So here I was all refreshed from a Good night’s sleep, after a nice trek at Plitvice Park and all ready for our ride to Split where we planned two days of stay. The travel distance is around 276 kilometers and you can cover this in 4 hours easily. The landscape changes drastically here, as you move from forest land to sea side here. We had to surrender our car in Split, as we decided to move over to an island (Bol) from here for another 3 days.
The City of Split, located on the eastern shore of the Adriatic Sea, has a long, rich history. With Greek and Roman Influence, split has a rich culture, beautiful architecture and there is no shortage of things to do in Split. As we approached our Airbnb apartment by noon was welcomed by the cool sea breeze and lovely sight of yachts and small boats docked all over. The apartment I had booked had a beautiful balcony and it faced the sea. The view from here was astounding and the host was kind enough to stock some chocolates, bread and croissant for us too.
She explained to us what are the top most things to do here and also gave us a nice map to follow. The town is pretty small and it’s really hard to get lost here . So after dumping our luggage over, we grabbed a quick lunch over at a restaurant which was just below the apartment before we decided to explore the city.
Here are the top-most things to do in Split if you are here for Two days:
Visit the Old Town:The Old town here is well preserved and the best to catch by foot. You can easily walk the cobbled streets around here for two hours exploring the Renaissance architecture and the narrow streets. Don’t miss catching the Marmont Street, Pjaca Square with Beautiful marble tiles, the Fruit Square full of traditional markets.
Diocletian’s Palace: While you in the Old Town, make sure to visit Diocletian’s Palace, a land mark of the past built in 4th Century and it contains a military camp. It’s a gorgeous citadel where the ‘Game of Thrones ‘scenes were also filmed. We walked the evening here and It was gorgeous with the setting sun there. They also had a musical show in there for the night . Post the show we decided to hit the square . The Peristyle square is the central square of the palace, made of red granite pillars. The place is full of beautiful little shop’s and holds some of the best restaurants of Split.
Saint Dominus Cathedral:This one dates back in the 7th Century and if you climb up the Bell Tower you will catch the best view of the City. The Bell of this tower rings every hour ,so ensure you are not up there when it rings to save your ear drums from damage.
Marjen Hill:This was just a short walk away from the water front apartment where we were put up and you need to climb a few stair’s to reach the top. Once over top you will see the most fantastic view of the whole city. There is a nice coffee shop (Vidilica café) and it serves one of the best coffee in Split. We relished a brunch here and it was worth it.
Take a Short Sailing trip to one of the Islands from here:You can take a short half day or full day sailing trip from here to the Beautiful Island’s nearby such as Hvar, Vis, Bisevo . These trips also offer you lunch on these islands with a glass of wine. We also did the Blue Lagoon trip on this where snorkeling was also allowed.
Take a Walk on the Riva – Split’s harbour: The promenade is a relaxing place to walk around and you can take a nice evening stroll here and sit over in one of the cafes or pub with a nice Croatian coffee, beer or wine. If you are lucky, you can also see a live music performance set in open –air while you are here.
I realised in Split that people in Croatia were really warm and friendly . We were like having dinner in one of the restaurants and there was this couple sitting next to us and this lady striked up a conversation with us . Knowing we were from India she was pretty excited and we ended up having a delightful time with them as much as they offered their food to us too .
After like two enjoyable days in Split we decided to take hover raft to reach one of the many islands of Croatia which is ‘Bol ‘. It is situated on the southern part of the island Brac, and is the oldest town on the coast of Brac. This little town was founded long ago and became an extraordinary tourist oasis because of the wide gravel and sandy beaches which expands over 10 km and the sources of drinking water. It is not possible to avoid the Zlatni rat, certainly the most beautiful beach on the Adriatic Sea, whose cape is turning one moment to one side and the other moment to the other side playing a strange game with the wind and the waves. Croatia’s most photographed beach extends like a tongue into the sea for about 400m. Pine trees provide shade and rocky cliffs rise sharply behind it, making the setting one of the loveliest in Dalmatia. There’s a small nudist section immediately west of the cape.
Bol is an ideal place to relax with its quiet beaches and spas. We spend over three days on this island just chilling away with no agenda on mind and enjoying some luxury spas and wine cellar visit’s before we drove to Dubrovnik which was our last stop over.