Split - an atmospheric old town, wonderful cafes and our guru

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Why did we choose to go to Split and Croatia for a long weekend? This was not just because we were curious about the country (which we were) and got a supercheap flight. The reason was quite different….

It is about 1,5 years ago that we both met our spiritual master Sri Swami Vishwananda . With neither of us being religious (we are both atheists), without any experiences with yoga and meditation before, we had started to do some mediation 2 years ago due to Nina’s illness. Somehow we knew that this illness was not an accident but the result of disharmonies in the body due to a disturbed flow of energies. Well, it happend that this form of yoga we learned here in Switzerland (it is called Atma Kriya Yoga ) is spread by Sri Swami Vishwananda in the whole world. And when he was coming to Switzerland 1,5 years ago we were invited by our teacher. When we saw him the first time, Nina could not stop smiling for days and Markus was also deeply touched by him. We were very sceptical in the beginning, but by meeting him more often (as world travelers one is always curious, so we kept seeing him) in his heaquarter in Germany and by feeling his never ending love, we knew that we have found what we were unconsciously looking for. His love and his closeness to the people, well and of course to us, helped us in a lot of difficult times lately. Whenever we have a question about life we go and see him and he is guiding us to the answers.

So when we saw that he will be giving two Darshans (blessings) in Croatia (he is giving Darshan all around the world) we thought that this is a reachable destination for us. It was basically the only reason to go to Split. We arrived 2 days earlier and left 1 day later to combine the Darshans with some sightseeing.

So that’s the reason why we stayed in Split for a full 5 days. If you just stay as a „normal“ tourist, 2-3 days is enough to discover the city. But we have to say that Split is a surprisingly beautiful place. We had rented a little simple appartment with kitchen in the old town in the area of Veli Varos. It was clean, peaceful and all the sights were within walking distance. The old town and the Diocletian Palace are both UNESCO World Heritage Sites. So it was quite crowded with tourists. Anyway, there are so many little cafes, bars and restaurants – there was enough space for everybody. The whole city is super clean.

Well, and there is Sladoleda – that means: ice cream. And it is the most amazing ice cream we have ever tried in our life! We had some delicious ice cream in Italy, we had even more delicious ice cream in Argentina. But the ice cream in Split is simply outstanding. And we are not talking about the average ice cream around the area oft he Riva. Go in the little backstreets where mainly locals are. There you find the best ones. We found one that even had a choice of vegan and vegeterian (without egg) ice cream. This was heaven for us. So we were regular guests there ;-). Our favourite ones: lavendel-honey and rosemary-yoghurt.

Ok, what else did we do besides enjoying yummy ice cream? We walked around the old town and just got lost in the little streets. In between we stopped in small street side cafes for nice white coffees or cappuccinos and just let the daily life of the city pass by. One evening we walked up Marjan Hill to observe the sunset. It was amazing, because when the sun disappeared the full moon arose. We cannot describe the colors! We enjoyed watching life going by on the Riva where tourists and locals alike meet to enjoy the waterfront. And we visited the famous city beach called Bavcice. Well, the water is really nice and clean there considering the amount of people and how close it is to the main harbor. But it was not the kind of beach we love – too packed with people, too loud and too much party for our taste. But a good experience anyway (ok, we are spoiled from our day in Solta). The beach at Marjan is much nicer. We went there another day. One can either walk the 2ks from the old town or take a public bus. We found a quiet corner on a stoney part of a beach. It was nude bathing only. Fantastic for us and very popular in Croatia.

Well and of course, 2 fantastic nights we spent with our Swamiji. So we simply had an amazing time in Split. We met lovely people, we could enjoy a beautiful city and we spent 2 nights with our Guruji. Life can be so wonderful! And we still had one more day to discover more of Croatia. But this will be another blog….

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Photos

the reason why we came to Split: Darshan with Sri Swami Vishwananda
we were happy to find the signposts in town