An Adriatic Journey: from Trieste to Dubrovnik

Highlights

• Christopher Wood, with the assistance of Dr Christopher Gribbin shows how Greek, Roman, Byzantine, Croat, Venetian, Austro-Hungarian and Turkish culture and trade travelled the sparkling Adriatic as you journey along Croatia’s magnificent panoramic coastline.
• Chart the Roman Empire’s Balkan history through grand monuments like Pula’s huge amphitheatre and Diocletian’s monumental palace at Split, later transformed into a medieval fortified town.
• Visit a masterpiece of the Byzantine world in the Euphrasian Basilica in Porec, with mosaics to rival Ravenna.
• Journey through the Plitvice Lakes National Park, one of Europe’s scenic wonders.
• View some of Europe’s greatest Romanesque monuments in Zadar and the tiny island city of Trogir, with its superb cathedral portal sculptures.
• Appreciate masterpieces of Venetian architecture like the Cathedral of St James in Šibenik and Dubrovnik’s churches and palaces.
• Skirt Montenegro’s deep fjord, fringed by awesome mountain ranges, to the medieval town of Kotor.
• Walk the well-preserved walls of Dubrovnik, and learn how this city-state avoided dominion by Venice and the Ottomans.
• Enjoy cosmopolitan Trieste and the picturesque Miramare Palace.
• Journey to the rejuvenated, historical Bosnian city of Mostar and see the beautiful 16th-century Ottoman Old Bridge, one of the country’s most recognisable landmarks.
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What's this trip about?

The sparkling azure waters of the Adriatic Sea served both as frontier between Europe and the Balkans, and trade corridor between Northern Europe and the Mediterranean. We travel from the Italian port city of Trieste down the stunning Dalmatian coast to Dubrovnik, ‘pearl of the Adriatic’. In territories once dominated by Venice and beautified by her colonial art and architecture, we encounter the legacies of many cultures: Trieste and Pula proudly display their Roman past, with theatres and temples embedded into the heart of their later urban fabric, while the vast palace of the Emperor Diocletian metamorphosed into the medieval town of Split. We explore the famous Episcopal Complex of the Euphrasian Basilica in Porec and the Cathedral of St James in Sibenik, reflecting the commingling of eastern (Byzantine) and western (Latin) worlds; Porec rivals Ravenna as the most complete Byzantine ensemble in the world. We amble through the island town of Trogir, Greek colony of the 4th-3rd centuries BC – a remarkable example of urban continuity – and explore the semi-independent trading city of Ragusa (Dubrovnik), rival of mighty Venice. Her magnificent monuments reflect past prosperity built on Balkan land trade and Mediterranean seafaring. In a deep natural bay beneath the jagged mountains of Montenegro, we visit the port city of Kotor, once an important trading entrepôt. Driving inland to the karst landscapes of Croatia’s Plitvice Lakes National Park, gentle boardwalks lead us past beautiful lakes, mysterious caves and sparkling waterfalls. We spend two days on the sleepy Island of Hvar enjoying her crystal blue waters, mild climate, grand panoramas of lavender fields, peaceful villages and pine-covered hills. Medieval Hvar town has beautifully ornamented buildings with fine stone carving developed under Venetian rule. A wonderful contrast is the bustle of the Ottoman and Habsburg city of Mostar in Bosnia, site of a savage siege during the 1990s’ Yugoslav wars. Its famous stone bridge of 1566, the ‘Stari Most’, was built for Suleiman the Magnificent by his favourite architect, the sublime Sinan.

What's excluded

• Airfare: Australia – Venice, Dubrovnik – Australia
• Personal spending money
• Airport-hotel transfers if not travelling on the ASA ‘designated’ flights
• Luggage in excess of 20 kg (44 lbs)
• Travel insurance

Accommodation