Good morning gardeners!
Here is a reminder of the spring that will eventually arrive for those of us in the colder viewing areas (although it’s been a record breaking warm winter here in SW Michigan). The rest of you who are lucky enough to be experiencing actual spring weather are welcome to come along to the Croatian islands and coastal Croatia. Mr M and I visited in May of 2023, so there were flowers everywhere.
Croatia is part of the Balkan Peninsula in Southeast Europe. The elders here at SMGB will recall that Croatia was once part of Yugoslavia.
We arrived in southern Croatia in the evening with the rain. There was record flooding in the north. We boarded our boat the Queen Eleganza. The boat is small (16 cabins) and perfect for island hopping. We stayed in port that night in Dubrovnik.
It was still raining on and off in the morning when we wandered around Dubrovnik. A little rain didn’t stop us from encountering the most interesting garden sculpture in the old city (and it’s not the fist).
Dubrovnik is well known for its medieval walled city, but there were items of interest outside the walls.
The Adriatic Sea was too rough for us to visit the first couple of islands on our itinerary. Instead, we hugged the coast up to the city of Split. Split is thought to be named after the Broom plant.
The name Aspálathos or Spálathos may come from the spiny broom (Calicotome spinosa, ἀσπάλαθος in Greek),[6] although it is the related Spanish broom (Spartium junceum, σπάρτος) that is common in the area.
Split wasn’t on our original route. But we weren’t too disappointed in the change, because Mr M had wanted to visit Diocletian's Palace (3rd century AD).
By the way, just assume almost everywhere we visited is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
We docked within sight and within easy walking distance of the old town surrounding the palace.
And it stopped raining!!
I wanted to visit Split because of Froggyland. I had read about Froggyland at one of my favorite travel sites, Atlas Obscura. Before anyone gets upset about dead, stuffed frogs, let me declare that I love frogs as much, and perhaps more than many, having participated in the Michigan Frog and Toad Survey for 27 years. These frogs were stuffed and placed over 100 years ago.
While we were docked in Split we took a shore excursion to nearby Trogir (3rd century BC).
The very sweet smelling flower in the collage of Trogir below is a member of the Pittosporum genus, common name Cheesewood.
The genus is probably Gondwanan in origin; its present range extends from Australasia, Oceania, eastern Asia and some parts of Africa.
In the afternoon we found the Botanical Garden on Marjan. Marjan Park covers a large wooded hill on the Split peninsula. The garden was in some disrepair (just like mine); it looked like it was being restored. The flower beds are situated on the side of the hill, so the path zig-zagged up to the top. It was a nice walk.
Now that the storms were past, we could safely visit some of the islands.
Wine tasting was in order while we sailed to the island of Solta. Croatian wines are very good, yet surprisingly few of them are exported. To my delight, there were a couple in the sweeter range.
Fun fact: Zinfandel grapes came from Italy, Croatia, and Montenegro.
Here’s a link to All you ever wanted to know about Croation Wine.
Solta means “unripe fig”. The island was first noted by a Greek geographer in the 4th century BC.
We tied up in Maslinica, or Porto Olivetto in Italian, which means olive grove. There are about 200 permanent inhabitants, a wonderful place in which to wander. Warning: I’m going to say that about every place we visited!
Somehow Loquat seeds ended up in my luggage. At home, I planted them and got about 80% germination. They are not hardy outdoors in Michigan, of course. I read that they can be grown indoors with severe pruning. I gave one plant to my son, my brother, and my 9 year old grandson, who loves to germinate seeds and grow plants.
Sibenik was founded in about 9 AD. Like most of the Croatian coastal islands and cities, control switched around over the centuries between Venice, Byzantium, and Hungary, along with more obscure short lived empires.
We passed many more islands on the way to the island of Dugi Otok and Telascica Nature Park. Croatia has over a thousand Islands, but only 48 are permanently inhabited.
Telascica Nature Park contains Lake Mir, which is an inland saltwater lake. There are steep Karst cliffs and multiple hiking trails.
Although this flower is in the collage of the flowers we observed while hiking (below), it deserves its own spot. It’s a Bee Orchid (Ophrys apifera). I was thrilled to see it.
Many of the flowers I recognized as either common garden plants, or as invasive in the US. My assumption is that they might be native to Dugi Otok since they were growing in the Nature Park.
We Visited the coastal city of Zadar later that day.
I kept pestering the crew with questions about the local liqueurs and brandies (remember my shopping list). I wanted to taste some of them before I invested in a bottle. So I'm going to take credit for the liqueur tasting we had onboard that evening.
From the left: Walnut, Maraschino Cherry* (not the yucky red-dye cherries), Honey, Diocletian red dessert wine, Travarica Herbal Rakija.
Yes, I tried them all.
*We had preserved Marasca Cherries available on our breakfast buffet every morning.
The Town of Mali Losinj was another favorite, on the island of Losinj (settled since prehistoric times). We had all day to explore the circuitous streets and paths. I’d read about the Losinj Fragrant Garden, so we set out to find it.
Looking for a route back to the harbor on our town map, I noticed a series of icons leading in the general direction we needed to go. We found the beginning of the path, leading to a set of small chapels dedicated to each Station-of-the Cross. I recognized these because I was raised Catholic (but now I’m a heathen). Each chapel had unique decor and most had cut fresh flowers in vases.
Near the ship, I finally found some Burek, which was on my list of foods to eat. I’d had some several years ago in Slovenia. I prefer the spinach filled, cheese is a close second (meat is also an option). It’s a breakfast food, so I walked down to the pastry shop in the morning to buy one. The Captain was there buying bread for the day (I guess you wear many hats on a small boat). He saw me and told me he would buy burek for me from then on, and he did. I had burek for breakfast every morning for the rest of the trip.
My most-looked-forward-to stop is next. Ilovik is known as the “Island of Flowers”. Cars are not permitted on the island, which is 5.8 square kilometers in area.
We wandered the narrow streets and sidewalks. It was lovely. In the collage below, the hedge in the middle third row with the stone wall behind is made of lavender, bay laurel, and rosemary. The hedge in the picture above it is all rosemary. The ruined building in the picture below it has a Fig tree growing out of it.
Rab is known as the “island of happiness” according to our tour literature. Also stated: “God made Rab Island just for Himself, whereas the Devil sent people to it”. The island was first mentioned by the Greeks in 360 BC.
We had a morning stop on the island of Krk. Krk is perhaps the largest Croatian island (tied with Cres) and is the most populated. It’s been inhabited continuously since the Neolithic era.
Our last port of call was Opatija, on the Istrian peninsula. Although the area has ancient origins, the town was developed in the mid-1800s as a resort for European royalty and celebrities. A highlight was the 12km promenade along the sea.
I’d really like to return to the Balkans and visit the mainland of Croatia as well as countries to the south. But now we must transport ourselves back to the winter, already in progress, soon to be spring.
Our warm winter has meant temperatures about 10 or even 20 degrees F above average (except for a couple of cold weeks in January), and way below average snowfall. That equates to daytime temperatures of 30 to 50F, thankfully still cool enough for most plants to maintain dormancy. Today is back to seasonably cold temperatures (20s F), but tomorrow we start to warm up again.
Please share any and all garden, plant, travel, or food tidbits, or anything else you’d like to discuss. Have you started seeds yet? Let’s not forget about Valentine’s Day — did anyone give or receive something special? (I made peanut butter cookies for Mr M.)