Route Map through CROATIA. Covered approx. 1400km on the motorcycles.

Ruby couldn't resist buying some Croatian shorts.

July 22, 2006. Our first view of DUBROVNIK.

Also called "paradise on earth" (George Bernard Shaw) or "the pearl of the Adriatic" (Lord Byron).

It is one of the most beautifully restored cities we have seen.

The old town is surrounded by a 2km long and up to 25m high walls.

A look at the impressive eastern wall.

We enter over this bridge through the PILE GATE.

Sitting at the south western wall is FORT BOKAR.

The statue of St. Lawrence is built into the walls of the FORT OF ST. LAWRENCE (FORT LOVRJENAC).

A spectacular view of the old city of Dubrovnik from the Fort of St. Lawrence.

Medieval Dubrovnik (Ragusa until 1918) was founded 1300 years ago by refugees from Epidaurus in Greece.

An old cannon defends the old Fort St. Lawrence.

Another view of Dubrovnic from higher up the Fort.

As we enter through the Pile Gate into the inner city walls, to left of the Placa is the CHURCH OF ST. SAVIOUR.

Directly adjacent to the Church of St. Saviour is the FRANCISCAN MONASTERY...

...with its impressive entrance.

We continue to walk down the wonderful pedestrian promenade,PLACA, to the ST. BLAISE CHURCH (1715).

The town centre is radiant with the light reflected from its white marble paving stones. Seen here is the BELL TOWER and BELL LOUNGE.

Ruby leans against the ORLANDO'S COLUMN (1419AD) with the St. Blaise Church in the background.

Beside the Bell Tower is the SPONZA PALACE (16th century). It houses Historic Archives, like letters from Napoleon.

Walking down the Pred Dvorom with a direct view of the CATHEDRAL OF THE ASSUMPTION OF THE VIRGIN.

A closer view of the Cathedral and its baroque building.

The entrance to the Cathedral of the Assumption of the Virgin.

Inside the church a beautiful altar.

No visit to Dubrovnik is complete unless one walks around the city walls. View of the famous Placa (Pedestrian Promenade).

The BIG ONOFRIO'S FOUNTAIN (1438AD).

High above the red roofs of Dubrovnik, the large structure of ST. IGNATIUS CHURCH can be seen.

The sun is setting over Dubrovnik and makes the red roof tops stand out even more.

Here we are with another 1000 tourists walking along the picturesque city walls.

Even through it is late in the evening and the sun is setting, both Mike and I are shiny with sweat.

This traditional boat is actually a restaurant, which picks up its guests every evening at the harbour.

Seen here are some old traditional roofs beside newer restored roofs.

The old town is fully occupied by locals living here year around.

We believe this is the CHURCH & CONFRATERNITY ST. ROSARIO.

Part of the ST. SEBASTIAN CHURCH & DOMINICAN MONASTERY.

View of the OLD PORT and the Bell Tower.

It can't get any more magical.

Looking over the roof tops of Dubrovnik...

...from the northern wall.

Another view of the walled city from FORT MINCETA.

On top of the world with a happy smile.

Only reluctantly we say good-bye to another UNESCO World Heritage Site...

...as the sun sets over the beautiful city.

South of Dubrovnik at our Porto Campground we met Stefan from Austria on his BMW R1100.

July 24, 2006. We visit SPLIT and its remarkable DIOCLETIAN'S PALACE, which lies on the Adriatic coast.

Inside the ancient walls of the Diocletian's Palace, rises the neo-Romanesque CATHEDRAL TOWER.

Below the Cathedral, lies the Cathedral Crypt (CHAPEL OF ST. LUCY).

Underneath the Diocletian's Palace lies the vaulted BASEMENT HALLS.

A old wine press was uncovered in the basement halls after excavation.

Former TEMPLE OF JUPITOR is now the BAPTISTRY OF ST. JOHN.

Inside the Baptistry of St. John.

Part of the Baptistry.

Mike stands in front of a sarcophagus at the entrance to the former Temple of Jupitor.

Outside the north palace gate stands the STATUE OF GREGORIUS OF NIN. Built in 1929, the 10th-century slavic religious leader...

... fought for the right to perform Mass in Croatian. Touching its big shiny toe is said to bring luck. We couldn't resist.

The NORTHERN GATE to the Palace.

The WESTERN GATE opens onto medieval Narodni trg.

From the town of Split we ride to TROGIR, which occupies a tiny island in the narrow channel between Ciovo Island and the mainland.

Trogir is a UNESCO World Heritage site ...

...due to its Romanesque and Renaissance architectural styles within 15th Century Walls.

For 10KN/person we climbed the towers of the FORTRESS OF KAMERLENGO.

The tower by the name of Veriga Tower was built in 1380, by people from Genova.

It was later enlarged to the Fortress of Kamerlengo (1420 to 1437). Excellent view of Trogir.

The Croatian Flag.

Ruby looks over the narrow channel between Ciovo Island and the mainland from the Fortress.

The Veriga Tower.

In the centre of Trogir is the three-nave Venetian CATHEDRAL OF ST. LOVRO.

