Splendid Split

Tuesday 17 July 2012  - Split

Day 95 and 64 to go

Despite being by the toilets where there was heavy traffic and noise it wasn’t too difficult to sleep. Paul used his earplugs so he was right. I had to fight off mozzies during the night resorting to the quilt to keep me covered but I sweltered under it. 

We were awake by 8am. The bright, blue sky poking through the roof vents. We got ourselves out of bed. Paul went for a shower and I had breakfast. On his return he told me the showers were cold and you didn’t get the full 7 min that you pay your 2 Kunas for. I opted not to bother.

At 9am we were ready to head out. We stopped in at reception to see if we could have a spot, as we had seen some vacancies. We were given a choice of 4 so we went to check them out deciding on one close to the water. With the van connected to power we left the campsite and found the bus stop just outside.

There was a large group of French students on summer camp all loaded up with their packs and when the bus arrived it made for a tight squeeze. At each stop on the way into town more people crammed themselves on. I was so glad when we finally made it to the centre and we could get off.

We wound or way passed the green market until we met the city walls and we located the entrance gate into the Diocletian’s Palace, one of the best preserved monuments of Roman architecture in the world. The first part was built in 293AD. It really was remarkable. With so much white marble everywhere.

We entered the tourist bureau to enquire about tours to the national park. We then continued on stopping at a small tourist operator where we booked a day trip to Krka National Park for Saturday.

We wandered aimlessly around the streets not really sure of the direction we were heading in. Constantly looking up at the buildings. In one square there was an aboriginal man playing a didgeridoo. That was quite amusing.

We stopped at a bar and had a drink, enjoying the time to people watch and listening to all the different accents. We found a small snack bar selling squid so we bought some and sat outside on a bench to eat it. Unfortunately this just made us hungrier so we darted down the small alleys locating Split’s oldest pizzeria and stopped for a pizza. It was lovely sitting out in the open air under an umbrella amongst the old buildings.

With lunch done and our bellies full we went in search of a post office. Luckily it was marked on the map we had so we had some idea of direction. We firstly wandered through the street markets checking out the different wares before posting a letter home.

With everything seen we made our way back to the bus stop and with great timing a bus arrived and we were heading back to our campground. It was thankfully not as busy as the journey in.

We passed through reception on our way to book Friday and Saturday and then it was back to the van to unwind. Paul had an afternoon siesta while I caught up on the blog. I sent an email to Terry and Christine to let them know we were let into Croatia and not detained and returned to Italy. 

By 4.30pm we were sweating in the van so it was on with the bathers and off to dip our bodies in the inviting Adriatic. We found a place to put our things kicked off the shoes and ow! With no lovely white sand it was a painful hobble to the water over the small pebbles that became larger as we entered the water. In the end it was a case of swim, just to get the feet up off the ground. Paul found an area that was muddy and covered in weeds that he was happy to stand on, but not knowing what might be lurking I chose to keep my toes where I could see them, out in front of me while I floated around. 

It was very refreshing in the water. Doing it's job to cool us off. We then decided to go and have a drink which meant leaving the water, me in fits of laughter as I stumbled along on the stones. I am so glad we don't have to do that at home. We found a spot to sit overlooking the beach and dive board where we could enjoy a drink and watch the antics of some young and fearless kids jumping from the board. It was very amusing. 

We returned to the van and I went for a shower. The water was no warmer this evening but I didn't mind. We got ourselves changed and then we went for a walk around the bay and found a restaurant to have dinner. It was quite busy but the staff were efficient. I ordered grilled squid. Boy did it look fabulous when it arrived and it tasted as great as it looked. I think Paul was put out that he had gone for steak, as he usually orders squid when we go out for dinner. I did let him have a few bites though. I am so generous! 

With dinner done it was back to the van to play cards for a while. It was still quite warm outside. We had the door open and the citronella burning as I didn't want the mozzies back. By 9.30pm with the cards finished and Paul victorious it was time to head to bed.