Trogir - The Happening Heart of Dalmatia

Favorite Memories: Our trip the tiny island Mali Drvenik and the secluded cove we had all to ourselves. Strolling through town eating Donnatella ice cream, live music at Smokvica in the shadow of the Cathedral; watching the private luxury sailboats come into the harbor while eating the best pizza I’ve ever had. Visiting Diolcetian's Palace ruins in Split.

Quick Tips:

I strongly suggest staying in Trogir and visiting Split as a day trip – Split has a lot to offer but we were very happy to know that we could go back to Trogir after spending the day there. Trogir has history, nightlife, great food, proximity to beaches/islands, and a much better attitude than slightly seedy and impersonal Split. Split is only a ½ hour by car, and there are plenty of busses that make the trip regularly.

Also, try to work in a trip to nearby islands Mali Drvenik or Veli Drvenik – Mali in particular has only about 55 permanent residents, and is as close as we’ve come to having a lush, beautiful slice of heaven all to ourselves! Ferries depart from in front of the Hotel Concordia and the ride is about an hour to Mali Drvenik. The ferry ride itself is worth the trip!

Best Way To Get Around:

Trogir is primarily a pedestrian town – cars are parked along the perimeter of the town walls, and you‘ll only need your car again for trips to Split (an easy half-hour away). If you will be driving into town, be sure to contact your hotel ahead of time and get directions to your parking area. In some instances, you may need to have the hotel alert a gatekeeper of your arrival.

Buses run between Split and Trogir (Bus #37) every 20 minutes, and stop at the airport en route. There is also a weekly ferry from Split to Trogir that docks in front of the Concordia – ask the front desk for the schedule.

The Hotel Concordia occupies a prime location along the palm-tree lined promenade that stretches along the waterfront. We were able to park our rental car just a few yards from the hotel’s entrance in a lot near the Kula Kamerlenga, which was very convenient considering there are no cars permitted in the town proper. We were very pleased with our accommodations – we were given a small suite, with separate sitting room with cable television and bedroom with a real double bed. Both rooms had lovely views of the harbor and town. The bathroom had new fixtures and a shower with tremendous water pressure. The rooms were plainly decorated with spartan furnishings, but appeared new. The entire room and bathroom were very clean. The hotel appeared to have been recently renovated. The friendly young staff speaks limited English, but were helpful in providing ferry information for Mali Drvenik (the ferry departs from directly in front of the hotel on specific days). Four days at the Concordia cost just under $200 USD - about $43 per night. Our room rate included the wonderful daily breakfast buffet and Croatia’s substantial city tax.

The hotel provides an excellent and substantial breakfast buffet every day throughout the morning – and we enjoyed taking our food outside for a leisurely meal with a terrific view of the beautiful harbor. The hostess would even make an omelet for you if you were interested – the service was excellent.

If You Are Arriving By Car It can be tricky driving around Trogir, since most of the town is closed to cars. The following directions will get you to the parking area of the Hotel Concordia: Once you turn off the mainland road Alojzija Stepinca and drive over the small bridge that links Trogir with the mainland, immediately after the bridge turn right onto Hrvatskih Mucenika – there will be a small guardhouse. Stop at the guardhouse and tell the gatekeeper that you are staying at the Hotel Concordia – if you have some sort of confirmation from the hotel, such as an e-mail, it will be helpful. Once allowed through the gate, follow the road almost to the end and take the second main left turn (Hvratskog Prolijeca) – at the end of this short road there are parking spaces. You will see the Kamerlenga Fortress on your right; the Hotel Concordia will be one building over on your left.

Besides being awakened at 7:00 a.m. sharp by 5 minutes of clamorous church bells from Sv. Dominik next door, The Concordia was the perfect place for us to spend a restful four days enjoying the beauty and festive atmosphere of Trogir.

