Split

 May 30, 2025

In a room on my own for the first time in a few days, I slept in. Not sure I actually feel rested — it’s hard to say whether it’s jet lag or ordinary sleep deprivation at this point. I’m in a huge apartment with a king size bed, a full IKEA kitchen, a washing machine! What made me most happy, though was a wire clothes line so that I could rinse out a shirt and hang it outside to dry overnight. Bliss!

My red IKEA kitchen

And my purple-walled bedroom.

 

If you can forgive the colour scheme, the Apartment Sabioncello is a perfect place to stay, right in the heart of town, a two minute walk from the harbour. And two layers of double-paned glass, so that the very noisy street could not be heard inside the apartment.


I am embarking on this sail & bike cruise with a group of eight women, seven of us Canadian, and one from Scotland. Our fearless leader is Mallory from Saskatoon, who set up a WhatsApp group for us all to communicate. Oh boy, the pings have started coming in! The group met up for breakfast at Brasserie on 7th, which happens to be a spot recommended by my host here, and is right outside Carol’s hotel door.

Seems like it will be a great group, and I’m looking forward to lots of laughs with these women.

We had a mega-breakfast. Which was great, because I only had one meal yesterday, what with ferry timing. (Not counting gelato.) Carol, Bettyanne, and I have become our own little gang, and kept to just the three of us after breakfast.

We visited Diocletian’s Palace, which is more a neighbourhood than just a building, taking up about half of the old town of Split. Diocletian was a 3rd Century Roman emperor who intended this as a retirement home for himself and a military garrison. Like most of these ancient sites, this one has seen numerous incarnations and has been continually occupied from the time of its origin. There are still excavations and reconstructions being done. Of particular interest was the palace cellars, which apparently represent one of the best preserved complexes of its kind (Wikipedia). It was not unlike the crypts of medieval churches I’ve seen.

This mosaic floor looks like the ones at Pompeii

Vaulted Roman ceilings in the cellars

Happy wanderer in the cellars

Ancient brick and stone. Kinda spooky

Stone fragments

Parts of Game of Thrones were filmed here. We are now interested in watching that series, if only to see the locations, here and in Dubrovnik. In both cities, there are walking tours on offer that are Game of Thrones themed. It’s possible that Game of Thrones is responsible for over-tourism here. Who would have heard of the place, otherwise? (Rhetorical question, so don’t get mad at me!)

 

Bell tower of the Cathedral of Saint Domnius

 

The Peristyle, or central square, complete with Roman soldier going after a tourist

 

More gelato, another afternoon rest, and dinner out with tout le gang. We ate at a sweet, tiny street place called A’E (how you say that and what it means is a mystery to us), a short walk out of the old city. Fantastic food and wine, and they gave us a complimentary bottle of Prosecco to finish the meal! Our server was a wonder woman with a practically baritone voice and a mass of dark hair piled on top of her head. I tipped her generously and asked if she would let her hair down for us. Nope. Pity.

Together at last: Cheryl, Jane, Gill, Mallory, Robin, and the Pender Musketeers.

We stumbled back to our various abodes, settled in for our last night before joining our ship.