Split – an unexpected delight
However, what a surprise Split was! We arrived to splendid sunshine and decided to leave our bags and head straight out to enjoy some sun before dusk. Something I hadn’t realised before visiting Split was that at least half of the town is dominated by the Diocletian’s Palace, an ancient palace built for the Roman Emperor Diocletian at the turn of the fourth century AD. The palace is huge and has many restaurants, hotels and cafes within its walls. My son, Max loved it as he felt transported to Roman times (albeit with modern touches – such as electricity and very modern shop fronts) and is about study the Romans at school.
The food in Split won over the kids too – Max and Alexa declaring it the best food they’ve ever had. The cuisine is a mixture of Italian and Greek with a bit of Eastern European mixed in – lots of pizzas, olives, stews and a local feta type cheese featuring on many menus. Beer lovers will also be very happy as cheap beers a plenty with many different types on offer, in fact beer was cheaper than water or soft drinks in many restaurants!
As we were in Split for a few days, we decided to explore a little of the surrounding area. We spent half a day at the nearby Roman ruins of Salona, close to the modern-day town of Solin. These ruins were spectacular and spread over a large area which the kids loved exploring. Access to the start of the ruins are free with a small charge to go further into the old amphitheatre area. We found the whole experience fascinating as there were very few tourists and we could get close to the ruins.
A top tip is that they have Uber in Croatia – we downloaded the app and had cars come to take us from Split to Salona and beyond for very little money and very quickly.
We also decided to spend a day at one of the nearby islands. We chose Brac over Hvar because of the distance. Ferries are frequent to both places but Brac is only 50 minutes away as opposed to around two hours to Hvar. The ferry terminal is easy to find in Split as it’s directly in front of the Diocletian’s palace and the Riva area and clearly visible from the promenade. We bought tickets from the terminal and were on our way within half an hour.
The ferry itself was a fun experience with amazing views from the deck – time passed quickly and before we knew it we were in Brac. We decided to stay in Supetar, the main port area and found a fascinating cultural walk recommended to us by the tourist office. It’s a great town, perhaps over shadowed by more popular Bol but if you are planning a day trip to Brac and you don’t have too long to stay like us, you will find plenty to do in Supetar.
I think to sum up this holiday – the only bad thing was that we didn’t have longer. There is so much to see in Split and the surrounding areas that we could have easily spent weeks here. The food is amazing, the town and the surrounding areas beautiful and the weather fabulous, even during the Easter holidays. Not far from Split is Krka National Park, Plitvice lakes, many beaches and islands which we said we will return to see one day on a longer holiday! Watch this space!