E-mail: concordia-hotel@st.tel.hr

We enjoyed Top Baloon very much, but we can't imagine what they were thinking when they named the place! To start, our extremely friendly, pixie-coifed waitress was a delight – she spoke some English and very good Italian and had a great sense of humor. We liked this place so much we ate here twice in four days. The menu focuses mainly on brick oven pizza and pasta dishes, all with a Croatian bent. Their pizza is excellent and is available with a wide range of toppings – we really like the one with ham and olives, it’s delicious! We also had very good pasta here. The outdoor dining area is nestled in a pretty square that Top Baloon shares with two other restaurants. The atmosphere is happy and festive – it was a very nice dining experience. The food is typically inexpensive – with dishes costing only a few dollars. The beer and wine selection is good and very decently priced - we were even given a free liquor at the end of our meal!

The Fontana is a lovely restaurant located right on the promenade along Trogir's harbor. Part of the Fontana Hotel, we were told it is a place where locals come to celebrate special occasions, like birthdays and anniversaries, with a special meal. It was the most expensive restaurant we ate at to date during our month-long trek across Croatia, but it was well worth it (and expensive is relative - we paid about $15 USD for lobster - still a bargain by US standards).

We were given a nice table on the edge of the outdoor dining terrace, and received excellent service from several kind waiters. We dined on typical Croatian "salat," lobster, and grilled chicken with boiled potatoes (tastes much, much better than it sounds, they boil them in butter - really good!). Our meals were delicious, and the setting was gorgeous. We lingered over dinner and people-watched. We also had a great view of the luxury sailboats coming into port for the weekend. It was great - you can't beat the Fontana for a special dinner in Trogir!

The Croatian party spirit is alive and well in Trogir, as evidenced by the scene at Smokvica. We stumbled across Smokvica while taking an evening stroll, and we are so glad that we did - it is a truly unusual place. Nestled in a nook formed by the back walls of the Cathedral of St. Lovro is small square filled with bistro tables and featuring a small stage - this is the space Smokvica shares with another bar. It is really cool to spend an evening here - local musicians perform (and they're not bad!), a young, local crowd dances and drinks - all in the shadow of the imposing cathedral. It's an unlikely place to kick back a few beers and listen to music by American standards, and the fact that we were partying within such close proximity of the town's largest house of worship made the experience that much more fun. The party goes on late into the night. The crowd is friendly and boisterous. Service is pretty good - it's not hard to get refills at all. Definitely check it out - we wish we had a place like Smokvica in New York!

Mali Drvenik held many special surprises for us, and our day there will always be a very warm memory for us. Our guide book said the tiny island (permanent population of about 56) boasted terrific sand beaches – we were sold! Ferries to the island leave infrequently – your best bet for a day trip is on a Thursday, when ferries depart from in front of the Hotel Concordia at 10a.m. and leave the island later that afternoon around 6:00. Check with the front desk at the Concordia to see if there are other ferry times – we were there in late September and the tourist season was pretty much over - there may be more ferries during the summer months. The ferry is shamefully inexpensive, just about $2 for the round trip, which is an hour each way. The ride itself is lovely – the ferry passes the Croatian coastline and affords beautiful views of olive orchards and hillsides carved with intricate patterns by miles of stone walls. The water is deep blue and freezing – very refreshing when you get splashed for sticking your head out too far from the boat's railing!

