The old town in split is unlike any place we've been before. It's basically re-purposed ancient ruins right on the coast. It's a jumble of shops, restaurants, museums, and homes stacked on top of each other. You could walk right off the edge of a cobblestone street, and fall 5 feet down to an outdoor table of a restaurant. The streets are much narrower than we've seen, and the city layout is a bit more like a labyrinth. But the people are extremely helpful, and very kind.
The first thing we decided to do this morning was check out this old Roman palace called the Diocletian Palace. It was a retirement home for an emperor, built around 300 A.D. It turned out to be like a minute from our Hostel. It wasn't that impressive. We knew what we were looking for, and as soon as we saw it we said "Oh! I guess this is it. Wait... Is this it? Yeah. I guess this is it." We noticed several Roman Centurions standing around, and a large crowd started to gather around a platform, so we stood and watched. After a large introduction of horns and more centurions marching in formation, a tall man and woman dressed in togas entered the platform. The man shouted some Latin (at least we assume it was Latin), then said "In other words, Welcome", then basically walked away. The crowd dispersed. It was an odd performance. We stumbled around a bit, and by following signs that said "crypt", we managed to find the entrance to a museum. For a few euros we got passes to a crypt, a chapel, a treasury, a baptistery, and an amazing bell tower
Initially, Kaylea didn't want to do the bell tower. "Why would I want to climb a bell tower?" she asked. She soon ate those words. Aaron had some hard-core convincing to do, but she couldn't resist his infallible logic. "We already got the tickets." After climbing our way up some crazy-steep steps, more crazy-steep steps, and a long spirally, rickety, steel staircase, we found one of the most amazing views we've seen this trip. Pictures don't really do it justice, so here's a small video:
Climbing down was fun. We got a video of that too. As Kaylea reached the bottom of the stairs, she found herself in the middle of a large circle of applauding people. They were applauding a man who had just finished giving a walking tour, but it was timed perfectly with Kaylea exiting the staircase. She took a bow, and everyone laughed. It was awesome. You can see it at the end of the second video.
From there, we decided to make our way to our way to the beach. It was a gorgeous day. Super sunny. Perfect beach weather. It was only about a 20-30 minute walk along the coast. There were 3 beaches. The first one was pretty crowded and a bit trashy looking, so we kept walking. The second one was more pebbles than sand, so we kept walking. The third beach was just right. Actually, it was all pebbles, and super small, but we found a nice spot to lay out in the sun. It was amazing, but we had left our phones at the hostel, so we didn't get any pictures. After around 30 minutes, we noticed some ominous clouds coming in from behind us, and we decided to head back. We weren't even a quarter of the way back when it started pouring. We ducked inside a restaurant on the beach for some lunch, and tried to wait out the rain. It was still raining by the time we finished our meal, but it didn't look bad so we decided to go for it. The rain got worse almost immediately. Aaron sang the wrong lyrics to the Piña colada song the whole way back. By the time we made it to our hostel, we were drenched and freezing. It went from super warm and sunny to super cold and wet.
After that we hung out in the hostel for a bit before going to dinner. We found a nice quiet little restaurant somewhere in the labyrinth that we'll probably never be able to find again. Kaylea tried fried sea anemone. It was kind of like fried snot. While we were eating, Kaylea noticed a flash from outside. It was our bus boy. We were sitting right next to the window, and it looked like he was trying to take a picture of something. We were staring at him, wondering what he was trying to take a picture of. He looked to his left, and while holding the phone to his waist, tried to sneakily snap a picture of Aaron. He then saw us staring and nervously came back inside. Our minds were blown. Why was he taking a picture of us? It was too awkward to ask, and he avoided making eye contact for the rest of the meal. When we left, Kaylea stood outside the window, and very obviously took a picture of the bus boy. He saw her, and smiled. We talked to one of the hostel employees, and he said it's probably Aaron's beard. Apparently, people are much more conservative in Split. They can't handle the beard.
The first thing we decided to do this morning was check out this old Roman palace called the Diocletian Palace. It was a retirement home for an emperor, built around 300 A.D. It turned out to be like a minute from our Hostel. It wasn't that impressive. We knew what we were looking for, and as soon as we saw it we said "Oh! I guess this is it. Wait... Is this it? Yeah. I guess this is it." We noticed several Roman Centurions standing around, and a large crowd started to gather around a platform, so we stood and watched. After a large introduction of horns and more centurions marching in formation, a tall man and woman dressed in togas entered the platform. The man shouted some Latin (at least we assume it was Latin), then said "In other words, Welcome", then basically walked away. The crowd dispersed. It was an odd performance. We stumbled around a bit, and by following signs that said "crypt", we managed to find the entrance to a museum. For a few euros we got passes to a crypt, a chapel, a treasury, a baptistery, and an amazing bell tower
Initially, Kaylea didn't want to do the bell tower. "Why would I want to climb a bell tower?" she asked. She soon ate those words. Aaron had some hard-core convincing to do, but she couldn't resist his infallible logic. "We already got the tickets." After climbing our way up some crazy-steep steps, more crazy-steep steps, and a long spirally, rickety, steel staircase, we found one of the most amazing views we've seen this trip. Pictures don't really do it justice, so here's a small video:
Climbing down was fun. We got a video of that too. As Kaylea reached the bottom of the stairs, she found herself in the middle of a large circle of applauding people. They were applauding a man who had just finished giving a walking tour, but it was timed perfectly with Kaylea exiting the staircase. She took a bow, and everyone laughed. It was awesome. You can see it at the end of the second video.
From there, we decided to make our way to our way to the beach. It was a gorgeous day. Super sunny. Perfect beach weather. It was only about a 20-30 minute walk along the coast. There were 3 beaches. The first one was pretty crowded and a bit trashy looking, so we kept walking. The second one was more pebbles than sand, so we kept walking. The third beach was just right. Actually, it was all pebbles, and super small, but we found a nice spot to lay out in the sun. It was amazing, but we had left our phones at the hostel, so we didn't get any pictures. After around 30 minutes, we noticed some ominous clouds coming in from behind us, and we decided to head back. We weren't even a quarter of the way back when it started pouring. We ducked inside a restaurant on the beach for some lunch, and tried to wait out the rain. It was still raining by the time we finished our meal, but it didn't look bad so we decided to go for it. The rain got worse almost immediately. Aaron sang the wrong lyrics to the Piña colada song the whole way back. By the time we made it to our hostel, we were drenched and freezing. It went from super warm and sunny to super cold and wet.
After that we hung out in the hostel for a bit before going to dinner. We found a nice quiet little restaurant somewhere in the labyrinth that we'll probably never be able to find again. Kaylea tried fried sea anemone. It was kind of like fried snot. While we were eating, Kaylea noticed a flash from outside. It was our bus boy. We were sitting right next to the window, and it looked like he was trying to take a picture of something. We were staring at him, wondering what he was trying to take a picture of. He looked to his left, and while holding the phone to his waist, tried to sneakily snap a picture of Aaron. He then saw us staring and nervously came back inside. Our minds were blown. Why was he taking a picture of us? It was too awkward to ask, and he avoided making eye contact for the rest of the meal. When we left, Kaylea stood outside the window, and very obviously took a picture of the bus boy. He saw her, and smiled. We talked to one of the hostel employees, and he said it's probably Aaron's beard. Apparently, people are much more conservative in Split. They can't handle the beard.
P.S:
I'm currently sitting in a smelly study room next to some unwashed guy who is taking a nap and snoring pretty loudly... so yeah, I'm pretty jealous of your trip right now. BTW, I love the Guardians of the Galaxy soundtrack.
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