We drive to Split today. We already know we’re going to want more days in Split, so we’re leaving early to maximize our time there.

Of course, because today’s a day we want to leave early, the kids sleep in until 9am! It’s actually nice because Stefan and I are able to get ready and pack up everything while the kids sleep. Then we dress them quickly and leave as soon as they wake up.

We walk to the car and say goodbye to this adorable town of Volosko. What a gem.

The drive to Split begins through a lot of tunnels in the mountains. The landscape is really interesting here–rocky with low bushes. After about 2 hours we search for a place to stop for food. We find a place in a town near the freeway, overlooking the water, Gostionica Rovanjska. On the side of the building, they even have a swing set and some plastic toys. Oly favors the broken pieces of plastic. It’s lovely to have such a beautiful setting where the kids can run around and explore safely.

We get fried calamari for the first time Lillian can remember, and the kids love it. It’s gone in a few minutes. All the food here is quite good. I’d for sure recommend it as a nice stop on the road.

The rest of the drive to Split is flatter along the water. My first impression of Split is that it’s a strange, perhaps industrial, city. It could be Galveston, Texas.

We arrive at our Airbnb near the center of the city. The streets are really alleyways, and the homes are cement blocks with laundry hanging outside. It’s charming and very foreign to me.

Our Airbnb here is very nice. I love when they leave lots of towels and toilet paper! We’ve had places where they leave one roll for the whole stay and other places have left us two towels for the four of us for multiple days. Sometimes it’s the little things. And this is one of them. The apartment is clean and has a small balcony off of the living room/kitchen space. It’s the smallest apartment we’ve had thus far, but we make good use of it. All the closets are empty, so the kids spend an hour playing hide-and-go-seek games.

We arrived in the afternoon so we could spend a good amount of the day exploring Split, so we set out to do just that. It’s a 7 minute walk over to the old town, Diocletian’s Palace, built in the 200’s. It’s amazing. It’s like the entire town is a museum. 

We buy the most inclusive ticket to see 5 different Roman sites. There’s a treasury with lots of church relics. The church was built as a mausoleum, It’s okay. I expect a lot from my churches now. The crypt underneath has a wishing well the kids like. Next we head to the bell tower.

The steps are incredibly steep. That should have been the first sign to turn back. But we’re adventurous and so we head on. As we climb the steps, I begin to realize there’s very little railing to stop us from falling. This is stupid! What are we doing here?! We turn around and start heading back down. I’m gripping Lillian’s hand so hard she’s complaining and calling me “annoying”. I’m just happy we made it down alive. The views are nice, but this is definitely not a safe endeavor.

Our next stop is the Temple of Jupiter. .Lillian is more impressed than Oly, who just wants to go find food. This is how he feels pretty much all the time now.

Now that we’ve seen all the obligatory sites, we just walk around. Oly makes sure we look for a place for food. W walk through a big square where people are just sitting on the steps enjoying the afternoon. We listen to a group of men singing beautifully in an oval stone space. It’s an old Croatian song, and one woman begins dancing a traditional dance to it.

Split is full of tourists, in a way Pula and Opatija weren’t. We hear English constantly–mostly American. We have definitely arrived in a big tourist destination, whereas Istria had more Croatians enjoying their summer holiday. It’s a very different vibe.

We find a great little spot for snacks and wine, Pikulece. They have the best bread ever, and it’s best just dipped in some olive oil and sprinkled with sea salt. Yum. We also have some stuffed figs and hand-carved prosciutto that’s amazing. The wine our server selects is great too. He’s a very amiable guy. We are having so much fun that we decide to just order more snacks and wine and call it dinner!

We spend the night hanging out at the place on a narrow street. Then we walk home, back through the marketplace. We stop for some provisions and make our way home. What a perfect afternoon in our new city.