With plans to only drive backroads and no toll roads we quickly changed our mind when it saved us 1.5hrs driving from Paklenica NP to Split. Although it saved lots of time the views and small towns were missed. In no time I had the fiat up to 160kmh but we were still getting our doors blown off by other vehicles on the highway. They had to been going 200-220kmh. The gas disappeared quickly so I slowed down also by the suggestion of Nicolette. We exited at Split with a total cost of the till at $10, which likely was worth the 1.5hour time save.
As we slipped our way down the cliff face through the tunnels the Split coast treated us like a fresh snack that our eyes were feasting on. It with gorgeous cliff faces and the “standard white and red” houses sat down in the valley along the coast in peace. We know this area hasn’t always been at peace but for that moment we were enjoying the peace it brought us. We were quickly greeted with mobs of people and traffic that ended the peacefulness very quickly. Due to our Airbnb being right in old town we had to park a 15min walk away, which wasn’t bad but the heat overpowered our excitement for the new city, especially the crowded 5 foot wide streets. Luckily our unit was just on the edge so our entrance and exit into old town was brief. Our Airbnb sat on the second floor of a coffee shop and the wall of the bathroom was even the ORIGINAL old town wall. If you were in the bathroom you were outside the city, if you were in the kitchen you were inside the city. Extremely cool Airbnb with lots to offer, not in space but location. Again we came from the intense hike in Paklenica National Park so we showered and made our way into the chaos.
Instantly I was a bit sour due to the over abundance of tourists that we have not experienced yet in our 2 months of travels. People taking pictures around every corner and 1million+ Instagram models getting “THE SHOT” as the sun dipped behind the Split Cathedral. They had their fake smiles on and I had my upset face on, like “get outta my way I’m hungry and you don’t need 1000 Photos”, we found the restaurant we planned on going to and of course it was booked up till 9/930. It only being 745, I was not in a place to wait that long. So we made panic decision to eat at the Pizza shop next to it. One thing Nic and I always do is make a Plan for dinner and if it falls through we make panic plans which always end up being subpar, this time almost was a positive, pizza great, company great, not crazy packed great, finally get the bill and yikes we are in full blown tourist charge season here. The most expensive pizza we’ve ever had, and I’m sure it was authentic Croatian pizza. Personally I’ve never heard of Croatian pizza either. That being said we walked down to the Riva (the main road that runs between the Palace and Mediterranean Sea) and enjoyed people watching and the lights glisten off the water.
Nicolette needed a morning to sleep in so 10am we walked out of the apartment, again bombarded by tourists scrambling from Monument to monument we weaved our way in hopes to get into the Split Cathedral. We got to the main square where the cathedral was and I couldn’t even muster the courage to walk across the square to try and enter. The line seemed the length of infinity and there was someone on every square inch of the floor. So I shuffled my way into an opening and into a basement we went. No idea where we were it seemed as though we were in a bazar with shops everywhere, and people buying trinkets that I’m sure they needed. I spot a large opening and decide I need to make a dash for it before someone else gobbles it up, and we end up in the further basement. Come to find out we are Diocletians Cellars. A very famous tourist trap and we happened to be the only few in it at that moment. So we bought tickets and strolled around The nice cool and quiet cellars.
Background: The Palace was built in 300AD for The Roman Emperor - Diocletian. Although it was originally a retirement palace for him through the years following his death it was often more of a fortress due to it being right on the water and often invaded area with a popular port.
We ended up in the cellars without plan and they were massive used for storing all the food for the palace and all of its 60000 residents (the largest city of the late empire). The cellars had been collapsed for thousands of years and only been rediscovered in the 1950’s and continual conservation continues to happen today. We learned lots and were happy to be in the nice cold air with minimal noise.
We saw a gap in tourists so we made a run back to our Airbnb and made the decision to hit the beach and have a nice relaxing beach day and get out of the hot and packed Split. Before walking to the beach we had to do our first load of laundry since May. Our unit had a wash machine and we hung our clothes out to dry out the window. Cool experience, also forgot how boring doing laundry is. During the drying period a bird shit on one of my shirts, not happy about it. So we clothes lined our now clean clothes and packed our cooler of goodies and walked towards the beach. On the way we stopped and got a local fast food meal called cevapi (fresh bun, cut in half and then meatballs tomato sauce and onions piled inside) they were absolutely delicious and we were ready for the walk to the beach. It ended up being a lot further then we expected. About an hour walk and we arrived to a packed beach with minimal shade. We had to squeak into a small spot so Nic wouldn’t get sunburned and we both were so sweaty we went straight to the water. It was very cold and very refreshing. People from all countries and backgrounds surrounded us and we enjoyed the different languages as they bounced off our ears. We did experience some naughty kids and parents that we were questioning their parental style, in the US the CPS may have been called but, we have our own kids to worry about sometime in the future. We enjoyed the beautiful loud and obnoxious afternoon for 3-4hrs. Because of the long drawn out walk their we decided to take a taxi back into split. When I saw the meter already at 50kuna(7usd) before we had even left the parking lot I knew we were in for a treat. I checked how much kuna I had and knew we weren’t going to make it back to Old town. When I told him I might not have enough money he said no problem I can stop at the ATM, I said no worries you can just drop us off here. And just like that we spent 170kuna(23usd) and I was unpleased. So we stopped into a grocery store and had to eat groceries the next 2 days because we spent all of our money haha jk but seriously, we got groceries and walked the remainder of the way back to our Airbnb.
