottoman empire long long time ago, but recently it is known as location of Daenerys Meereen city walls in “Game of Thrones”.

Let’s not forget that we participated in “hello to the spring” event in honor of Earth Day, held on the Omiška Dinara mountain, near Omiš city. I’ve wrote a blog about that event, which you can read -> HERE.

I am so grateful for YOU, who reads my blogs till the end. Write down in comment who are you guys and I will shoutout my favorite in next blog 🙂
Also, if you would like to hike with us, let us know and we will try to make it happen!

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TOP 5 VISITED BLOGS – CROATIA

Hello world!!

We are working again, that means sitting home on our laptops, planing and editing. Until we plan our new adventure we are bringing you our

TOP 5 visited blog posts!

These are YOUR favorite posts of all time:

1. Wellness and Spa Weekend

We visited Villa Magdalena, in Krapinske toplice, perfect place for relaxation, wellness and amazing gourmet experience. We know two couples that visited Villa after seeing our blog post, are you planing to visit soon? Tell us in comments if you are interested and we will try to get you a discount :).
Read more about our Wellness and Spa Weekend: https://goo.gl/XyW71Q

2. How many lakes do you have Imotski?

We visited town of Imotski, hidden deep in the Dalmatian inland. Picturesque little town on a hill with, not one, but two most impressive lakes, Blue and Red.
Read more about our visit here: https://goo.gl/RB2Jjw

3. Behind the business meeting in Vis

Maya‘s family has a house on island Vis, so we look for any excuse to visit island. This time we were there on business, but we managed to film some behind the scenes for you.

Read more about our visit here: https://goo.gl/Fg6xRq

4. Senko’s konoba, island Vis food paradise

We were invited by Senko Karuza, the best Croatian short-story writer, to his konoba (type of Dalmatian restaurant) in little town by the sea, Mala Travna (Mola Trovna, as locals call it). Senko is not only the best writer, he is also artist in kitchen.

Read more about our visit here: https://goo.gl/SLQqV7

5. Autumn on Hvar island, Croatia

Maya visited HVAR island with her girls and Diano stayed in our Split home editing Frode Borge videos.
Read more about our visit here: https://goo.gl/CdNbUe

Don’t forget to share this blog, if you liked it 🙂

See you next week! In meantime you can:

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Robinson style vacation on Drvenik Mali

Hello World!

We are in Drvenik Mali, tiny island near Trogir. Our friends Maja and Milan have been posting their summer pictures on Instagram (make sure you follow them -> @majaimore) and gave us serious wanderlust! So, we invited ourselves :).

How to get to Drvenik Mali?

We drove from Split to Trogir and parked our car there. There are free parking places in the city (if you have time and patience to look for it), but you can also leave your car on paid Public parking, near Jadrolinija ticket office. Maja and Milan have a car on island, so we didn’t have to go with ours. However, you can take car on board the ferry to Drvenik Mali, but then you have to embark in ferry port Seget Donji (not Trogir). The boat departs from the Trogir and Seget Donji waterfront to Drvenik Mali and back to Trogir every day.

So, we took Jadrolinija ferry in Trogir and enjoyed smooth sail to Drvenik Mali. Keep in mind, ferry’s first stop is Drvenik Veli, you go out on second stop.

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Island has no paved roads and there is not much to do there; but it has beaches from your dreams! Maja & Milan studio house has no TV, internet or electricity, but has outdoor fireplace and two happy people!

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Vela Rina bay

Their house is in Vela Rina bay, well hidden beautiful sandy beach in the of middle Dalmatia. So, all you have to do in the morning is take your beach towel, swimsuit & flipflops (well, camera too, if you are photography freak, like us) and stroll down to the beach.

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We still can’t decide if, in Vela Rina, sunrises or sunsets are better? What did you like better? Tell us in comments and make sure you likeshare and don’t forget to:

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