Church spire climbing in Croatia is scarier than spire climbing in other countries. We climbed St. Duje Cathedral in Split, St. Lawrence Cathedral in Trogir and St. Mary's church in Zadar.

In other countries, the staircases to the top of spires are narrow, stone staircases. They are enclosed and feel very solid. In Croatia, the staircases usually hug the outside wall of the spire. There are lots of open windows so you can feel the breeze blowing through the spire and it feels very open. As you climb you can see that's it a long way down both on the inside and outside the spire.

At the entrance to each climb there was a sign warning you that you were undertaking the climb at your own risk. Most of the staircases that we climbed were in pretty poor condition. They were rusted metal staircases, usually covered in pigeon poo. There didn't seem to be any health and safety concerns either. At the top of St Lawrence's Cathedral in Trogir, there was no barrier or railing to prevent you from falling into the hole and down the ladder.



With my fear of heights (really, it's a fear of falling), I was pretty impressed that I made it to the top of these spires. It was definitely worth it for the views (below: Split, Trogir, Zadar).



More photos of Split and Trogir and Zadar on Flickr.

Our visit to Split, Trogir and Zadar was part of the Aegean Odyssey. Mum, Dad, Andrew and I spent a few weeks in Croatia and Greece with a quick visit to Slovenia and Austria in the middle.

Here are a few more photos of Split's Old Town. It is particularly beautiful at night.

It's been very quiet on here, hasn't it? Andrew and I have been missing in action. We've done a lot of travelling. In the past month and a half we've visited five countries (Croatia, Slovenia, Austria, Greece and Scotland). We've had a lot of visitors. We squished 6 people (well, 4 adults and 2 children) into our tiny apartment. In other words, we've had a lot of fun while we've been MIA.

While away, each week I remembered to take my photo for Project 52. I'm hoping to give you a bit of a taste of our trip as I catch up with the backlog.

"On our travels, Andrew and I have seen a lot of old towns. Split's old town kind of stands out from the rest. I haven't seen one like it. The town has been built from white marble and is still surrounded by tall, white walls. The town square is paved with large marble slabs which have been polished by the steps of thousands of people over thousands of years. First by the townsfolk and now by tourists like me."




Check out Sue's day at noodlebowl.net and her photos on Flickr.