In September this year we headed to Croatia for our Summer holiday. We have visited Croatia previously, in 2012 and instantly fell in love with the beautiful scenery, friendly people and great food.
We flew into Split early on Sunday morning with several hours to kill before the afternoon ferry departed for the island of Vis, where we would be spending the next six nights. We'd been to Split only briefly during our last visit, only a quick stop on the way from Dubrovnik to Hvar and hadn't thought much of it then, really only seeing the harbour area.
After dropping off our bags at the bus station, we headed into Split Old Town to spend a few hours just exploring the streets and Split's most famous site, Diocletian's Palace.
We
quickly realised that we had judged Split too harshly on our last
visit, I blame the long and hot bus ride for affecting our opinions! This time we thought the city looked beautiful, especially the Old Town.
Diocletian's Palace was built in 295 by the Roman Emperor Diocletian, using stone from the neighbouring island of Brac. It was surrounded by a stone wall, and parts still remain in the present day.
The
entrance to the Palace is beautiful, with huge stone columns and
arches, surrounded by stone steps which were full of locals and tourists
escaping from the hot sun.
The area around the Old Town is amazing, and the harbour is lovely for
relaxing with a cold drink before hopping onto your ferry. There are so many tiny streets, that the best thing to do is put your map away and just wander, the Old Town is small enough that it's almost impossible to get lost.
Split is
mainly used as a stop on the way to or from somewhere else, usually one
of the many islands off the Dalmatian coast. It's definitely worth a
visit, whether you have a couple of days, or a couple of hours.
After a couple of hours of wandering around, we were starting to feel the effects of having woken up at 4.30 a.m. to catch our flight. We stopped off at a juice bar for some healthy treats, and sat in the shade for a while to get our energy back.
Split has some beautiful squares full of cafes, bars and restaurants, which make almost everywhere in Split perfect for people watching, one of our favourite activities. You can really learn a lot about a place by just watching the locals going about their day.
Several hours later it was time to head back to the harbour to catch our ferry to Vis. The ferry was huge, and the trip took a leisurely two hours. One of the reasons Vis is so quiet is that it's just a little bit further to go, most tourists stop at the islands that we passed on the way, Hvar and Brac, both known for their huge party scenes!
We'd been to Hvar during our last visit to Croatia, and it is lovely in the off season, but in the high season we were happy to go a little bit further for some peace and quiet.
We arrived in Vis just as the sun was starting to set, giving us a beautiful view as we pulled into Vis town. After settling into our apartment we headed out for a quick dinner, before heading back and crawling into bed, looking forward to seeing Vis in the daylight and exploring the next day.
a great part of the world looks quite lovely
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