We caught the Krilo ferry from Dubrovnik to Split. It was an easy bus ride on the 1B service just outside Dubrovnik’s Pile Gate to Port Gruz 1. I was expecting an office or at least a ticket booth. But actually it was just a case of looking for our ferry and waiting to board at the gangway. You definitely need to book in advance – I had bought our tickets online about 3 months earlier (in April for July) – and the ferry was packed to the rafters. The trip was pleasant enough but took about 4 1/2 hours with a number of stops and we didn’t get into Split until late. All good! I didn’t even notice as I was completely zonked out by the travel sickness tablets for most of the trip!
We stayed in the old town just outside Diocletian’s Palace, though I was super surprised by the fact that you can stay in Diocletian’s Palace itself. Some of the hotels and apartments actually have parts of the original Roman ruins as walls in the guest rooms! Strange concept when you’re used to seeing ancient ruins barricaded and ticketed.
Day 1
Diocletian’s Palace really only needs half a day at the most. So this is where we started on our first day in town. The highlight was definitely the Cathedral which also got us tickets to the Treasury, Bell Tower, Baptistry and Crypt.
The cathedral is wonderful – a Roman mausoleum converted into a Christian church, with gothic and baroque elements all elegantly fused together.
I’m not too good at heights, so I stopped halfway up the belltower and watched the boys as they tackled the remainder. I’ve got to say, the more I travel the more obvious it’s becoming to me how coddled we are in Australia. There’s a different concept of public health and safety in Europe, and the expectation seems to be that individuals must take responsibility for their own safety (within limits). It’s a stark difference in cultures! Something to mull over…
After the Cathedral, Belltower, Crypt and Baptistry, we spent the rest of the morning wandering around the “Palace” – unfortunately, they were setting up a stage for the upcoming July musical festival but the character of the place couldn’t help but have an impact nonetheless. We were lucky to catch a live opera practice there later in the night – superb, what a bonus – so we didn’t mind the scaffolding after all!
Overall impression? It’s a strange place. It’s described as a “palace” – which of course, it is. But it reads more as a living, breathing walled city surrounded by other more “modern” cities ranging from medieval to renaissance and everything else besides. A real hotch-potch of styles all smashed together, but despite this and probably because of it, it’s really charming and dynamic in a way that few old cities tend to be.
Our next excursion was to the Split bus station which is opposite the Port. One word – CHAOTIC! We decided to catch a bus for an afternoon visit to nearby Trogir.
Now one word of warning. Everything you read on the net suggests that the local bus is to be avoided and that the faster inter-city buses are the way to go. We might have just struck some bad luck, but take this advice with a grain of salt!
Our inter-city bus arrived one hour late. Some of the seats were actually double booked so that people had to stand in the aisle. It was cramped and poorly air conditioned. Everyone was irate …way too much agro for me! One girl sitting on the floor pointed out to the conductor that she had a numbered seat and made the foolish mistake of asking if that meant anything. He just laughed and shrugged his shoulders while someone at the back of the bus yelled out “welcome to Croatia!” This was followed by an uproar of laughter throughout the bus and at least some of the tension was gone…
Trogir is a small but pretty tourist island. At a brisk pace, you can get across it from one end to the other in about 10 minutes.
We started at the fort, wandered a few of the small lanes and then stopped for a late lunch before heading on to the main attraction, the cathedral.
The boys decided to climb the bell tower while I explored the cathedral, baptistry and porch.
Thank goodness I didn’t join the boys! By all accounts the bell tower climb is a hair-raising experience which involved climbing a ladder for at least part of the way. I gather that if you have trouble with heights this is not the bell tower to climb – one lady had pretty much lost it d was crying all the way down!
Our next stop was the nearby Museum of Sacred Art where we saw some special paintings by Gentile Bellini (the brother of the famous Giovanni). We wandered down some more lanes most of which were lined by tourist stores and then decided that we had pretty much covered everything we wanted to see. All in all an interesting excursion but somewhat blunted by the fact that we had already visited Dubrovnik earlier in the week and cannot even begin to compare.
After our earlier experience we decided to catch the local bus back to Split. It took maybe 15 minutes longer but it came straight away, there was plenty of room and we got the chance to see more of the country along the coastal route as well as people watch. A much more pleasant experience. The bus stops west of the old city gate walls and it’s a short walk back into town (going in the other direction from Split to Trogir you can catch the bus at platform 1 on the central bus station).
Day 2 (Half Day)
With only half a day in Split left we decided to explore the Veli Varos neighbourhood on our way up to Marjan Hill.
First we had to park our luggage as our flight out wasn’t due until late afternoon. We decided to use the lockers at the Bus Station – super-reasonable at 15 kuna for the use of an all-day locker which fit all three of our wheeled carry on bags.
We had no map but headed towards the northern side of town and up the first set of stairs that we could find. It’s a steep walk up the hill, passing little stone houses and laneways along the way.
As we climbed, the hum of the city slowly slipped away, and the views gradually became spectacular. The first lookout was just below the Jewish Cemetery, near a cafe where we later had lunch.
The longer and steeper part of the walk began after this, first up a sloped path to St Nicholas Church, where we turned in and took the stairs through the trees all the way up and past the zoo up to a lookout.
The landscape here in Croatia is truly beautiful. Sparkling clear blue waters dotted with forested islands and on the inland side, craggy sparsely vegetated hills.
Including lunch, we spent about three hours here then headed back to town for a quick ice-cream, catching the shuttle bus at the central Bus Station and heading off to the airport.
A final observation? If you are visiting both Dubrovnik and Split, my advice would be to start with Split. Dubrovnik really can’t be matched for beauty and character. Doing it in the reverse order sets you up for disappointment when you arrive in Split – and really does Split itself no justice. Split is dynamic and real. Dubrovnik is slower-paced and fairytale-like. Both have their charm.