Our arrival on Mali Drvenik was a non-event. The ferry dropped us off at an small, empty pier and continued on to Veli Drvenik (the larger of the two islands). There wasn’t a soul in sight, and the tiny pier, which looked like someone’s personal fishing dock rather than a dock for a large ferry, was deserted and devoid of any signs or information. We had no idea where to go, so we started following some elderly Germans who trudged determinedly off the ferry and up the hill from the dock. It soon became clear to us that these folks were as clueless as we were, so we lost them and struck out on our own, following a path littered with huge rocks (hundreds of them!) that appeared to bisect the island. Our hope was that the fabled pristine sand beaches lay on the other side, since the views we had of the west side of the island didn’t yield any sand. We walked for over 45 minutes, awed by the hundreds of olive trees and acres of hip-high stone walls. (ps – "raw" olives taste really, really bad!.) Periodically we would come upon a small stone house, but we didn’t see a soul. Finally, we came upon the crest of a hill, and down below was a cove with water so blue it looked fake! We headed down the hill, and were greeted by the most gorgeous cove. There was no sand, but enormous smooth, flat-topped rocks lined the shore. We decided then and there to give up the sand beach (after all, we live at the beach in the US – we have sand in our house let alone on the beach) and set up camp on the smooth rocks. We spent the rest of the day marveling at our good fortune to come upon such a place. We swam and snorkeled in the icy blue water (we even found huge sea-urchin shells!). We basked in the sun and slept on the warm rocks. We ate our picnic lunch. We had the entire gorgeous, secluded cove all to ourselves - it was heaven.

Since we didn’t have a clear idea of exactly how to get back to the ferry dock, we packed up and headed back up the rocky road at about 4:30. After following our noses and our instinct for about 40 minutes, we ended up right where we wanted to be, albeit quite early for our 6:00 p.m. ferry. We were in luck again, though, as the one little store on the island was about to open for a brief spell (the store apparently opens only for about 20 minutes at a time, coinciding with the arrival and departure of the ferry). Several locals had already gathered in anticipation of getting supplies and/or beer, and we waited with them. When the store opened, we were served beers on the outside patio, and struck up conversations with the locals. We had a very nice chat with three gentlemen in particular, Anton, Ivan and Josip, who told us how they came to live on the tiny island and included us in their drinking circle of about 6 men. They spoke some German, we spoke some Croatian – we asked each other questions. It was a very memorable and fun experience.

Once the ferry arrived (slightly late – but who cares?) we bade our new friends goodbye and were treated to a most amazing, bright red sunset aboard the boat. We capped the night off with dinner at Top Baloon in Trogir – a perfect end to a truly perfect day.

Trogir is a wonderful, beautiful place. The old town is situated on a small island that lies between the mainland and the much larger island of Ciovo. Trogir is connected to Ciovo and the mainland by bridges, so it is easy to stroll over to either place. Trogir is a tiny town - you can walk the whole town in 10 minutes, if you go slowly. Cars are only permitted on the periphery of the island, and the majority of "streets" are narrow, cobble-stoned passageways that wind between medieval buildings and renaissance-era palaces.

Trogir came into its own in the 1500s, and it is said that the town maintained it's cultural identity throughout the centuries in spite of a succession of foreign rulers. UNESCO proclaimed Trogir a World Heritage Site in 1997, and it is easy to see why. The medieval splendor of the city is untarnished, and daily modern life co-exists happily among the centuries-old architecture.

The town is sleepy during the day, but has a pretty vibrant nightlife. Locals come out at night to walk along the promenade, have ice cream, and see the big boats that dock come and go in the harbor. We felt that on the whole, Trogir had the best restaurants and nightlife than all of the cities we had been to in Croatia during our month-long trip. The food was consistently excellent, the people were good-natured and happy (perhaps joyful that they don't live in dour nearby Split), the town's serene beauty is incredible. Trogir seemed to the hangout of choice for hip young Croatians. We were there in late September and the tourist season was pretty much over, yet we were impressed with the number of 20- and 30-something Croatians that we encountered in restaurants and bars, especially on the weekend.

Trogir is also an excellent "base" for exploring other parts of Dalmatia. We are so glad that we took day trips to Split (only 1 half hour away) and opted to spend our nights in Trogir. Split is nice to visit for a few hours at a time, but we can get the rough city treatment at home, thank you! Trogir was like a breath of fresh air after a day in Split - we couldn't wait to get back to our little island! Trogir is also well-situated to explore surrounding islands.