A House Within the Ruins of a Palace

September 15, 2011

We arrived in Split, Croatia at about 5:30pm on Thursday. We thought that our bus ride from Plitvice would take about 4 hours but the bus decided to stop at every station in Croatia, and it took about 8 hours instead. Luckily, it was a beautiful ride. As soon as we stepped off of the bus, there was a line of people yelling, "do you need a room?", "accommodation, maybe?" It was pretty unreal. I have never seen so many people wanting to give me a place so badly before in my life. We must have passed about a dozen people asking if we needed a room before we got to the tourist office. Luckily, he was able to recommend a place for us to stay right in the heart of Split. The woman came to meet us right at the tourist office and she walked us to her place. Little did we realize we would be renting a three bedroom house directly in the center of the ruins of Diocletian's palace for only 500 kuna a night, about $100 USD. Note: Croatian currency is called kuna which we refer to as 'hakuna matatas' (from the Lion King). The place was very artsy, had very bright walls, the toilet was on the first floor in a tiny closet under the stairs and the shower was on the third floor. It was unique and charming and we couldn't beat the location.

The town of Split is very beautiful and we walked around on the tiny cobblestone streets, exploring the ancient city. We stopped for dinner in a fantastic restaurant in a large piazza while the sun set.

After dinner, while we were walking home, we stumbled upon another square with live music and dancing. It was so much fun to watch everyone having such a great time and Natalie even got out there and danced with a Greek guy. Split was definitely a wonderful first impression of the Dalmatian Coast.