Days 81-82 (May 26 - 27, 2013): Split, Croatia

The Quick Facts:

* Spent all day on May 25 traveling from Venice to Split
* Once in Split, we took in the sites (well, the town square which is centered around the ruins of Diocletian’s palace), as well as the town’s beautiful natural surroundings including a large hill that provides spectacular views of the city
* Stayed at Apinelo Hostel, a newly renovated and modern hostel with a great location – convenient to the train station, the main town square, and the beaches

The Good:

* Set on the coast of the Adriatic Sea and protected by mountains, Split is simply a beautiful city perfect for enjoying the sun, the water, and the city’s (mostly) friendly people

The Bad:

* There aren’t a whole lot of sites in Split, but you’re there more for the beaches, mountains, and as a launching point for trips to the numerous surrounding islands that the Croatian coastline has to offer

Our trip to Split was a whole day affair, which included a bus ride out of Venice and an overnight train into Split.  The bus from Venice to Austria (where we caught our train) did provide some nice views:

 

Once into Split, the town’s beauty is readily apparent as you walk from the train station:

 

As always, we decided to hit the sites first, which in this case meant going to see the ruins of Diocletian’s Palace.  Diocletian was a Roman emperor from 285-305, and was the only Roman emperor to voluntarily abdicate the throne.  He was also the last Roman emperor to persecute Christianity. Most of the palace is either gone or has been subsumed into the town square where people still live, but there are some remains including the church where Diocletian is buried:

 

 

 

And the citadel:

 

The entire foundation of the palace still exists, which provides an insight into what the full palace looked like, and is pretty neat to walk around:

 

The rains hit in the afternoon so we took shelter, but managed to make it out for dinner and some wonderful sunset views of the city and its surrounding mountains.

Our second day started with a run up into Marjan Park, which is a very big hill that provides some great views of the city.

 

In the afternoon we walked along the beaches, where some people actually made it into the water despite it being pretty darn cold out.  We opted instead to have a drink at a water-side café.

 

 

Our day ended with a ferry ride to Bol, a city on the far side of the nearby island of Brac, where we went to celebrate Carrie’s birthday (see next post).

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