For a small fee we climbed the Cathedral Tower.

The entrance way displays the Romanesque portal of ADAM AND EVE (1240)...

...by Master Radovan, the earlist example of the nude in Dalmatian sculpture.

We are able to see the Chapel of St. Ivan and the choir stalls, ...

...publpit, ciborium and treasury.

Part of the Cathedral beside the stair entrance to the tower.

View from the Cathedral Tower.

The stairway to Heaven. Some visitors questioned the reliability of the stairway and chose not to climb up for the amazing view. Not us.

From the top of the Tower the Church of St. John the Baptist and Clock Tower can be seen.

The narrow channel between Ciovo Island and the mainland.

Our small campground located between Split and Trogir on the Adriatic Sea for 85KN/night ($17CDN/night).

July 25, 2006. At a spur of the moment we stop at the KRKA NATIONAL PARK and spend 3 hours exploring.

The park is entered via a 20 minute boat ride, which drops us off at the ticket booth.

Admission is 70KN/person ($14CDN/person).

The Skradinski buk (Waterfall) is truly spectacular with its 17 steps and a total height of 45.7m.

The mean annual flow across the waterfall is 55 cubic meters/second.

A nice and busy walkway leads around the waterfall and ...

...the admission fee allows one to swim at the base of the waterfall.

To think that we almost missed this truly amazing place ...

...since the guide book merely mentioned it via one sentence.

A perfect stop to get away from the heat of the day.

A bombed out church in a small village at the base of Krka National Park.

The park-run campground is located 7km from the first entrance to the Plitvice Lakes National Park and with 185KN/night ($37CDN/night) the most expensive campground on our 6 months trip.

Entrance sign to the park. Watch out for bears.

The spectacular view of PLITVICE LAKES NATIONAL PARK.

29,482 hectares of wooded hills enclose 16 turquoise lakes,...

...which are connected by series of waterfalls and cascades.

Entrance to the Plitvice Lake National Park (UNESCO World Heritage Site) is 100KN/person ($20CDN/person) for the day.

Just past the entrance gate is the most amazing view of a cascade of waterfalls streaming over cliffs and lakes.

We look at each other and think that this must be the best part of the park, but it only got better.

We are one of the first to enter the park at 7:44am (beside this lonely sleeping duck) and ...

... the wooden walkways that criss-cross the lakes and waterfalls are almost empty.

As we start at Entrance 1, we follow path K, leading us across Kaluderovac Lake to view the Sastaci and Veliki Slap (Waterfalls) close up.

We take the path on the upper ridge to the Ferry Terminal which takes us across Lake Kozjak.

On the way we see the Milanovacki Slaovi, Slap Milke Tmine and Veliko Kaskade.

As the Kozjak Lake crests it forms the Milanovacki Slaovi Waterfall, which flows into the Milanovac Lake and the same process continues.

The water is crystal clear and tufa (new porous rock) coats and petrifies the ferry's wooden dock.

The ferry makes its way across Jezero Kozjak Lake as the morning fog starts to rise above the lake, giving it a magical feel.

In total there are 16 lakes, which are located on different elevations, ...

...causing the water from one lake to overflow into the lower lake ...

...and therefore creating unbelievably beautiful waterfalls.

From the Proscansko Jezero Lake to the Korana River...

...elevation drops 161m and water flows through the 16 Lakes.

After the ferry we continue hiking up the path and view the waterfalls Galovacki buk, ...

...Mali Prstavac, Veliki Prstavac and other smaller ones without a name.

Veliki Prstavac Waterfalls gives off some huge mist and we get soaked taking this picture.

Waterfalls are everywhere. Beautiful mirroring reflections in the dark green-turquoise lakes.

Even a beautiful dragon fly can't resist this place.

Wooden footbridges follow the lakes and streams over,...

...under and across the rumbling water for an exhilaratingly damp 18km.

Thousands of fish can be seen in the turquoise water.

Swimming is not allowed. But we were soooo tempted.

The water covers 217 hectares.

With the ongoing process of the creation of the travertine,...

...barriers grow up between one lake and another,...

...so that new falls and cascades are constantly being created.

There are several caves in the lakes.

This is truely a spectacular and amazing National Park. We wandered around the park for 6 hours in awe.

A place we will charish forever in our memories. What a great experience.

July 27, 2006. From the Plitvice Lakes National Park, we take the country roads over Otocac to Senj, which is located at the coast.

Following the coastal highway to Rijeka, we turn south to PULA, which lies at the tip of the Istria Peninsula.

Pula is famous for its imposing 1st-Century ROMAN AMPHITHEATRE (20KN admission/person).

It resembles the Coliseum in Rome and therefore is very different to any theater we have seen in the past.

The 30 m high outer wall has two rows of 72 arches and can seat 20,000 spectators overlooking the harbor.

We were unaware of this theatre until we saw postcards of it in Dubrovnik ...

...and asked a tourist office were it is located, believing it was the one in Rome.

It is unique in that it has an oval amphitheatre.

To this day performances are staged at this theatre.

This is our last stop in Croatia.

Good-bye Hrvatska (Croatia).