Saturday 18th May
Split
Today was our last ferry ride, and we were headed back to the mainland. The seas were quite rough, making for a bumpy ride, swaying this way and that. I have to say, I'm going to miss travelling via boat, it's been such a little slice of luxury!
We can see Split Old Town as we are cruising in towards the harbour, but we can also see high rise buildings and built up housing outside of the old city walls! This is the biggest place we've been for a long time!
We disembarked and it started to rain, so we quickly make our way across the harbour, and round the old town to our accommodation, passing markets along the way.
We're staying about a 5min walk out of the old town in a beautiful old apartment building! Our Airbnb is so cool! There's a whole downstairs area with a kitchenette, couch and table, and then a little spiral staircase leading up to a loft bedroom and bathroom!
It was a funny little staircase where we had to step with the right foot first because of how it was built (it also felt very flimsy).
After we had managed to get our bags up the stairs we got stuck into our sandwiches that we had made this morning.
I don't know why, but for some reason I was really tired and because we're on holiday and have nowhere to be I indulged in a nap!
Later in the afternoon when there was a break in the rain we ducked out to get some groceries and found what has become our new favourite snack of Croatia, pralines! They're sooo good! Little chocolate domes filled with different flavours, kind of like the same texture as the inside of a strawberry Freddo Frog.
We just had a chill evening munching on our pralines and chilling out while the rain pattered on the roof.
Sunday 19th May
Split
The neighbours had a party last night and were pumping the music until 6am, so we didn't exactly get much sleep!
So given the lack of sleep and the fact it was raining (again) we decided we would just have a lazy Sunday chilling out on the couch! We discovered that the wifi doesn't reach upstairs so dragged our doonas and pillows downstairs, folded the couch out and snuggled down! It felt like when we were kids when we'd get up early, bring our donnas out and watch Saturday morning Disney!
Monday 20th May
Split
It's final Game of Thrones day!
Downstairs to our internet couch we go to watch the finale!
The next couple of hours were spent chatting to everyone at home (mainly discussing GOT with Pete!)
A little later the rain stopped so we headed out into Split Old Town to have a little explore.
It is such a cool place, really beautiful, and not at all what we were expecting.
We entered the city through the main gates by the water and walked through what seemed to be a beautiful underground section with market stalls lining the walkway. It was gorgeous! (This underground area was also used in Game of Thrones as the set of where the dragons were kept.) At the other end of the room we climbed a set of stairs that opened out into the old town and were taken by surprise! We had popped out in a beautiful square within the Diocletian's Palace, with grand roman pillars framing it and an Egyptian sphinx! There are so many influences here from being under different rules throughout history.
We wandered around the beautiful ruins of the 4th century palace that was built for the Roman Emperor, Diocletian.
We meandered through character filled narrow streets that used to be part of the palace but now make up more than half of the old town, hosting shop fronts and housing, and eventually found ourselves at the Golden Gate.
The Golden Gate is a beautiful 4th century roman stone archway and another entrance to the Diocletian's Palace and Old Town.
It is on this side of the city that there is a really cool giant statue of Gregory the Nin and a street of market stalls in front of a park. Like in Verona where rubbing Juliet's boob was supposedly good luck, it is apparently good luck to rub Gregory the Nin's big toe!
It had turned to evening and everywhere had a much more relaxed feel to it, people were less in a hurry and just seemed happier. We meandered the streets getting lost in the Old Town for a while longer before discovering the promenade running between the ocean and the Old Town. It was a beautiful wide pedestrian street lined with palm trees, markets and open dining restaurants with people sipping on cocktails looking out at the ocean. It looked like they were setting up a stage or something as well.
With the sun setting late it always seems to be later than we think, so we headed back to the apartment for some dinner. Split is such a beautiful city.
We stopped at the Spar on the way home and picked up a veggie lasagne, and oh my goodness, it is honestly the best lasagne I have ever had! It was delicious! It was so full of flavour, and every layer was something different, there was pesto and pumpkin and feta and spinach and I don't know what else but mmmm it was good!
We settled in for the night and seeing as though we watched the last episode of Game of Thrones today, it only seemed fitting to watch another last, the last Big Bang Theory (while of course munching on some pralines!).
Tuesday 21st May
Split
We had a chill morning at the apartment and then headed out after lunch to explore.
We walked along the promenade and it was so lively! There were so many more people around today, and they had indeed finished setting up a stage, and there were so many more market stalls. It looked as though there was some kind of festival going on. It was such a good atmosphere.
We followed the promenade past the old town and then weaved down some winding streets until we found some stairs and climbed up these to a park on a hill.
We had a fantastic view looking back out over Split from up here.
After we had taken in the view we headed back to the apartment for the night.
Wednesday 22nd May
Trogir
Our time in Split has come to an end and it is now time to move on again, but not by ferry this time, we're back to buses. But not just any bus. That's right, our trusty old FlixBus runs this route! We've missed FlixBus!
A little while later we arrived in Trogir, our home for the next two nights, and it is gorgeous! It's a little old town on a small island connected to the mainland and a larger island by bridges.
We have a cute Airbnb in the centre of the Old Town. It's really lovely, right in the heart of the winding streets and has great views!
Our host met us upon arrival and was really friendly. He is also a tour guide, so was telling us all about Trogir, and Croatia as a whole. Everyone we have encountered here has been so friendly and lovely. He even left us a few treats! There was some mineral water, biscuits, almonds, and some local liquor to try!
We spent the afternoon wandering around the island town. It's like Venice in the sense that you just get lost in the streets, but because it's such a small island, you can't really get lost! It is such a beautiful place. We even stopped for an ice cream!
Eventually we started to get hungry so went in search of the grocery store which was back on the mainland. It is such a small place it literally took less than five mins to get there!
Today just keeps getting better and better, first there was the joy of riding on FlixBus, then great accommodation, a beautiful town, and you will never guess what we found next, mini eggs!!!
There was an Easter clearance shelf that Sam found and on it were three bags of mini eggs!!! You know we picked up all three! And here I was thinking that I'd already had my last mini egg. What a day!
Thursday 23rd May
Trogir
We had a chill morning in which I also may or may not have accidentally flooded the bathroom (whoops!). The shower was some fancy one with massage jets in it, but I couldn't get it to work, and when I got out, the bathroom floor had a not so thin layer of water covering it! Oh no! I think the jets must have been leaking!
We had an absolutely delightful afternoon getting lost in the streets of this beautiful, beautiful town. I can't get over what a gorgeous place it is, every turn reveals more beauty, and there is so much character. Croatia is a really stunning country.
After returning to the apartment for dinner, we headed out again when it was dark and walked over the bridge to look back at our little town, twinkling with all its' little lights on. It was beautiful!
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