Split

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Through the miracle of GPS, we found our way to Veli Varos of Split without incident on Sunday night.



As soon as you set foot here, it's pretty clear that the street layout and buildings haven't changed much in hundreds, if not a thouusand years, which is one of the big charms of the area. There are only a few of the widest streets, which can accommodate one traffic lane and a parking lane (but its tight). Most of these are dead ends, with a pedestrian only 'street' continuing on. These pedesteian streets are the norm, and reflect the nature of these communities when they were originally developed. Typically about 8 -10 feet wide, they are paved, have small streetlights, street names and formal addresses for apartments, cafes, and other businesses. There are also a number of even narrower passageways that may lead to a courtyard providing access to the back of buildings. In short, this is a 1,000 year old, 1km by 1/2km maze.



I think that this is still a residential neighbourhood, with plenty of locals. But seasonally tourists may come close to outnumbering locals now, or sometime in the future. It's hard to guess because the locals don't mill around and won't be as visible. We witnessed a local being mildly rude to a tourist at a market yesterday, and suspect that there is some animosity to the waves of people who descend in the city every season.



And descend those tourists do. Collectively, we're like a plage of locusts. The waterfront (the Riva) is a huge pedestrian walkway lined with restaurants on one sides and boats for hire to get to the islands. It was busy with tourists yesterday (also a day with a cruise ship parked in the harbour) from 10am to late at night. And Diocletians Palace was swarming with people. This is one of the things that I wasn't looking forward to, travelling during peak season, but reality is, the crowds didn't bother us much.



Our landlord Frane has been excellent. The briefing he gave us when we arrived was the most thorough we have seen, going over everything in the apartment carefully to be sure we understood. (mercifully, he stopped short of getting into the shower and turning it on so that we knew how it worked). Then he sat down with us over the map to show us where the apartment is, and where we can find different attractions. I pity him that he has to do it all again today for the next customers. The restaurant he recommended was excellent.

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Photos

Our neighbourhood in Split
No parking on the streets, but we have about a 5 minute walk to a public parking lot.

Local garbage truck
This is about 4 feet wide. Perfect for streets here.

Typical parking
This is one of the wider streets

So you want an authentic travel experience?
Lote os feral cats in the neighbourhood. Well those cats have a purpose. Found this guy one morning on the street down from our apartment.

Diocletian's Palace.
Our apartment was a 5 minute walk from the approximately 200 meter by 200 meter walls of the ruins of Diocletions Palace. The Palace was built by Roman emperor Diocletian betwen 295 and 305 AD as a retirement home. Now it's a neighbourhood with apartments, shops and museums.

Bathroom in our apartment
The building was renovated to create two apartments, so the bathroom takes up space in the front hall. The hot water tank is above the toilet, and is turned on using a switch on the wall, just like the fan.