We arrived in Split on September 1st and stayed for a little over two weeks. Split is the second largest city in Croatia (after Zagreb the capital) with about 160k residents. We walked everywhere around this very walkable city, visited Diacletian’s Palace, hiked to the top of Marjan Park for great views, shopped in two local malls, and took an overnight trip out to Hvar Island. On Hvar Island we started in the town of Hvar and then worked our way over to Stari Grad and then all the way to the east end to Sućuraj, where we enjoyed the hospitality of our Split Air BnB host and his father at their longtime family home.
On our arrival in Split, our Air BnB host, Nikola, gave us a walking tour of the local neighborhood to point out grocery stores, bakeries, and his favorite fish market. Then he walked us down to Plaza de la República in the Port of Split where he left us to enjoy our first dinner there. It was a balmy and lovely evening, which felt great after a very uncomfortable bus ride from Zagreb earlier that day, which I described in the previous blog post.This is a view to the south in Plaza de la República in the Port of Split. It is a U-shaped plaza that was built in the 19th century to resemble Saint Mark’s square in Venice – but on a smaller scale. It sits in the Port of Split, just west of Diocletian’s Palace. This is one of the little plazas in Old Town Split, inside the walls of Diocletian’s Palace. There are many of these plazas throughout old town and they are very charming. The lack of automobiles is very refreshing and we love the walking culture.Our Split Air BnB was decorated with several original oil paintings created by the host’s father and grandfather. The apartment was owned and managed by their family. It had 2 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms, which was very comfortable for us. We were sad to leave it after only 15 days but there was a grinding construction noise from upstairs that was too intrusive. This Vespa was parked in front of our apartment in Split. We affectionately named it “Bluey”We strolled through several Mall stores, in this case, admiring their cute appliances. The port of Split is big and handles large cruise ships with ease. We walked down to the port almost every day for exercise and would marvel at which ships were there each day. We discovered an online app called “MarineTraffic” that allows you to track all ships in the world, similar to how the flight app “Flight Aware” allows you to track all aircraft in the world.
The Bell Tower in Split, which is part of the Cathedral of Saint Domnius.This is Diocletian’s Palace, which is an ancient Roman palace and fortress complex built at the end of the third century AD by the Roman Emperor Diocletian as his retirement residence. Today the palace forms about half of the old town of Split, Croatia, with 3,000 inhabitants and numerous shops, boutiques, cafes, bars, and restaurants. It is listed by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site.The peninsula directly west of the Port of Split is entirely covered by a massive park called Forest Park Marjan. The lookout at the top is at about 560 feet of elevation and there are many miles of trails and wide paths like this one.A view from the north side of Marjan port, looking across the water toward the Split airport.Every place has its pros and cons – Croatia is no exeption. The biggest con for me (Susan) was the abundance of graffiti. Croatia is relatively safe and the graffiti is not gang related, but the graffiti in many areas unfortunately takes away from the charm. We know that graffiti is very abundant in many parts of Europe so this is something we will have to get used to.Part of being a full time traveler entails getting health, dental, and other personal care in foreign countries. In this case, Susan had a very thorough teeth cleening at a dentist office in Split. It cost 80 Euros, which is about $94. In Croatia, the dentist is the one who does the cleaning – they do not have very many dental hygenists in the country.Catching the catamaran ferry from Split to the town of Hvar on the Island of Hvar. Another balmy and beautiful September day ahead of us. The Krilo Ferry line seems to be the most popular in Croatia, according to both our Croatian host and Google.
We went for a stroll along the lengthy boardwalk in the town of Hvar on the island of Hvar.“Star of the Sea” Church in Hvar town on the island of Hvar.After spending a few hours in the village of Hvar, we took a taxi to the gorgeous little village of Stari Grad, where we stayed the night. This is a a picture of a random side street near the port of Stari Grad. The town’s name translates to “Old Town”, and it is one of the oldest continuously inhabited villages in Europe. We both really fell in love with this place.In the village of Stari Grad, on the island of Hvar, there is a plaza that has a water misting system built in the ground. It goes off every few minutes, providing a cool vapor mist that you can walk through.One of the hotels we strolled past in the Port of Stari Grad.The next morning, we took a taxi from Stari Grad to the small village of Sućuraj on the eastern end of the island of Hvar. We met up there with our Split Air BnB host and his father at their longtime family home. This photo is taken in the their traditional dining room, where we enjoyed a delicious lunch.Following lunch, we meandered over to a small waterside cafe for some drinks and a relaxing afternoon sit. We really live the “Cafe Culture” of Europe and sometimes on a hot afternoon there is nothing better than a comfy chair and a water view.This is another Krilo catamaran ferry approaching to pick us up from Sućuraj (on east end of the island of Hvar) to take us back to Split. It moved at about 50 km (38 miles) per hour in the open water and was a very comfortable ride. It caused us to decide that we will take the ferry instead of the bus to Dubrovnik when we go there toward the end of the month.
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