Continuing on to Split, Croatia....
Tuesday, August 14, 2012
We didn't do a full inventory of the apartment the night before so I'd thought I'd give it a little love. Yet again we had booked a three person apartment instead of the main hostel (which looked a little shabby). The apartment was ADORABLE. It was the equivalent of a three story walk-up with a little downstairs, a mid-level bedroom and an upstairs complete with kitchen and bathroom. It was much nicer than the slightly shabby looking hostel (Hostel Sunseekers).
We woke up early and hit the market to buy figs, bread, salami, olive oil, walnuts and pag cheese for our picnic in Marjan Park.
Marjan is a huge park that overlooks the city of Split. It was quite the hike (we were panting by the time we reached the top) but the gorgeous views of Split were well worth it. A perfect view for a picnic. On a random note, keep hiking uphill even if there doesn't appear to be a path because the best view is from the lookout at the top of the mountain which isn't marked THAT well.
After taking in the views, we wandered down the hill towards Kasjuni Beach on the far side of the park from downtown Split. It took forever to get there because the road curved in on itself a couple times because of the steepness of the mountain but the resulting beach was relaxing, sunny and beautiful - totally worth it. Plus it probably didn't hurt to walk off all the rumpsteak I'd been consuming. We napped for a few hours and walked back into town (there is also a bus but it only comes every 20 minutes or so and so it was quicker to walk).
We changed and then spent the early evening wandering the old palace ruins watching fire dancers and eating "award-winning" chocolate gelato which definitely deserved it's name.
Dinner was at Fife, a super cheap, very tasty restaurant that had been recommended by the hostel. We ordered the goulash and gnocchi and then passed out early.
Wednesday, August 15, 2012
Turns out grocery shopping really works considering we woke up the next day and had leftovers! To start off the day we decided to try the shop next to us where you can have little fish nibble at your feet to clean them. It felt SO weird but was also fascinating. The shop also played amazing classic American songs like Backstreet Boys and the theme song for the Neverending Story. So random.
This time we decided to head the opposite direction to try out Bacvice Beach which is apparently a little more "touristy." Turns out this was my favorite "beach" of the trip. It's kind of set up like a pool with lounge chairs on concrete around the edge but then has a small strip of sandy beach at one end. The nice part is that it was deep along the concrete edges so you could just jump right as opposed to wading out over painful rocks. We spent most of the day here although the food options are kind of crappy.
The way back consisted of me buying purple sneakers (yup I'm a shoe whore), drinking beers and seeing the old palace.
We also touched the big toe of the statue of Archbishop Grgur Ninski just outside the Bronze Gate. Grgur Ninski was one of the first bishops to speak in Croatian during services instead of Latin (Pope was NOT happy about that). Apparently touching his big golden toe brings good luck.
For dinner we hit up San Giovanni's where, you guessed it, I had the grilled platter of rump steak, bacon, peppers, onion and eggplant with a bottle of Pejalvasac wine. It was sooo good and really filling.
We rounded out the night at Charlie's Bar which was TERRIBLE. A Spaniard told Lil Sass she sounded "Like a Mexican" in a really disparaging voice and a really drunk Irish kid kept following me around the bar and finally got mad at me for not talking to him. Apparently dodging through people to get away wasn't enough of a hint.
The only highlight of the night was Lil Sass complimenting a guy on his shirt to which he replied with "Let's swap shirts" to which she replied "Ok." He then retorted with "You American girls can't hold your piss" to which Lil Sass responded by tearing off her shirt and handing it to him. Wide eyed he took his off and I got an amazing picture of the trade.
Seeing as that was the ONLY highlight we left and went home. This ended our time in Split. I'm sure part of the depression was the Australian withdrawal we were both going through. Split just can't compete when you are coming from Hvar. However, it is a beautiful city and definitely should be a stop on anyone's Croatian adventure.
Tuesday, August 14, 2012
We didn't do a full inventory of the apartment the night before so I'd thought I'd give it a little love. Yet again we had booked a three person apartment instead of the main hostel (which looked a little shabby). The apartment was ADORABLE. It was the equivalent of a three story walk-up with a little downstairs, a mid-level bedroom and an upstairs complete with kitchen and bathroom. It was much nicer than the slightly shabby looking hostel (Hostel Sunseekers).
We woke up early and hit the market to buy figs, bread, salami, olive oil, walnuts and pag cheese for our picnic in Marjan Park.
Marjan is a huge park that overlooks the city of Split. It was quite the hike (we were panting by the time we reached the top) but the gorgeous views of Split were well worth it. A perfect view for a picnic. On a random note, keep hiking uphill even if there doesn't appear to be a path because the best view is from the lookout at the top of the mountain which isn't marked THAT well.
After taking in the views, we wandered down the hill towards Kasjuni Beach on the far side of the park from downtown Split. It took forever to get there because the road curved in on itself a couple times because of the steepness of the mountain but the resulting beach was relaxing, sunny and beautiful - totally worth it. Plus it probably didn't hurt to walk off all the rumpsteak I'd been consuming. We napped for a few hours and walked back into town (there is also a bus but it only comes every 20 minutes or so and so it was quicker to walk).
We changed and then spent the early evening wandering the old palace ruins watching fire dancers and eating "award-winning" chocolate gelato which definitely deserved it's name.
Dinner was at Fife, a super cheap, very tasty restaurant that had been recommended by the hostel. We ordered the goulash and gnocchi and then passed out early.
Wednesday, August 15, 2012
Turns out grocery shopping really works considering we woke up the next day and had leftovers! To start off the day we decided to try the shop next to us where you can have little fish nibble at your feet to clean them. It felt SO weird but was also fascinating. The shop also played amazing classic American songs like Backstreet Boys and the theme song for the Neverending Story. So random.
This time we decided to head the opposite direction to try out Bacvice Beach which is apparently a little more "touristy." Turns out this was my favorite "beach" of the trip. It's kind of set up like a pool with lounge chairs on concrete around the edge but then has a small strip of sandy beach at one end. The nice part is that it was deep along the concrete edges so you could just jump right as opposed to wading out over painful rocks. We spent most of the day here although the food options are kind of crappy.
The way back consisted of me buying purple sneakers (yup I'm a shoe whore), drinking beers and seeing the old palace.
We also touched the big toe of the statue of Archbishop Grgur Ninski just outside the Bronze Gate. Grgur Ninski was one of the first bishops to speak in Croatian during services instead of Latin (Pope was NOT happy about that). Apparently touching his big golden toe brings good luck.
For dinner we hit up San Giovanni's where, you guessed it, I had the grilled platter of rump steak, bacon, peppers, onion and eggplant with a bottle of Pejalvasac wine. It was sooo good and really filling.
We rounded out the night at Charlie's Bar which was TERRIBLE. A Spaniard told Lil Sass she sounded "Like a Mexican" in a really disparaging voice and a really drunk Irish kid kept following me around the bar and finally got mad at me for not talking to him. Apparently dodging through people to get away wasn't enough of a hint.
The only highlight of the night was Lil Sass complimenting a guy on his shirt to which he replied with "Let's swap shirts" to which she replied "Ok." He then retorted with "You American girls can't hold your piss" to which Lil Sass responded by tearing off her shirt and handing it to him. Wide eyed he took his off and I got an amazing picture of the trade.
Seeing as that was the ONLY highlight we left and went home. This ended our time in Split. I'm sure part of the depression was the Australian withdrawal we were both going through. Split just can't compete when you are coming from Hvar. However, it is a beautiful city and definitely should be a stop on anyone's Croatian adventure.
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