How is it that I didn't know that Croatia was the name that we give the country? It took me about two hours to realise that Hrvatska is the country's native name. I blame it on my jet-lag, which seems to have hit me hard this time round. Yes, I know, I'm ancient-ly old now, so that is what I should expect. *raspberry*
After what seemed an incredibly long set of flights, we finally arrived in Split at one of the most informal airports I've ever stepped foot in. We walked across the tarmac in a haphazard fashion, not guided by officials but just following the crowd. Into the building 500 m later and wait in line to have your passport stamped, and welcome! Customs?? What are customs??
We jumped into our hire car and started to make our way into Split. We thought we were so damn clever getting a hire car; no need for buses or trains, the ability to carry our luggage easily (and acquire extra along the way)....we thought we were awesome. Until we realised that Split is dominated by one way streets and a set-back with the GPS meant that Cameron (Andrew's mate that we are travelling with) was attempting to navigate with a shoddy tourist map littered with frustrating tourist icons rather than giving an accurate portrayal of roads. Adventure!!!
Needless to say, getting to our accommodation took about three times longer than it should have. The bright side is that we got to see a lot of Split in the process. After checking in, we mosied down on into the old town to check out the small centre that we hadn't seen in the car.
There's not a great deal going on in Split, but that's not a bad thing. The town had quite a chilled vibe to it, although possibly because they're not far from entering the low season. Have I mentioned that I love travelling to Europe in September? Great weather and not as many other tourists.
Anyway, the only place really mentioned in your guidebook is Diocletian's Palace, which is not any one particular building you trot off to see, but rather the old structure that the 'old town' is situated in. Lonely Planet tells me that it consists of 220 buildings and you can find museums, a cathedral, a temple, and galleries amongst the plethora of cafes, bars and shops. Didn't check out anything in particular, just wandered around the mostly narrow, quiet streets (it was a Sunday afternoon). You have to watch your step though; the cobblestone streets have been walked over MANY times and they are quite slippery. Andrew nearly came a cropper a few times, but that's his own fault for wearing thongs. Stupid Andrew. It was a nice break up to the kind of zombie like shuffle that we had going on though. Shuffle....shuffle....shuffle...slap, slap, whoah, slap, slap, slap, slap.....shuffle...shuffle.
The boys decided fairly quickly that it was happy hour, and we settled in at a bar about 100 m from our apartment. I piked fairly quickly and even fell asleep at about 6:30 pm and missed dinner. Slept all the way through to about 6 am this morning, so it was obviously well needed.
We went for another stroll this morning, and stumbled upon the fish market (which we knew existed) and a wonderful fruit and vegie market (which we didn't know existed). Come to think of it, I want a banana.
Mmmmm....tasty, tasty banana.
This afternoon we made our way to Plitvice Lakes National Parks and have settled in nicely to our rooms here. We are staying at an 'Eco-House', though we're not really sure what's so 'eco' about it. Rooms are cute and the buildings are gorgeously Swiss-chalet-y. We went for a stroll down to the park entrance to check out when it opens and all that jazz, and we were blessed with a crunchy gravel path winding through a stunning canopied forest.
I'm very much looking forward to tomorrow when we spend all day at the national park. I daresay I will have more (and prettier photos) afterwards. But for now....rest time. :)
Hope you're all well!
XX
Split photos