The turning point of my Split frustration was that evening after dinner when we were walking out along the yacht and cruise ship piers and Nicolette said how much she loved the city even though it was chaotic and crazy, there were always a corner that provided a sense of calmness and proved there were slivers of peace in the old city. The sunset and clouds painted us a gorgeous picture that will forever be etched on our minds. We enjoyed a few beers along the water and found candy and ice cream on our walk back to the Airbnb with child sized grins on our faces.
There is a ton of sights to see just outside of Split so we spent the whole next day checking out the surrounding areas. We first stopped in Trogir an old port town similar to Split but smaller and narrow streets, we got their early in the morning so the streets were silent. We even stumbled into St Lawrence Cathedral in the main square and nearly died of heat during the 40min mass. We then walked to the Kamerlengo Castle to get a Good birds eye view of the 1000+ yo city.
We departed Trogir and went to Amphitheater Salona, because it was near midday and the sun was beaming down there were minimal others around. We didn’t spend alot of time here just due to the lack of shade and heat. This amphitheater was built in 200’s AD along with the cathedral near by that still had multiple sarcophagi that were once in the cathedrals crypts. In the amphitheater they would put gladiator vs gladiator up until the 7th century when that was outlawed so then it was only used gladiator vs animal. They estimate it held over 17000 people but was near the same height as the colosseum in Rome.
Only had one burek (pastry typically with cottage cheese or veal and other items) that morning before church so when we got to the Klis Fortress we made a sandwich in the back of the car. Fortress Kliss is situated on a rock outcropping that is above the city of Split. The views were incredible and we enjoyed walking around the fortress which also happened to be where they filmed a few scenes in Game of Thrones. This fortress was the entry and exit out of the Split valley and has went through many wars and different rulers since it was built 1000+ years ago.
The previous day we saw some buildings built into the side of the rock cliff so we went to find it. It was called Karepica Tower, it was built in 1523 by a wealthy family and was eventually used for housing clergymen. It looked awesome and had a great view of the sea. From there we found a locals beach that had the rockiest shore ever and we kept making fun of ourselves and others as they were walking without shoes on the sharp rocks, And to be honest my feet are more sensitive than most peoples feelings. There were also sea urchins on the sea floor so we had to avoid them as well. We also made another glorious sandwich, 2 kinds of pepperoni, cheese, honey, mustard, the cheese and honey we bought from a Roadside stand on our drive to split. The cheese was a goat chili cheese, it and the honey were very delicious and not that cheap….
Again that night we enjoyed the local street food and people watching as we weaved in and out of every street of the city. We got into intense conversation and ended up down the coast a ways and heard some music playing. We came around the corner and their was a street food and music festival going on. We grabbed a quick last bite of food and some beers and danced with the locals.
Morning came quick and the drive to Krka was a bit dry. But out of the dry desert came a massive valley and stunning waterfalls. It took a little bit to sort out hiking, parking, and how to get around the park, but we were locals in no time and saw more then we bargained for. There were 40+ some waterfalls over a 100km distance so we drove lots and hiked even more. Being off the water it was hot as can be and we ran out of water multiple times. We survived and ended at a Monastery for a Orthodox Church that was down along the water. We had a private tour of it and the crypts about the faith and the building. It capped off the long day of Another National park.
What really capped off the long day was a stop at a local family owned winery Rak. It was just off the road tucked back into the arid desert, but the wine, company (nicolette), and some cheese and olives made it the perfect day ended. Nic said that might be her favorite part of the trip so far, I know she had a few too many glasses of wine if she was talking that nonsense ;).
We popped around Split again that evening to soak up the last bit of the amazing city. And even ran across a performance and somehow we ended up backstage so we leaned against the 2000 year old wall and listened to the performance as if we were in the crowd.
With only a few things left to do we woke up early to go in the church, the crypts and the tower of Split, which we had been avoiding due tourist madness. The performance we saw the night before was getting taken down that morning so it had a delayed opening, not a big deal we were the first ones in the tower, church, baptistery, and the crypts that day and had them alllllll to ourselves. It was very peaceful, stunning, and special.
Packed up our goodies and shuffled off to the next stop!
No comments:
Post a Comment