SUMMARY Drove to the town of Split where we stayed one night. Wikipedia says: “The city was founded as the Greek Colony of Aspálathos in the 3rd or 2nd century BCE on the coast of the Illyrion Dalmatae, and in 305 CE, it became the site of the Palace of the Roman emperor Diocletian.” Apparently it was abandoned for a time. Eventually, citizens moved into the Palace grounds and started building houses and businesses within the walls. Very cool place with lots of bars, restaurants and hotels among the ruins. Great dinner in an old courtyard with our group of now 8 people with Ted and Nöel having arrived from Munich. - Karen
DETAIL
We wake, still laughing at Ron’s corduroy joke from last night. We’re in a house with three levels and a very full kitchen and dining room, so we have breakfast “at home”. Eventually we are successful at filling out the required government online documents to record who had spent the nights.
One topic of conversation is some yelling next door (on the other side of a shared wall) at 3 a.m. Apparently this woke a few of our number who poked their heads our the window, or went outside, to see what the hell was going on. Karen and I thankfully had missed all that.
We bathe, pack and assemble the remaining food for our drive to Split. In the process Nancy realizes she has lost her new, cool looking Tilly hat. We pack the car and close up the house one last time. Before we drive off Ron looks under the car and finds Nancy’s missing Tilly hat.
The drive to Split is 1 hr 45 minutes. It’s along the water similar to much of the driving we've done here in Croatia. In Split we’re finally in a pretty big city. Parking is plentiful but pretty much all full. We eventually find a spot that’s sort of big enough for our car and park.
It’s a 15 minute walk to our rooms and en route we realize that we’re in a tourist town. There’s the requisite city walls and ‘gate’. At the gate are Roman soldiers in full regalia for (presumably paid) pictures. Our hotel is really just a building with a lobby and three big rooms, one on top of the next. We are on the first floor and Ron and Nancy are on the third. The fridge in our room is stocked with beer, soft drinks and wine, all complementary. Not what we need but we have some (we don’t want to be rude).
For lunch we walk to a restaurant we’d read about: “Fig” about a 20 second walk from our rooms. It’s Croatian-Mexican so we’re excited but feel we’re not totally turning our back on the local culture. It’s surprisingly good. What we assume is very tasty red chili sauce, like you’d get in New Mexico, is actually made of local smoked paprika. Minds blown.
We somehow get separated from Mike and Liz. Their hotel is in a different part of town from ours. We’ll hook back up for dinner, we’re sure. The remaining four of us wander around town and eventually the boys (Scott and Ron) split off to return the rental car at the Split airport.
The seemingly too young female inspector finds where our car had what appeared to be a new significant nick. From the pictures we had it was indeed added on our watch. Damn. We don’t think we nudged anything, but rather it was some car parked near us which wasn’t careful backing out. It seems that the car rental company deals with this all the time and were prepared to just take the paltry some of 613 euros for repairs. Grrr.
After a quick shuttle bus back to the old town we hook back up with Karen and Nancy and do more investigations of Split. It’s amazing how much there is to see in the old town, given how small it looks on the map. There’s lots of gelato places, lots of shops for tee shirts and other souvenirs. There were a ton of bars, coffee shops, and restaurants. It’s a serious tourist town but fun and popular. Great people watching.
At the appointed hour we meet the rest of the group (now we’re up to our full capacity of eight with the addition of Noel and Ted). Dinner is delicious and there’s plenty of wine. After dinner we do more wandering around town, this time with Mike (of Croatian heritage) as our guide.
If the city seemed full of people before now it was even more so. The bars and restaurants were full of people and those who weren’t in one of those were on their way or (like us) just wandering around. The old city, where we are, is all well lit and clean, and interesting/fun. It’s late when we say our good nights and head back to our rooms, but we’re sure that the night life here will be going on for many more hours.
Photos
Another nice room!
First things first: Lunch. With beer, of course.
Good, tasty local food, with a Mexican flair. Yum!
Inspecting the damage that apparently happened on our watch. The trip just got a little more expensive.
Staying in old town. It's really well fixed up and fun, and also a big draw for lots of tourists.
Not sure if they're actually from Rome, but the soldiers will happily have their pictures taken with you for the right price.
The main square
Dinner! We finally link up with Nöel and Ted, our seventh and eighth for the trip. Yay.
Delicious dinner, though some apparently needed some touch-up at the table
Mine (grilled tuna and grilled veggies) were perfect as delivered
The magnificent eight
The city is at least as fun after dark with the buildings illuminated in dramatic fashion
Such an interesting history! Sad we don't know what it is.
Most of the city is well illuminated but a few alleys are a tad on the dark side
Shopping! So many rubber duckies. Tell us what you're into and we'll find your ducky.
Marble makes a great flooring material
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