Around and about in the hinterland of Dalmatia PART2

The second part of Around and about in the hinterland. As we left the fortress we decided to check out the town. Vrlika is a beautiful small town with cobblestone streets and
houses built out of stone in the traditional Dalmatian style. It has about 800 inhabitants but most of the people usually come for the weekend manly from Split which is only 66 km or 41 miles away. The town lays on the edge the Vrlika valley surrounded by the Dinara mountains to the north and the Svilaja mountain to the south. The Area is pretty popular as a hiking and climbing destination, with climbing spots around the Prozor fortress.

Just as we parked close to the city center we encountered the church Lady of the Rosary. The church was rebuild in 1898. and restored in the 90s after it was damaged during the war.

On the small square right next to the church stands the statue of Filip Grabovac a priest from the 18th century, sculptured Stipe Sikirica. Filip Grabovac was a Franciscan monk, writer poet and professor. He also served for over 20 years as a military chaplain in the Venetian army stationed in northern Italy. During his military service, he wrote the majority of his work and published a few books in Venice. In his books, mainly his last one Cvitu razgovora from 1747. he wrote about the mistreatment of the Croatian people under the rule of the Venetian Republic. Of over 700 printed books only 5 survived to this day and the majority of his work was burned by the instruction of the Venetian authorities. Shortly after that he was imprisoned fell ill and died in the Venetian monastery on the island of Santo Spirito in 1749.

There are a lot of old stone houses left but most of them have seen better days. This is not an uncommon sight but in the last few years a lot of these houses is reused rebuilt and are today rental homes.

After a coffee break, we decided to check out the spring of the Cetina river just 7 km away From Vrlika. On our way to we encountered a lost chicken in front of the bakery.

The Cetina river is one of the longest Dalmatian rivers with about 105 km, its spring is in Šibenik-knin county and the river flows into the Adriatic sea by the town of Omiš. The river is used up to its maximum if you follow it just a few kilometers from the spring you will encounter the Peruća lake. It is an artificial lake build to accumulate water for the hydroelectric power plant. Further on some of you who visited Croatia before will probably know the bottled water Centina which is bottled right here close to the spring. Also with Croatia being a tourist destination, the river is also used for these purposes. Rafting is a big hit on the Cetina river with fast streams and numerous river elbows parts of the Cetina are heaven for thrill seekers from all over the world.
There are two smaller springs which are also part of the river. The area was protected in 1972. The spring we visited in the village of Glavaš is the largest and deepest spring with a depth of over 150 meters and has an altitude of 385 meters.

So this will conclude part two of my travels through Croatia's hinterland. Stay tuned for part three, where I will show you one of the most important historic sites in Dalmatia the church of the Holy Salvation.

If you have any questions please let me know in the comments below.

All photos were taken with my ONEPLUS X

Check out part 1:
https://steemit.com/travel/@zija2022/around-and-about-in-the-hinterland-of-dalmatiapart1

Check out my introduction post:
https://steemit.com/introduceyourself/@zija2022/hello-there-i-m-ivan-a-archaeologist-tourist-guide-in-croatia-and-this-is-my-first-post-on-steemit