Split, Croatia

At some point in the 4th century AD, the Roman Emperor Diocletian decided to build a retirement palace and chose the seaside settlement of Salona (former name for Split) as the location. This massive building brought fame to the area and the UNESCO listed ruins drew our attention to visiting the city.
Our itinerary had us staying for four days, filled with sightseeing, island hopping and an overnight trip to Mostar, Bosnia - covered in a separate blog post. We arrived around mid-August, taking the overnight ferry from the other side of the Adriatic in Ancona, Italy.

Arrival in Split
Split is a popular destination for Europeans to spend their summer holidays (as at the time of visiting, Croatia had not adopted the Euro, so prices were relatively cheap) and backpackers to embark or disembark from the popular week long sailing / booze cruise island adventures that shuttle between Split and Dubrovnik. As a travel tip, we recommend booking accommodation in advance for the summer periods and direct flights from London can be expensive if booked at the last minute.

Our ferry docked into port in the early hours of the morning and lined up alongside half a dozen other car and passenger vessels that were ready to transport day trippers to the selected destination. Disembarkation was fairly straight forward, as we didn't have a vehicle and simply walked off with our luggage into the harbour area.

Good morning Split

Like nearby Dubrovnik, Split was also used as a filming location for the HBO Show 'Game of Thrones'. This now draws in the tourists and a mixed reaction from the locals - they complain about constrained parking spaces, but adore the tourist dollar. As our accommodation was not ready for check-in, so we headed to the cobblestone esplanade to find breakfast. Settling into a cafe, we ordered bacon, eggs and coffee (for under 10 GBP for two people) and started people watching and then the rain arrived.

Mei enjoying the early morning coffee

We had seen some grey clouds gathering when we left the ferry and luckily had chosen to sit under a large umbrella in the cafe. The rain arrived swiftly, heavily and lasted about 30 minutes. Many unprepared tourists sought shelter under the awnings of shops whilst the cafe staff ran around trying to collect dishes and napkin holders from being soaked.

Grey clouds - a sign of bad weather to come

Don't want to get your shirt wet - solution: take it off

After about an hour of waiting, we headed for our accommodation - Apartments Simoni; a family run Bed and Breakfast with favourable reviews on TripAdvisor. The accommodation was located on the other side of train tracks to the harbour, but thetrain service ran so infrequently that it was safe to slow drag our luggage through without being in any danger.

Our accommodation

Crossing the train tracks as a short-cut to our accommodation

The receptionist spoke a little English and showed us to an upstairs room. This pattern of rooms being located on top level floors was not accidental, with Olie having requested this in the booking so that we could enjoy the view. Unfortunately, this meant that we had to carry up our luggage over three flights of stairs. When we returned to Split after visiting Mostar we specifically requested a ground floor room.

Diocletian's Palace
The most famous landmark in Split, the historical complex of Diocletian's Palace is UNESCO heritage listed and is the most complete Roman palace is existence in the world. We toured the site independently, walking through the ruins and imagining how the structure would have looked in the 4th Century filled with Roman aristocracy, entertainment, wine and feasting.

Being a tourist site, there are many souvenir shops nearby selling sunglasses, t-shirts and magnets. Some of the areas were crowded with the packaged tour groups listening to a single guide via headphones, and in other areas it was almost deserted.

Although in the peak of summer, the heat was radiating from the stone walls and most tourists had retreated to a nearby cafe for ice-cream.

After an hour of exploring, we headed further west from where our accommodation was located, ending up in a maze of narrow stone lane-ways and residential apartments that appeared to have been unchanged since medieval times.

Following the lane-ways led us through the gates of the Old Town walls and a nearby park. Based on our knowledge of other medieval cities, old town walls were often surrounded by areas of cleared land (now converted into public spaces) where invaders would be attacked by the defending soldiers positioned on top of the walls.

We exited out of the Old Town using the Golden Gate (or Porta septemtrionalis as the Roman name), the same point that Emperor Diocletian walked through on the 1st June 305 AD. Nearby, is the imposing monument to Bishop Gregory of Nin - whereby rubbing his toe is supposed to bring good luck.

The Golden Gate

Gregory of Nin

We visited a bakery to buy a square of spinach and cheese pie. With this takeaway lunch in hand, we continued exploring the main areas of Split.

Local baked goods for lunch

The sky had cleared up and the sun emerged, making the walk down the famous promenade more enjoyable than in heavy rain. A favourite past-time for locals and tourists was to sit along the edge of the habour and people-watch. 

Beautiful blue sky

Hanging out by the harbour

Enjoying one of the pretty colonnade lined squares

Dinner and Evening Stroll

In the evening when the temperature had subsided, we continued our walk around the Old Town, stopping by the Zinfandel Food and Wine bar for a drink and tapas style dinner presented on a set of stacked plates. The restaurant served a range of wines that partnered well with the food.

We kept the wine consumption to a minimal level in order to find our way through the maze of lanes back to the waterfront. With the building lights reflecting across the harbour, we took a moment to enjoy the serenity of the surroundings, until we were disrupted by a speedboat diligently on patrol to pick up rubbish in the water.

Dinner - Buffet Fife
The final place of interest that we visited in the Old Town during our stay in Split, was Buffet Fife - a restaurant that was consistently busy with patrons next to the Harbour. Whilst there was nothing extraordinary about the service or the extent of the menu's contents - mostly grilled meats accompanied by chips and chilli onion condiments; we did eat a memorable dish of seafood rice smothered in black squid ink. Definitely not a 'first date' kind of meal - but rather a tasty celebration of the food that we enjoyed during our stay in Split.

Next blog post:

Hvar Island, Croatia

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