Oh! The Places I'll Go...: Oh Split!

After the amazing walking tour in Zadar, I raced to get a sandwich, picked up my backpack from the hostel and headed via bus to the station. I knew I wouldn't have any hassle this time on the bus because I knew the #2 went to the bus station eventually! I made it with plenty of time and awaited my bus. However, to my surprise it was a van. I was not looking forward to this. In my experience, mini buses or large vans tend to have crazy drivers! As luck would have it, I had a pretty mellow one! Phew! I've never actually thrown up because of being car sick but why start a habit. I was second in line to get on the bus but people pushed their way to the front and when I got on there were only 2 seats at the back and there were two girls getting on together. Everyone else had put their bag next to them. One guy in particular had irked me because he had the same amount of baggage as me but chose to place it next to him on the seat instead of pay the 8 kuna like I did, plus he had pretty much pushed me out of the way to get in the van, real gentleman!

We plodded our way along the route to Split, when shortly after a refuel and break stop, we pulled over on the side of the road next to a crowd of people and were told to get off. He said, a bus would be picking us up shortly. I was leery but even locals were there so how sketchy could it be?!?! Soon enough a huge double decker bus pulled up. We loaded up and off we went. It wasn't very long before we began to spot signs of a city. A huge shopping mall, industrial areas, and traffic. The wonderful thing about Split is the bus, train, and ferry station are all in one area, next to the old town. The directions from my accommodations were once again vague and I guessed that if I headed towards the market I would find the "Silver Gate" (which there were no signs for)! Since I'm such a great navigator, I found the hotel with no problems and waited only a few minutes before Ivana (my second Ivana) met me. She sat me in a tiny office to fill in paperwork and I tried not to gag on the intense smell of stale smoke. Clearly, whoever used the office, smoked heavily without opening the door to let in air! Soon enough I was shown to my room where I dropped my stuff and headed out to get some food. It was now close to 7:30. I meandered down narrow passageways between ancient stone buildings while my jaw hung open. This city is spectacular. I hoped I didn't get lost in this maze of paths! I soon found a larger street heading in a different direction and I could see a river walk up ahead. Sure enough I emerged into a busy thorough fair of activity. Cafes lined one side and a walkway and palm trees lined the other with water on the end. The sun was just descending and I snapped a few shots before I wandered around.

I was starving so started checking out menus, wowzas this place was much more expensive than the other places I'd been! I found one where I'd be willing to pay for the meal and settled in. I ordered gnocchi with Gorgonzola cheese. Wow, it was incredible! Worth every penny! I stopped in at a tourist office so that I could get a map and the woman didn't even get off the phone. I tried asking some questions while she moved the mouthpiece away from her mouth and finally decided I'd find someone else. I wandered back to my room to shower and get ready for bed.

The next morning I woke early as I wanted to do a walking tour that started at 10 and needed to grab some breakfast first. I stopped into a tourist office first thing as I read about quite a few different tours and wanted some insight about which one might be best. She told me to go to a travel agent, and dismissed me. Not exactly what I was looking for. I read one that sounded great so went towards the promenade. I waited at the south gate, and waited, and waited. No one showed up, which was really annoying seeing as I had had plans to meet Ivana that I had changed to be able to make the tour. I had read about a few other tours but wanted to see if anyone could recommend one. I found another tourist office and, risking my luck a third time, went in. The guy was amazing and recommended a place I could go the next day. He also recommended a different walking tour. I headed towards the Gold Gate or the North gate where the tours met at 10:30.

Not really gold at all! It just means it's the most important gate.

Ina was great! There were only two of us, and the other guy was sort of annoying but it wasn't too bad since it wasn't a bunch of people. Ina was so knowledgeable and shared so much about the city. Parts of the city are so old, it's amazing that people have been living in the same spot for thousands of years. I just googled it and the palace (that's what it actually was) was built in 305 CE (or AD for all you old folks). We ended up being right behind my room at the house of a Nobel family (which is now a museum). It was pretty cool that my room was right there, the window faced it. And actually there was a wall behind the bed inside but outside it was really old doors! Here's some pictures of the walking tour:

The gold gate from the outside.

My room is behind me as I take this picture!

During the bombings of WWII, much of the palace was destroyed. (The walls surround Diocletian's Palace and is not a fort). The area in the south was built on lower ground so needed a basement, when the homes were bombed, they discovered the basement. More about the basements later, but basically some areas are unsafe to rebuild on because they are doing excavations still. Some people also do not have enough money to renovate so the houses look in bad shape. A lot of the homes in the palace have been passed down for generations.

The other guy on the tour had bought the extended version, so I left to go figure out ferry information for the trip to Brac. I had booked a room after doing research but after booking the room I realized the times was all for summer. It was turning out to be such a hassle. After speaking to two miserable information people at the ferry port, I was without any new information and still had no clue how I was going to make this island thing work! I headed back to the old town and explored a bit on my own.

I then decided to go to the City Museum, the one right by my room. It was ok but not a ton of stuff in English so I was looking at artifacts but didn't know what they were.

The original roof!

Afterwards, I walked to the Cathedral of Saint Domnius, which had previously been mausoleum to Diocletian. Because he prosecuted the Christians, when they took power in the palace, they but a church in his mausoleum and moved his remains, replacing them with a man he had persecuted...fate right!

The cathedral is a roundish structure behind this clock tower.

Part of the original mosaic.

I also explored a bit more:

Before settling in at the Riva (promenade) to people watch I walked a little further than I had before, just to see what was down that way

That's when I noticed a boat which was doing cruises around the area for a very decent price. I was wearing shorts and it was pretty windy so I decided I would catch the next one after I changed into pants. I walked along the promenade to explore a bit and then did some research before heading to the cruise. It was the last time of the day so we'd be lucky enough to catch the sunset while out on the water. Two of us boarded and sat up top.

We waited and waited, and the time slowly got later and later. I figured they were waiting for someone or needed more passengers but I can say they weren't really doing a great job selling it! Finally she came up to say they have to cancel because they needed a minimum of 4 people. It was already pretty late so I was actually relieved. Although the sunset would be pretty, I really wanted to see the city views! I found a cute place to have dinner and ordered a burger with a side of brussel sprouts cooked with bacon. Actually the burger came with fries but I'm really missing my veggies so they substituted for me! I wasn't quite ready to call it a night so I decided to check out the basements of the palace. I was totally alone, and it was dark so I have to say, it was a bit spooky, though very interesting!