Split

This was a 3 day stop for me (the longest one so far) and I am so glad I did. I really enjoyed Split! Something I have learned about me is I do love a good “old town”, wandering through alleys and cobblestone streets that are hundreds of years old. This one was no exception. The entire old town is enclosed within the palace walls, which as always is super cool. This one was built by a Roman Emperor as his retirement residence, because I guess why not. But the limestone and marble of all the buildings is really stunning, and because it’s a UNESCO site, you get all these cool descriptions of what each one used to me. I walked into several stores that were built into the altar area of a church, or the holding area for soldiers weapons. I just think that is so fascinating.

Speaking of shops, I went into so many that had hand crafted, locally made items that I couldn’t help myself and did some shopping. But how often do you get a chance to buy a hand painted silk shawl that is made to look like bird’s wings? Yeah, I didn’t know either, so I bought it while I was there, because HOW COOL!

I did a boat tour, as the islands of Croatia get a lot of press, and it’s for good reason from what I saw. We toured around the old town on a small island, then swam in one of the most beautiful places (and saltiest! But, oh, I do love just floating in the sea), and then on to a beach bar, where I got to know some of the other people on the boat. Highly recommended to get out and meet people and see new things every once in awhile. From the boat I was really able to understand how both Game of Thrones and Mama Mia were filmed here, because without seeing it, it didn’t really make sense in my mind.

I also ate really well while there. The first night was a well rated restaurant in the old town where I had oysters (disappointingly not local, which I thought surely it would be given it was in the name), but then the local specialty of rizotto ‘al dimi’. Then, I went to a Michelin starred restaurant for a very fine dining version of Croatian food, and I was not disappointed (imo I could have only been improved with a take away bag of the house made bread and butter along with the butter sauce from the hake and the jus from the meat, but no one asked me), and my last night wandering straight from the boat into a really nice place (that thankfully made no face at my sea tosseled look), and had a delish seafood pasta.

Overall, Split was a wonderful stop, and I would definitely be open to coming back and spending more time there in the future!