August 4
Today was a unique day. We had taken the night train from Zagreb the previous night and headed south to the large city of Split Croatia. This is somewhat of a focal point of the country, as it is relatively close to the other towns we were to visit. Our primary goal for today was to explore the town itself. This was the only train line in all of Croatia from Zagreb, and it ended in Split. This train station was relatively dirty and though it wasn’t exactly clean, we were still glad to be here. The hostel we stayed at was located about 300yds from the train station, and it was a great position to be located. In order to get to the hostel we had to cross through vendors and local markets to get to the location. This was filled with fresh vegetables and fruits we bought for a snack along the way. This was essentially our breakfast along the walk.
Once we checked into the hostel, we headed east of the hostel which was about a 300 yd walk to the location known as Diocletians palace, which was essentially a bunch of ruins which were almost 700 years old. There were tours available but most of the sites within this complex were accessible by walking including the church, which unfortunately had service going on at the time and was closed to the public . The ruins however were spectacular, and worth the walk. We went from there to the outer wall of the city which brings us to a nice community park. One can see the local commune hanging out and enjoying the natural beauty of the land every morning.
From this point it led us into the metro part of the city, which in their own right were still old building made of marble and concrete and had withstood the test of time for over half a millennia. Since the hostel was not exactly the most beautiful place in the city, or sanitary based on our first impression of looking at the showers, we determined it would be good to buy sandals so we could take a shower without dirtying our feet, or catching something we didn’t plan to. This was a great idea, as these would last and become an asset the entire trip.
Since the city was built along the mediterranean coast, we decided it would be a good idea to explore the city from the water. We found a great boat tour for only 20EU per person, which was a good deal relative to others, and it included wine and about an hour on the boat. This was a nice respite from being on feet the whole day. We were able to gain a new perspective of the city and see the natural blue hues of the water, and the bright orange roofs of the city in contrast. This was a wonderful experience, and though I was hesitant to spend the money at first, I found it to be more than worth the time and money. By the time we were done with the ride it was time for lunch. We ended up eating lunch on the coast where the primary personal boat port is. The restaurant was more of a sports bar and we actually had more of an americanized version of lunch, than local, but we were happy with our wings and burgers, and beer.
With this complete, and our bellies full, we decided to rest since we didn’t get great sleep on the train the previous night. Thus we took about a 3 hours nap, then decided to treat ourselves to dinner. We immediately got up, and didn’t have all left to explore so we headed to a local restaurant for a great dinner. This was our most expensive dinner of the trip as it cost us over $80 for the meal. Either way it was worth it.
It was time to head back tot he hostel after having our bellies full once again. Our goal for the next day was to get to Kryka National park, and it required some maneuvering and early morning transference to get to the terminal we needed. That story was very interesting, so in the next blog post we will explain how it is very scary going through Croatia without the proper train connection. Time for rest after a nice shower finally, and boy did we need it!
EXPENSES
13 water
110 breafast
40 EU boat ride
207 UK sandals
13 coke
175 lunch
23 snacks
485 dinner
Total – 181.35 (370.35 over)
ASHLEY THRESHOLD MET 5000 left + 500 points on chase card + 220 EU + 400 croatia