Exploring Croatia With Darka

Step by step, revealing layers of history  With every step we stumble over a stone that tells a story leading us into past centuries. Prothyron as a decorative cloak at the entrance to the emperor's private rooms today wears elements from all the centuries through which our city came into being. If you look at the entrance to the former apartment of the Emperor Diocletian, you can see the Roman architecture from the time of the palace construction, but right at the entrance mantle of the Prothyron  there are much older monumental columns with Corinthian capitals, which the Emperor had transferred from distant Egypt, which he also ruled. Between the pillars of the Prothyron, two chapels were built in the Middle Ages, which are still there today. In the backside of the Prothyron, above the entrance to Vestibule we see a large supporting arch built of brick and tuff in its original Roman shape. Further we see the Vestibule, a magnificent hall that was a representative entrance to...

Since the eighties, when I started working in tourism, I have constantly been hearing stories about different adventures, legends, and customs. Again and again, we were told and trained how these stories should be passed on to tourists. I remember how we used to stop by tobacco fields so that tourists could see, touch, and smell the plants. I remember how we presented freshly baked bread, still warm from the ashes under the bell. I remember going into the village and showing tourists an old mill that was still working. The landlady would bake delicious sweets, while the master of the house would proudly show off his wooden sculptures — a wonderful example of naive art. When I was a child, I remember how mostly older men would invite tourists into their little boats and take them across the bay or to a beautiful beach. Sponges, shells, stones — even today, you can see children selling beautiful natural objects to tourists . Sweet memories by Darka  All of this is a form of storytell...