Bill's Blog

Split, Croatia

We got up at 4:30 in the morning on Thursday, the 15 of September. We had a ferry boat to get on before its 6:00 am departure. We had packed the night before and had almost everything ready. After a shower, a bit of breakfast and coffee, we made our way to the east side pier in Korcula. The catamaran ferry left on time and delivered us to Split some four hours later.

We hiked a mile to an address that someone sent me for an apartment rental. The manager was not there but a neighbor got him on the phone and soon he was there. We could not have that apartment. A pity as it was quite nice. But he did have a room with a shared kitchen for us on the other side of the old town. It was suppose to have internet and it did for the first two days. Our so called free 3-g service from t-mobile does not work worth a damn is Split. I called t-mobile to see if we could buy a fast data stream. If I understood them correctly, they want $25 for 1/2 a gig that would last only one week. This is an insanely high price. So, I had to say forget it.

Well, anyway we found a place to rest our heads at night and we did get a couple of days of internet. We will be moving on as soon as possible. We explored a bit of the city on Thursday. The big draw to Split is the Dioclitian's Palace, which was the retirement home of the Roman Emperor Dioclitian. At one time about 300 AD the temple was the city. As time passed the city expanded and as the temple began to wear, parts of it were superseded by new structure. Still, much of the original structure is still there. We spent most of Friday trying to explore every last bit of it.

Saturday started a bit on a sour note, but by the time it was over Saturday was one of best days in Croatia. The sour notes were in the morning when it rained and the internet in our rooms ended. But that was the morning.

By noon on Saturday we were on the move. We walked to the the docks in the city center. We boarded a public transport boat to cross the huge bay and go to the the town of Trogir. The boat passage was about one hour with only one stop along the way. Trogir is a very small town on a very small island. The island sits between the mainland and a very large island, and all are connected by bridges. We spent several hours exploring the town and its old buildings.

As the afternoon came to a close, we got on a bus that was headed back to Split. We got off the bus at Kastel Stari about half-way to Split. We met up with a wonderful German couple from Bremman that we met at concert in Korcula. Their names are Christian and Anneke Garst. We shared an excellent meal in the open are on the coast of the Adriatic Sea. We shared stories of our lives, our former jobs, our children and grandchildren. On the way back to Split I told Betty what a delightful day it was for us.

Our last two days were not very eventful. We arranged to move to a room with internet. We went into the old city to hang our and drink a coffee. Last night Betty cooked a great dinner. They say it is unusual for this time of the year, but there was a big thunderstrom last night. And there was a good rain this afternoon.

Tomorrow we will travel to the Plitvice Lakes National Park and the day after that to Zagreb. Be sure to click the slide show link for more photos of Split and Trogir, Croatia.

Bill with Chris and Anneke Garst

Posted by bill at September 19, 2016 09:49 AM