We Landed in Croatia and Split

Our first night in Croatia

We flew from Faro to Split Croatia via Geneva. The trip took about 5.5 hours but was uneventful. The cruise would begin the next day … they had arranged for a driver to transport us from the airport to our hotel.

You have no idea how many tourists I had to push aside to get this shot.

Split: Initial Impressions

The driver explained that as our hotel was inside the walled city he would not be able to drop us off “at” our hotel. But after walking a block through an outdoor market, and down a few steps we found Hotel Peristil, a 3-star, but clean and perfectly adequate place to sleep for one night. The location, within Diocletian's Palace, and the photo below had been the draw.

They didn’t lie … the patio, and entryway to the hotel look exactly like this.

We dropped our bags at check-in and went in search of lunch.¹ We traversed narrow streets filled with tourists. I had read that Croatia’s primary industry was tourism … I concur. We happened upon a plant-based restaurant and had one of the best lunches of the trip.

We highly recommend this restaurant … but can’t tell you how to get there.

As Croatia has embraced tourism, everyone speaks perfect English! ² We spent nearly an hour talking with our server. Like Portugal, there is no rush to turn the table. Unlike Portugal, the prices reflect an economy that has embraced tourism.³

Inside Diocletian's Palace with our guide Roko.

Free Walking Tour

We had left our home at 4 am to catch our early flight. Denise decided not to participate in the free walking tour I had planned at 16:30. While she napped I learned a bit about the city and Diocletian's Palace. One of the things that makes Split interesting is that half of the city is within the walls of the Palace. Also, the Palace seems more like a fortress due to its size and fortified walls. It was built in the third century AD, as the retirement home of one of the only Roman emperors to ever “retire”. Back in the day, most emperors “retired” after being poisoned or stabbed. But Diocletian willingly relinquished his throne and lived in the palace, supposedly growing cabbages, until his death.

Our tour began at the spot you see Denise above. Had she been there in the third century, she would have been treading water as the sea came up to the walls of the palace allowing the emperor to step from his boat into his home. The spot where we were standing with our guide above was storage for garbage and human waste. Roko is pointing at a pipe extending from the ceiling which acted as third-century plumbing.

You can barely make out a perfectly preserved Egyptian sphinx that sits to the left of the Emperor’s door.

We walked through the passageway above, where the Emperor stood above invited guests while giving speeches. Today, tourists gather on the steps to listen to local street musicians. We are still within the walls of the Palace as we stride through streets filled with shops and restaurants.

Still inside the walls of the Palace.

As you walk through the city it is impossible to comprehend how something this large could have been built in the third century. After the tour I retrieved Denise. Roko had suggested that if we wanted a good meal we should avoid the many restaurants that now ran outside the wall along the sea.. There are a hundred or more small, quaint restaurants along the narrow streets within the Palace. (Like Portugal, fish is a staple of the Croatian diet. But given the proximity to Italy, a pasta dish is found on nearly every menu.) We found one such restaurant, that I couldn’t locate again, and then called it a night. The church bells next to our hotel sounded off at five the next morning.⁴ We asked the receptionist if this was normal and were told it was. Oh well, we are typically early risers, we had a lovely breakfast and prepared for the next phase of our journey. At 10:00 we were the first to board the vessel that would be our home for the next week.⁵ Robin Leach popped into our minds. I’ll tell you all about our time on board the Olimp next week.

We are very fortunate to be able to live like this in retirement. We feel very fortunate to live in Europe.

Até à próxima semana, tchau

Nanc

My thanks to everyone that took the time to complete the reader survey. If you want to share your thoughts, please access the survey below.

1. One of the many wonderful things about living and traveling throughout Europe is that your cellphone works. Yes, you are Roaming, but não faz mal. For some reason, our cell phones could make calls and send/receive SMS texts but did not support data during our trip. I am off to the MEO store after I write this post to find out why.

2. We are fortunate that English is our native language. We are unfortunate to have grown up in the US believing that was the only language we needed to learn.

3. More on this in a future post.

4. You might know that our home in VRSA is behind the town’s church. Yes, we hear the bells on the hour and half-hour…but they begin at 8:00 and stop at 22:00.

5. I would call the Olimp a large boat or yacht…but the captain referred to it as a ship.