Highlights -

Zagreb, Pula, Zadar, Trogir, Split, Dubrovnik, Sarajavo, Mostar

click to enlarge

Day 1: Arrival –Zagreb

Tour Zagreb’s sites on foot. Wander through winding cobblestone streets to visit the gingerbread-styled St. Mark’s Church, St. Catherine’s Cathedral built by the Jesuits in the mid-1600’s, the 13th-century Lotrscak Tower, Croatian National Theater. Also time to see Mimar Museum – a vast and varied collection from Egyptian to Raphael and Rembrandt.

Flight to Pula to view the 1^st century Roman arena built during the reign of Vespasian, for the sole purpose of gladiatorial combat.  View the Arch of the Sergians built in 29BC, the Forum and the Temple of Augustus which is remarkably well-preserved.  Also visit the local museum holding various pieces of Roman statuary and stone sculpture from the lst & 2^nd centuries. Also, time permitting- visit the Archaeological Museum of Istria offering an overview of Istria’s history and a great collection on Roman stone artifacts. 

click to enlarge

click to enlarge

Day 4: Zadar
Take in the ancient Forum, the Byzantine St. Donat’s Church which sits on top of a Roman temple still visible.  View the Exhibition of Religious Art with its gold and silver artifacts. Also see the Archaeological Museum. Begin the overland drive to Trogir.

click to enlarge

Day 5: Trogir-Split
½ day tour covering the North Gate, a Renaissance arch forming the entrance to the Old Town and the Cathedral of St. Lawrence. Here the full influence of the cooperation between the 2 peoples of the Adriatic shores are evidenced in the Chapel of the Blessed Giovanni Orsini where the Florentine Niccolo di Giovanni, architect and sculptor created a  chapel packed with Italian Renaissance sculpture. Continue on to Split. 

click to enlarge

Day 6: Split

Day 7:Split-Dubrovnik
On to the city of Dubrovnik with its churches, museums, monasteries, palaces and fortresses at every turn. See the City Walls, built for protection first from the Venetian rule, then from potential Turk attacks. See the Franciscan Monastery and Pharmaceutical Museum in a 14^th century monastery.  We visit also a mosque, cathedral and a Sephardic synagogue.

click to enlarge

click to enlarge

Day 8: Dubrovnik-Sarajevo
Drive to Sarajevo to see the strides that the country has made to rebuilt their capital city despite the still visable traces of war.  See the once-renowned National Library in which sadly the 1896 Moorish –style building was a victim of the tragedy. However, an EU reconstruction project is underway to restore it to its former beauty. The lively marketplace of the old Turkish Quarter has retained its charm where shopping is a bargaining adventure. See the Sebilj, a wooden fountain in the Quarter’s main square and on to the site which spawned the First World War- the assassination site of Austrian Archduke Franz Ferdinand. Depending upon the status of the reconstructed museums, we will see perhaps the National Museum, History Museum, Academy of Fine Arts, or the Jewish Museum.

click to enlarge

Day 9: Sarajevo-Mostar

Drive to Mostar which extends to either side of the tourmaline blue/green colored Neretva River. Mostar is a city in transition. Devasted by the war, it now shows the signs of bouncing back – including the UNESCO rebuilding of the famous 16^th century Turkish-built bridge “Stari Most”.  We will view the Old Town with its cobblestone walkways and Karadzozbeg Mosque, built in 1557. 

click to enlarge

Day 10: Mostar-Split
Begin the day traveling to Medugorje to view the “Shrine of Our Lady” that has attracted thousands of people to the religious site. Continue driving through varied landscape to Split for return flight home.