SPLIT, CROATIA

Today, we arrived at our second Croatian port, Split.

Apart from some basic research on Tracey’s part, we weren’t entirely sure what to expect. As it happens, we were pleasantly surprised.

We arrived at about 8am. With the ship berthed at the quay along its starboard side (right), our cabin being situated on the port side (left) and having had breakfast on the port side of The Grill, it meant we didn’t get much of a preview of the place until we stepped off the gangway at around 10:30am.

A shuttle bus service had been laid on, but with towm only being a 15-20 minute walk away, that’s what we opted for.

First impressions are important, and I must admit that we found Split to be very welcoming and friendly.

Two words guaranteed to grab our interest in a new place are ‘Old’ and ‘Town’. Much of Split’s ‘Old Town’ is situated within the walls of what used to be Diocletian’s Palace, which was built om 305 AD. It roughly forms a large square, bounded by high walls and accessed via four gates on each of the four sides.

Soon after entering the ‘Brass Gate’, we discovered access to what was described as its understructure could be bought for €7 each. We enjoyed exploring its multiple rooms of varying sizes and shapes, and couldn’t believe just how extensive they were.

After this, we bought tickets to climb the Cathedral belltower and visit the cathedral. The Treasury was also included on our ticket, which was basically just a collection of antiquities and old paintings.

I feel I should just mention how complex the ticket buying system was. Essentially, the cathedral was split into five different segments (Belltower, Cathedral, Crypt, Jupiter’s Tomb and Treasury). A ticket for each could be purchased individually, or there was a choice of yellow ticket, green ticket or red ticket, each of which offered a different combination of locations. After scratching our heads for several minutes over what really shouldn’t be such a difficult decision, we bought two Green tickets, which gave us access to the Cathedral, its Belltower and the Treasury, which came to €13 each… costs were starting to mount up…

The Belltower was a formidable, but satisfying climb. We stopped halfway up, which was quite fortuitous because it was 12 noon, and when the bells rang out, we were rather thankful that we weren’t right alongside them.

Basically, we’re suckers for a tower. We’ve been up the towers in Sydney and Aukland, also we’ve been to the top of The Shard in London, amongst many others I could mention (Rotterdam was a notable one because all we could see was the inside of a cloud, but we still did it anyway).

The views from the top were impressive, and the climb down wasn’t half as difficult as the climb up.

Once down at ground level again, we took a walk through the cathedral, which was quite interesting, before exploring the rest of the old city.

We paused to listen to three male singers in one of the small squares, and looked on as men dressed as legionaires were happy to pose for photographs with visitors. Split felt friendly, and like they appreciated visitors and were keen to share their town and its history with anyone willing to listen.

We bought lunch from a local Croatian food outlet and ate it in one of the adjacent gardens, where we were a hoard of pigeons eager to catch any crumbs we might let drop to the ground, attempted to ambush us.

After lunch, we completed our mosy around town, deciding not to pay the €1 required to visit the public toilets, and headed back towards the ship.

We were back on board by 2pm, which gave us three hours to chill out and catch up with our blogs. I also took the opportunity to do some online student work, and together we enjoyed looking out at the flat sea and the afternoon sun shimmering on its surface. I should also mention that, earlier, before leaving the ship, we actually saw what we believe to be 3 or more blue-nosed dolphins swimming across the bay.

All aboard time was 4:30pm, and we were away by 5pm, heading towards our next port-of-call, which we will be arriving at tomorrow, and which will be accessed via tender boat.