Ivan Gučetić’s descendants maintained the Trsteno Gardens throughout the centuries, until the land was taken over by the (former Yugoslav and now Croatian) Academy of Sciences, which turned it into an arboretum. The garden has a gorgeous Renaissance layout with a set of geometric shapes made with Mediterranean plants and bushes (lilac lavender, green rosemary, fuchsia, bougainvillea), while citrus orchards perfume the air. It’s only partially landscaped, though – quite a bit of it is just wonderfully wild.
There’s a maze that children will enjoy, a fine palm collection (including Chinese Windmill palms) and a gorgeous pond overlooked by a statue of Neptune and rich with white water lilies and dozens of bullfrogs. Don’t miss the two plane trees at the entrance to Trsteno village – each is over 400 years old and around 50m high.
