Croatia 12 - Split personality and another move on

---

Suzy is settled in the campsite in Split Camping Stobrec a few kilometres out of town. We woke up to a grey old day which felt a little like England in March or November rather than Croatia in May. Our plan was to catch the bus into the city and we got up early enough to catch the 8.55 bus at the end of the road. We had been told by the receptionist that we had two choices - the first was to catch the bus outside the camp and to stand on the campside of the road. The other option was to walk to the other main road, cross it and catch the bus there however something got lost in translation. We arrived on time and waited. There was no-one at the bus stop which is always a bad sign. The only other person waiting was across the road and alarm bells did not start to ring. A couple of people turned up across the road and then the bus turned up. We were on the wrong side of the road and missed the bus in. Had we managed to catch it the fare into town would have been 14 kuna single fare for the two of us.

Plan B - get a taxi . We walked back to the campsite and asked our receptionist to order us one. Number 44 turned up 14 minutes later and took us into Split. We did wonder if the driver was taking us the scenic route as it took a little while to arrive but when you dont know a city you have to trust whoever takes you in.By the time we arrived the sky had darkened and the rain was falling steadily.

We walked up the promenade towards Diocletian's palace through the rows and rows of tiny shops and cafe bars spilling onto the street. Cruise ships were in town just as they were in Dubrovnik. Split is full of shipyards and grew enormously after the second world war.

What can you say about Split? Well you either like it or loathe it. It's a palace, it's Roman and there is quite a bit of it left. What is left has a city built inside it. Shops cling to its walls and the church was a mausoleum. In all honesty you probably need a guide to explain it all to you . We were approached twice to join an English speaking tour but given the time it would take and the weather we decided to carry on and explore every nook and cranny ourselves.

The palace was huge and is entered by the Golden Gate the most impressive of gates, towers and arched courtyards. There is a museum but we didnt go in as we felt a little museumed out. Inside the courtyards were shops, cafes and bars the heart of the city. The peristyle is a roman courtyard and one of these courtyards housed an underground part of the complex which gave a pretty good idea of that the palace originally must have looked like. Shops filled the arcades beneath the walls. Many of them full of goods but not an owner in sight. Honesty and trust seemed to be pretty big in Split.

Other gates to the complex were the Siver Gate and the Brass Gate. Our next port of call was the cathedral an impressive building with remnants of Roman architecture latched on to both the inside and outside of the building. We paid our 25 kuna for the two of us and went inside. The church was the mausoleum of Diocletian originally and many of his roman artifacts remained intact. its roof reminded me of the Pantheon in Rome. The altar was in the middle of the building which felt rather odd as it did not conform to normal church ordering. The cathedral was consecrated in the 7th century when the body of Diocletian was removed and St Domnius interred. The belltower was added and is Romanesque. There is an additional charge for the belltower and for the Treasury . We decided to miss both of these on this occaision.

As the rain fell we stopped for the usual wake up call of an espresso and a capuccino. We had seen a lovely cake shop on the way and planned to stop off but as the rain became heavier we felt we had enough and decided to head back to the taxi to get home.

You either love Split for its quirkiness or you hate it for the fact that the palace complex has been so ruined by building work. I am not sure there is an in between on this one.

We caught our taxi home and were taken on a detour as the driver picked up a young girl who was unwell. He politely asked if we minded taking her home and we were whisked around Splits suburbs. Yugoslavian Tito style barracks housing , Hadjuk Splits football ground - all things we probably would have missed had we caught the bus back. And to top it all we were delighted to listen to the drivers story. He was a civil engineer who could not find work and had to resort to driving taxis. He felt that Slovenia would be the next European country to go bust. He seemed to admire Titos Yugoslavia where the population were looked after from the cradle to the grave. Education sorted, a job for life and housing if you worked. But no luxuries. Now no work, buildings left unfinished, road works abandoned which explained the bridge to Dubrovnik being left for so long. But you can buy Nike shoes.

We left our site and head north again. We hadnt planned to move but sometimes the weather and circumstances force it upon you. It's into the mountains and another tale to tell.

---

Photos

Split
Part of Diocletians palace

Split
The Harbour

Split
Inside the cathedral