United States or South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !
The round tower to the north-west dates from 1378, when the Dalmatian towns were allied with Genoa against Venice, and Traù was the rendezvous. A few discoveries have been made of pre-mediæval things. In 1899, some half-mile towards Spalato, two terra-cotta urns were found, one of which had been mended with straps of lead.
The isolated rock on which the fortress stands appears to have been an outwork of Salona in Roman times, and some assume that it was Andetrium, which others place farther off; the Byzantines called it Clausura. It is the key between Sinj and Spalato, its possession effectually closing the pass to an enemy. The Avars took it in 640 by stratagem, disguising themselves as Romans.
Then we were out of the town, spinning on through the wild, unreal-looking country towards Spalato. "What new ground for honeymooners!" exclaimed Sir Ralph, enchanted with everything, in his half-boyish, half-cynical way. "I shall recommend it in The Riviera Sun for a wedding trip en automobile. Shouldn't you like to do it, Miss Beechy dawdling, not scorching?"
From Spalato we laid our course due south, past Solta, famed for its honey produced from rosemary and the cistus-rose; skirted the wooded shores of Brazza, the largest island of the group, rounded Capo Pellegrino and entered the lovely harbor of Lésina.
The direct boats, on leaving Spalato, steer between Solta and Brazza, and round the point of Lesina, proceeding by the Canals of Curzola and Meleda towards Gravosa; and we cannot do better than visit the islands in much the same order. Solta is the ancient Olinthia, celebrated for its honey; Olinthian honey was held to be superior to all other, except that of Hymettus.
His book was immediately spread throughout Europe; but of all the translations, perhaps the most noteworthy was the English. Sarpi had entrusted a copy of the original to his friend, Antonio de Dominis, Archbishop of Spalato, and he, having taken refuge in England, had it translated there, the authorship being ascribed on the title-page to "Pietro Soave Polano."
Placed there at the head of the gulf, on the borders of two great portions of the Empire, it leads to the land which produced that line of famous Illyrian Emperors who for a while checked the advance of our own race in the world's history, and it leads specially to the chosen home of the greatest among them. The chief glory of Trieste, after all, is that it is the way to Spalato....
Four hours steaming south from Sebenico brought us to Spalato, the largest city of Dalmatia and one of the most picturesquely situated towns in the Levant.
But there are no Croat companies ready to bear the expense of coming to Spalato, so the theatre remains closed! The story told by Fortis is as follows: "Venice was exchanging prisoners-of-war with the Turks, and gave several Turkish soldiers for each Dalmatian.
One evidence only of modern civilization did we see the railway from Sebenico to Spalato, the first we had come near in Dalmatia; and we congratulated ourselves that we were travelling by automobile instead. No tunnels to shut out some wonderful view, just as our eyes had focussed on it, no black smoke, no stuffy air, no need to think of time tables!
Word Of The Day