Croatia day 3

The main blip is Split, which we didn't see at its best. It poured with rain which was a major disincentive to exploring the narrow lanes within Diocletian's 3rd century palace. The extensive walls are still intact with buildings inside which run along connecting little passageways. Quite fascinating but very wet!
The thumbnail is the face of Mary in a13th century carved wooden Pieta, I thought her expression wonderful. The underground image of a basement area which extends from the South gate of the palace and is complete and more or less as it was built. It was excavated in the'50s and found to be packed full of the ancient citizens' rubbish which had preserved the building in its original state. Huge, intact and quite remarkable.
The sphinx is Egyptian and predates the 3rd century palace by 1000 years. The little statue is in the crypt which was originally intended to be the emperor's tomb, but it wasn't finished and so his body went to Rome. It now houses a rather pretty statue of St Lucy , she who plucked out her eyes if I remember correctly. Ruth was always very good at saints.
The final image is in the main cathedral in the palace, quite splendidly and magnificently decorated and yet in one corner is what looks like a simple Roman altar with a carved soldier and his dogs.
The first extra is of the small town of Omis on the way to Split, home to notorious pirates who used small fast boats to capture ships then, having plundered then shot off up the narrow river out of reach! The town sits is at the mouth of the river at the foot of the most remarkable mountains, if you look closely in the lower left images you can see the spectacular Mirabela fort clinging to the rock face. Below it is a tunnel cutting through the mountain. The upper left image which appears to show a bridge running through a hotel, is part of the new road network. The bridge is actually behind the hotel,:-). On the left hand side you can see the tunnel running into the rock. Croatia is full of such tunnels which have made travel around the country much easier.
The second extra is at the beautiful little town of Trogdir , the original town is on a small island over a 12metre long bridge from the shore- so not very far out of reach. It too is an ancient walled town where the bridges were pulled up and the gates locked each night at 7pm to keep the town safe from marauders. If you arrived too late to get in there was a shelter outside the walls till the morning. The population of the island is around 500 and there are 14 churches!
My extra shows, the modern clock tower in the square next to St Laurence Cathedral, some of the very up market yachts anchored around the town, and the town's main entrance gate, again under the watchful eyes of St Laurence. The round tower stands behind the town football pitch which has a castle on one side and the tower at the other - heaven help the opposition if they beat the town, or on the other hand heaven help the town team if they lost.
The island is like the palace in Split full of twisting narrow passages all with limestone flagstones, oddly enough they are slippier when dry than when wet.
There are many limestone quarries in the area and many of the towns have pavements, roads, alleys and buildings made using it. It's very hard wearing.
Tomorrow we leave at 7.45 to travel into Bosnia Herzegovina, stopping at Medugorje and then at Mostar on our way to our hotel in the Mostar area. Apparently crossing the border from Croatia into Bosnia Herzegovina will take 45 minutes to an hour!