Split, Croatia

The second leg of my European trip with Andrej was to Split, Croatia. Croatia is a small nation east of Italy. We flew directly from Barcelona to Split early Sunday morning. It was interesting that the flight directions were conveyed in Spanish, Croatian and English. Yes, it took a long time to get through it! Here is a picture with a red indicator of where Croatia is on the globe.

This was my first view of the Croatian coastline as I flew in from Barcelona, Spain. There are thousands of large and small islands off the coast of Croatia.

The time difference was still terribly hard on both Andrej and me. Also, it didn't help that we'd been out at the closing circuit party in Barcelona the night before. I think we only had about 2 hours of sleep! The first thing Andrej did when we checked into our room was take a nap. Here is a shot of our room with the bed, two pull out bed/couches and gigantic balcony. Behind and next to me (not pictured) is a dinning area, small kitchenette and bathroom. We were both very pleased with the apartment and would stay here again!

Every morning there was a huge market made up mostly of fresh produce. It was right below our balcony and directly outside the entrance to our building. We certainly made good use of it and purchased grapes, peaches and berries to eat during our stay.

At night we had a view that looked west towards Diocletian's palace.

Diocletian's Palace was one of the most integrated pieces of history I've ever seen. The entire palace was still structurally very much intact. However, it was being used as a modern day center of the city. There were bars, restaurants, stores all inside stone/walled structures. There were several huge open air areas such as this one section where people would gather, especially at night and see performers or enjoy beverages late into the evening. Directly below this area were vast catacombs some of which were sealed off. The ones Andrej and I walked through contained mostly street vendors selling their wares. It was nearly impossible to navigate around the palace using google maps. By the end of our stay, we were better acquainted with how to navigate the palace and it's many twists, turns and yes even dead ends!

Sunday Andrej and I spent time exploring the palace as well as the local area. The bay and boardwalk were directly in front of and slightly attached to Diocletian's Palace and less than a five minute walk from our apartment so it was easy to get to and enjoy. Farther out in the bay cruise ships would dock and ferry tourists to the boardwalk area.

The boardwalk was lined with shops, stores and restaurants of all kinds. Between the businesses and the water was a canopy for people to sit and eat as far as the eye can see. At night, there were street performers out in the area. Despite being in Europe, this small section of Split reminded me a lot of Las Vegas!

On Monday we went on a tourist boat trip of the islands that included a stop at Trogir. It's an ancient city on an island between a large island and the coast of Croatia. Here is a view from Trogir across the small channel between it and the larger island.

There were many old structures and buildings on the island that today are all protected as historic locations. It was fun walking though the area (it reminded me a lot of Diocletian's Palace) as we ate gelato from one of the hundreds of stands seemingly everywhere in the tourist and historic parts of Croatia.

This is the Trogir Cathedral.

Kamerlengo Castle was built in the 15th century on the island of Trogir.

After touring the island of Trogir we were taken to a small island and had a barbecued lunch. I had the vegetarian option which was grilled vegetables and it was very good! After our lunch, we had some free time to explore around and swim if we wanted. It was slightly overcast and a bit cool, so we mostly enjoyed laying and relaxing on the shore. The beaches here were made of hand-sized rocks, so it certainly was no white sandy beaches like Mexico or the Caribbean. More beautiful to look at for sure, than lay on!

The next day we tried out the main beach directly east of the Split harbor. It was everything you'd expect of a standard tourist beach area. There were lounge chairs and shade umbrellas covering the beach. There were thousands of people there and splashing in the shallow waters. You could order drinks and surf the internet. There was even an authentic friendly life guard patrolling the area, waving hi as he passed. It was nice relaxing there in the Sun for a few hours. Public Beach.

While we were at the public beach we met a guy who was going to a private lesser known beach off the beaten path and he offered to take us along with him. We were up for adventure so off we went! We had to walk back past the other side of Diocletian's palace and hop aboard a completely packed city bus. A twenty minute ride into Marjan park had us at a hiking trail then went down to large cliff-like rocks jetting up out of the water. There were people laying out on the rocks, swimming around and diving into the water. This is where I finally got in and swam around in the Croatian Mediterranean and it was absolutely wonderful!

Wednesday was our last day in Split. We decided to hike around Marjan Park. We took some water and snacks and off we went. Here's a view of the Park map.

At the very top of the mountain was an old stone structure that may have been a small fort at some time. It held the Croatian flag overlooking the park and city of Split far below.

The view of the city and harbor in Split was really beautiful. I caught a picture of this cruise ship just as it was leaving port.

The trip to Croatia was phenomenal and I'm so glad I went. I had so many experiences and created memories that I will keep with me the rest of my life.