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Split, Croatia

We enjoyed breakfast at our hotel before the short walk to the bus station in time for the 10am departure to Split. Well would have departed then if the bus was not booked up – which kind of was annoying as the day before when we were checking it out I asked whether I should book then, and she said no – tomorrow. No worries, we went to the waiting room inside away from the increasing rain and I did a bit of catch up typing and Vernon did people watching and waited for the 11am departure.

One thing we are both noticing is how many more people smoke in Europe and how it is allowed in more public places such as restaurants. Last night we moved tables from outside to inside as people lit up all around us and it was not nice at all whilst trying to eat. I know, nothing like a reformed smoker …..

Had an interesting chat with a Canadian couple whilst waiting, the female was originally from Slovenia and it was her first trip back ( she said they were in their 60’s – didn’t look it). He was a musician from a band and Vern said he looked familiar and the wife did mention that he had spent a lot of time touring away from home over the years – wonder who? Must do some googling!

Speaking of chatting with people we met a really lovely Aussie lady and husband from Tasmania on the ferry over and had some great laughs and actually met a mature couple from the Waikato in Dubrovnik although we didn’t have as much in common with them (they could have won a wingers or ignorance award…)

The bus trip was almost 5 hours of winding road, mainly along the coast with high hills on one side and lovely coast on the other. The weather had gone from lovely and hot to rainy and cooler which was a shame as I am sure the scenery would have been even more spectacular if we could have seen the jewell of a sea.

When not following the coast the rest of the countryside is equally as beautiful, very green, rural and rivers abound. I have loaded a couple of videos through taken through wet windows to show just how pretty it is, despite the rain. It would be great to explore on a self drive although some areas did look quite rough and poor – however they istill had a lovely natural beauty. There were nice wildflowers everywhere and I saw some new ones and even some signs to watch out for deer.

One town we passed through was called Omis and it looked fantastic with a river going to the sea and a huge rock natural fortress and pretty harbour. Its not too far from Split so depending how things go we may get a bus back for a look. We saw signs for a dinosaur park, so will have to google that too.

Another place had a stone town that looked either ruined by time or war and then deserted. I would like to find out more about the recent history of the area. We also had to pass through border control twice as the bus intersected the Bosnian border. Lucky we had both passports on us as no one told us we needed them at the bus as it must be presumed you would know this before hopping on the bus.

Arriving in Split was a little surprising as it a/ looked a bit rough and ferral and b/ is a lot bigger than what Dubrovnik looks and yet it is meant to be smaller. The port is not as pretty or clean but our first priority was a toilet as there was only one stop on the bus very early on and we were BUSTING. Not good!

We found our apartment easily as we were provided with good instructions by the hostess who is Australian by birth to Croatian parents. She came here on holiday and married local! It is a luxury modern very tasteful room inside a 500 year old stone home in an old area just outside the old town walls.

There are lots of modern shops around in small old buildings making an attractive blend of the old and the new. We settled in our room and then went out for a pizza at a place recommended by Antonia only about 5 minutes walk away. Reasonably priced too – 1 pizza and large greek yoghurt dressed salad, clear fish broth soup with a few rice kernels, and two drinks for NZD 33. It was nice, but not as good as the Bosnian or something I would recommend highly to others.

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