Part Four – Split, Krka National Park and back to Dubrovnik
Split is great, a bustling ferry port full of life.
We stayed in a little B&B apartment (Apartment Aspalathos) a short walk from both the seafront and sandy Bacvice beach.
Each morning friendly host Mirela left us breakfast on a tray outside our room, consisting of a toastie, a pastry, cereal, fruit, fruit juice, tea and coffee. Unusual setup but it worked well.
First thing on our itinerary was a look at the Diocletian’s Palace.
It was packed with tourists weaving their way through a jumble of Roman and medieval remains.
Plenty of cafes, boutiques and restaurants sit within a stone labyrinth.
Though when we snacked we opted for a cheaper, further afield venue.
That’s the thing with Split, you can go high or lower end when it comes to food and drink, depending on what your budget is and what you feel like doing.
Pretty much on our doorstep was a cafe (Caffe Bar Marcelina) selling a .5L local lager for 2.80 euros a pop, as well as a takeaway (Popaj) selling burgers, cevapi (like a shish kebab) and chips.
And also close by was a craft beer pub (Pivnica Prostor) selling stronger Belgium beer for not too much more, as well as a fantastic restaurant (A’E Kitchen and Wine Bar) serving great dishes such as creamy prawn pasta, fish fillet with almonds, starting around 17 euros.
We did some mooching around the old town and seafront, where you can lay on free wooden sun loungers and watch posh yachts coming and going.
We also enjoyed the sand of Bacvice beach as, up until then, our Croatian island hop had involved just pebble beaches.
The 20 euros day rental for a sunbed was something we declined, though, in favour of old school towels on the ground.
At least there is a supply of clean drinking water and free shower after you emerge, invigorated, from a dip in the Adriatic.
On the short walk to and from the beach we caught a taste of the socialist-era housing blocks with their modernist architectural vibe and graffiti.
Krka National Park
One trip we did go on was to Krka National Park, about a 90 minute coach ride from Split.
This canyon-bound sequence of gorges, lakes and waterfalls charts the course of the River Krka to the sea.
It was beautiful, but busy, with happy snappers jostling for positions to take photos and selfies from viewpoints along a well plotted wooden pathway.
It was so busy that when our tour group arrived at a quayside for a boat trip, a group in front seemed likely to fill the vessel.
But we all got on, thanks to the sterling efforts of tour leader Domo, and puttered up to the pretty 2000-year-old town of Skradin.
There, we strolled up to the remains of an ancient fortress and surveyed a tremendous 360-degree, cracking view.
Apparently the Romans came here for a good supply of clean water.
And the good thing is that when you look out from that fort, I bet a good deal of that view is unchanged from the time Roman eyes scoured the horizon.
So Split has got a good deal going for it.
And, like all of the places we visited on our Croatian island hop, the Croatian people were great too.
Our Croatia odyssey started at Dubrovnik before ferries took us to the islands of Mijet, Korcula, Hvar and Brac, and then on to Split (about six hours at sea in total).
We then took a four hour coach ride through spectacular mountain scenery back to Dubrovnik ready for our flight home to the UK.
We rounded off our final night with another Lamb Peka at the highly recommended Konoba Popret, located a little bit out of Dubrovnik up in the hills, the views as well as the food were fantastic.
Croatia is definitely somewhere we would recommend for a visit.
Go see for yourself !!!
