It's Time to Split

Today we are off early and out of Natasa’s apartment by 6:30AM to catch our train to Split, on the Western coast of Croatia’s Dalmatian coast. We are all a little grouchy and definitely could have done with another hour or so of sleep, but that’s what trains are for… right?

We have some pretty comfy seats across the isle from the potters, and in what seems like a very quiet section of the train – of course first appearances are seldom what they seem, and we have the pleasure of sitting with the very definition of a bunch of Hens – as these four ladies proceeded to play bridge, laugh, guffaw, eat, drink, and be far too loud for the time of day. These ladies kept it up the whole 6ish hours, with none of those uncomfortable silences that might give someone the chance to catch their breath, or even think about if it might be best if they kept their thoughts to themselves. It was endearing at the offset, but by hour 3 I was ready to freak out – thank God for books!

We finally got into Split around noon and wished Allen well as he headed out to the Split airport to pick up his parents from their flight into Croatia. With Allen reluctantly placed on the airport bus, Ulises and I had Natasa all to ourselves to take full advantage of her language and navigational skills, as we tried to find our hotel, and find somewhere good to eat. We stopped into a restaurant just off of the Venetian plaza which looked like a miniature St. Marks plaza in some ways, and proceeded to order more food and beer than was really necessary. Ulises and Natasa both had tuna steaks, while I had an incredibly fresh and yummy octopus salad (this is very close to your conch salad mom) It was a great meal, and combined with the beers, we sat around for 2 hours chatting about politics, and culture, and for a few moments, shrugging off our American ness and slipping on a little bit of that European ness (which feels rather like a summer scarf) that allows the inhabitants of that continent to spend hours on end idling away in cafes and restaurants.

We walked Natasa down to the port to meet up with Allen and his parents and had the pleasure of meeting the paternal Potter before they all hopped onto the fast ferry to Hvar. Many thanks to Natasa and Allen for being such gracious hosts, navigating the world of Croatian pastries, and for hanging out with us – It was such a nice thing to see familiar faces!

We decided that we shouldn’t take a nap or we’d be out for the whole evening, so it was off to Diocletian palace. Split is known for one remarkable site, and that is the retirement home of Diocletian– old Roman emperor, who came from the Split area. He built an enormous palace just near the harbor, and over the years, the palace was co-opted by other rulers, and added on to by the people of the town, it is in interesting site, with ancient fortification walls that have air conditioners and laundry hanging out of them, as the residents of the town have built their apartments and shops in the old place. These changes have resulted in a very medieval looking city with an mish mash of modern, Venetian, Egyptian and all sort of other architectural elements tossed into a city with the winding Italian streets of a town like Verona. It is quite a beautiful, old city made of maze like streets that dead end into one another, or opens up surprisingly into large squares.

Given the size of our lunch, we weren’t very hungry until late, so we decided to find a place where we could sit and watch the Euro Cup 2008 – which Turkey decided to win this game in a decisive victory against the Czech Republic. Tomorrow we are off to Dubrovnik and another medieval city.