Day 28 Split in Croatia Again

We awoke to yet another beautiful sunny day, and had a leisurely start. We were lucky enough to have fresh bread for breakfast, from the camp store, and chocolate filled donuts??? The kids thought that was great! We were headed for Split, some 130 km away, and Richard decided to do a few caches along the way. One was down some narrow little city streets, which he couldn’t find, and we had to double park for (which basically blocked the whole road). The next one was at a little roadside cave where the Virgin Mary had appeared 18 times to some one or other, in 1858. There were truckloads (well busloads) of people there, and it wasn’t even pilgrimage day. That didn’t look good for finding the cache, but Richard and Sarah managed to find it. Meantime, Hayden and I got hemmed in by buses trying to take over our parking spot. Managed to back out ok and continue on our way. The coastline is beautiful with little villages and towns all along, and the big hills stretching up behind them.

Finally, just before lunch time, we made it to Split. Richard made some excellent navigation decisions, and we managed to find parking very close to the Diocletian palace – a Roman fortified old town with palace inside, down by the waterfront. Sarah and I went into the cathedral, while the boys went up the bell tower. They both came down saying it was really scary and open, and Hayden repeated many times that it was practically made of matchsticks with nothing at all holding it up. Us girls couldn’t see what all the fuss was about from the bottom looking up. It looked sturdy enough to us! Richard reckoned he was getting vertigo up there, and saw others go down before they reached the top because of the scare factor. There was a sign at the base saying you entered at your own risk...

We then did what we usually do in these towns, and wandered round the markets, selling fruit, veges, cheese, meat and souvenirs. After much taste testing, Richard and Sarah bought 20 Kuna of cheese (a tiny fit in your hand piece), and the poor lady looked disgusted with them! Hayden and I had our eyes set on the strawberries – sign said 20 Kuna.... Hayden asked me if it was for the whole table... so doesn’t yet have a good grasp of the currency I think. While he was working it out, they took the whole table with strawberries piled high away!! So we missed out on them!

It was nice to have a short walk back to the camper, and tonight we are staying near Trogir, as we want to visit the old city tomorrow. The camp ground is a huge one, with nice sites right by the sea. It was still really sunny when we arrived, so we all braved the beautiful clear, inviting, but freezing waters of the Adriatic, and went for a swim. I still have goosebumps from trying to warm up since we swam!

It is quite idyllic sitting here in the camper typing today’s events, while looking out over the deep blue sea (to borrow some words from our guide book – the limpid saphirine waters), and seeing little islands, and the odd yacht sail by. I think all of us are secretly hankering for a beach day, but we have so much to see and so few days, that it is pretty unlikely to happen, except in small blocks of time, like in the late afternoon when we arrive at our camping spots.