Thursday Doors in Dalmatia, Croatia

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The setting for my Thursday Doors* post is Croatia’s coastal Dalmatia region, a distinctive spot on the globe where the Adriatic Sea and the Dinaric Alps mountain range converge to create stunningly beautiful and dramatic photogenic effects. I focus on doors in three areas in Dalmatia: the town of Makarska, the island of Brač, and the island of Vis. I photographed the doors over the past two decades on trips to visit family in the region.

My husband teetering on the edge of Biokovo Mountain, 5,781 feet above the red-roofed town of Makarska where he was born and raised. The anvil-shaped Saint Peter’s Peninsula juts out into the sea in the center. A ferry heading to the island of Brač is a white streak on the sea’s surface. Dense forests of cedar trees are visible along the coast.

One aspect I truly love about Dalmatia’s doors is how they incorporate the natural beauty of the area, whether it be the karst limestone of the surrounding mountains, the dark green of the cedar trees endemic to the region, the bright green of the oleander and agave plants that pop up along seaside trails and walkways, or the use of climbing plants as adornments.

I’ll begin in the town of Makarska, featuring doors in the old town and on Saint Peter’s Peninsula.

St. Mark’s church on Kačić Square is the focal point of Makarska’s old town. The church was constructed in 1700 using karst limestone from Biokovo Mountain, which rises up in the background. And don’t forget to check out the door! Its rectangular shape, sharp edges, and karst limestone casing are architectural characteristics ubiquitous throughout Dalmatia’s doors.
Rustic dark green door, its sharp edges softened by a charming climbing plant. The door is encased in karst limestone, of course!
Dark green mid-entry door nestled amid climbing plants and accessed by karst limestone stairs with a wrought iron railing. I was fascinated to find the mid-entry concept in Croatia, an architectural design I was first exposed to when I lived in the southeastern part of the USA.
Door finished in a dark green, almost black lacquer. The bright green potted plants, including the oleander on the far left, lend a striking contrast.
This several centuries old door at my favorite wine bar on Kačić Square departs from the more traditional rectangular shape, but exhibits the karst limestone casing. The story goes that merchants would display their wares on the little shelf that intersects the entry.
This door (or rather, where there was once a door during medieval times) on Saint Peter’s Peninsula is a favorite photo op year after year. I am pictured in front of the door above and below, fourteen years apart. The rounded shape of the doorframe predates the rectangular shape more characteristic of the past few centuries, but the use of karst limestone is already apparent. If you venture through the door you’ll find depressions in the earth where graves once were. The remains of the graves’ occupants are long gone.
Ah, to be young again!

Now I’ll jaunt over to the island of Brač, an easy forty-five minute ferry ride from Makarska. The island of Brač is, in fact, where I happened upon the most breathtaking and vibrant door I have seen in Croatia to date. It is featured above at the beginning of the post and below. I love, love, love the ensemble of door and plant, how the door’s darker and brighter shades of green reflect the two colors of the agave plants that crown it. The bright green climbing plants in the background add dimension as well.

This dreamy door on the island of Brač beckons us to a seemingly divine, magical world just beyond it.

When my family and I want to escape the hustle and bustle of the heavily touristed coast, we head out to the still relatively remote and undiscovered island of Vis, the farthest out of all of Croatia’s islands. We love the towns of Komiža and Vis and enjoy wandering their quaint and picturesque alleyways. Below I’ll share photos of doors discovered on those wanderings.

These doors along Komiža’s Ribarska Ulica, or Fisherman’s Street in English, exhibit the same architectural characteristics as many of the doors on Croatia’s coastal Dalmatian mainland.
This black, stately, intricately decorated door in the town of Vis looks like it would be more at home in the Belgravia district of London, but is beautiful and welcome just the same! The lunette above the door features reliefs of common Dalmatian symbols, specifically, grapes, an olive branch, and an amphora.
And this lunette above a door in Komiža captures the area’s nautical identity with a sculpture of a seashell.
I’ll close this post with a photo of my niece posing by a garage door with a nautically-themed mural of an octopus in the town of Vis. We often see the cute little creatures when we swim in the Adriatic Sea. They are smaller there than in other places in the world, no larger than one foot, tentacles included.

*Thursday Doors is a weekly photo challenge hosted by Dan Antion on his blog No Facilities. He encourages door lovers throughout the world to create posts of doors photographed on their travels. Please visit the following web link to learn how to participate: https://nofacilities.com/category/thursday-doors/.

Published by Dalmatian Insider

I enjoy blogging about my two favorite pursuits in life, figure skating (as a woman who returned to it in her 40s!) and travel. My travel entries are from various locales around the globe, including Croatia, a country where I have family.

24 thoughts on “Thursday Doors in Dalmatia, Croatia”

  1. You have a wonderful eye for photography. I love your vignette about each photo. Keep traveling and sharing. Blessings, Janet Love

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  3. Oh! These are lovely the doors the settings and your family….your husband is brave!!! And your lovely niece as for you you look great now and then!

    All things being well we hope to visit Croatia later this year…. It’s many years since we first visited there. 💜💜

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    1. Thank you so much for your sweet comments! Yes, my husband is brave and scares me to death with the risks he takes just to get great photos! I hope you can visit Croatia again soon. Let me know if you have any questions. I look forward to checking out your blog!

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  4. These are wonderful doors. Thanks for joining with us at Thursday Doors. The photos are beautiful, and I love the descriptions interlaced between them. This is my second attempt at leaving a comment (I hope it shows up). I can’t pick a favorite. I thought it would be the first photo. Then I though St Mark’s Church. Then the green door, then the arch, then the side view of the green door on the slope – there are too many good ones!

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    1. Thank you so much for your detailed and thoughtful comment! I agree… it is challenging to select a favorite… they are all so unique and beautiful in their own way! I’m already looking forward to finding more doors when I head to Croatia this summer.

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  7. Lovely set of captures. I don’t think I’d be brave enough to stand on those rocks like your husband! But what a great picture! It’s also neat how you were able to take a picture in the same spot fourteen years later. I can see why that rounded door is a favourite spot for pictures. Looks lovely. We’d love to visit Croatia someday. It’s high up there on our travel bucket list.

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  8. These are all such beautiful doors. I love capturing windows and doors whenever we travel the world as they can reflect the architectural fashions of a past time, furnish an insight into the heritage of a region, provide a compositional framework for a better picture, or just produce a literal window into other people’s lives. And let’s face it, it’s always interesting to peek into someone else’s house or yard, just to see how they live. Thanks for sharing, and have a wonderful day 🙂 Aiva xx

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    1. Thank you! I feel very fortunate 😊 And so, so sweet about your father. It’s unfortunate how things like history and political upheaval can get in the way of maintaining connection, a common theme the world over, it seems.

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