Firule Split

... and making sure we had everything we needed.<br><br>Just went and had a short walk around and baked trout dinner at Serum which was a cool little place like being in someones living room. <br>Went to a couple of bars afterwards and found out why it was so quiet in Split - Sunday is the "day of the dead" (the way the barman in the first bar explained it to me) which is the day of the year that everyone visits the graves of their ...

We were really excited to finally get to a Croatian island. We took a ferry from Split to the island of Hvar. It's a really small island where pretty much the only thing to do there is go to the beach. We didn&#8217;t have a place to stay booked because we knew about the "sobes." They are apartments locals rent out to tourists for really good deals (especially in October when it&#8217;s on the border of shoulder season and off season). The second ...

... about to watch our second sunset here-it truly is a highlight so far for us. Originally we were only going to stay one night and drive into Split today, but the beauty of having Fred means that is we like a place, we can stay longer :) Our third campsite in Croatia is by far the best; I had to really force myself away from doing nothing to write this! Although I have to admit that I have a million dollar view while writing it :)

... say that the daily routine of Croatia was repetitive yet simple. Wake up at 8am for breakfast ... this was quite easy as our cabin was next to the kitchen. I made it to every breakfast, Benny made one. Breakfast on the first day was amazing - omlette of bacon and cheese with bread. The bar was set very high. Unfortunately this was never met again, as future breakfasts were bread with spread, various meats, "juice" and tea/coffee. <br><br>This was followed by sunbaking on the deck (I'd ...

... excessive, but the half-barrel vaulting ceiling was unique and worth a look. The god Jupiter was important to Diocletian, which is why the temple was built. We then headed "underground" to visit Diocletian's Cellars. Before describing this, a quick history of Split is required.<br><br>The city was founded by the Roman emperor Diocletian who wanted to retire here (near where he was born) and commissioned the building of a huge palace. Over time the palace ...

We arrived in the early morning to Split, and bought tickets for the onward journey to the famed city of Dubrovnik. We had a couple hours to kill, though, so we checked out the nearby Diocletian Palace and the harbour area. On our way back up, we again spent a bit of time here...the Palace is really fun to get lost in, and was pretty lively with wandering tourists and locals alike.

... joy to have clean clothes! Everyone was supposed to leave the hostel that morning, except for an older Australian couple staying in the room downstairs (who I ran into in the afternoon and had a beer with), but the Croatian girls decided to stay another night. It was nice to have some company during the evening. They eventually went out, and I stayed in, relaxed and watched some movies on TV (I love that the TV here is dubbed...it means I can understand the original languague!).

Arrived in Plitvice National Park Saturday morning in the pouring, pouring, pouring rain. Good thing I brought my dollar store rain jacket! Oh...hmm...where IS my dollar store rain jacket? I think I dissected my entire pack about 30 times trying to find it, but to no avail. I had to resort to paying the highway robbery price of 17KN at the park store for a thin plastic rain poncho. Annoying. Where is my rain poncho? I hooked up ...

... this was the bell tower. No, it wasn't, but why on earth would we want to climb a few steps when we could enter his room of religious exhibitions. "This is the cultural centre of the universe, where ...

... I like to stay in that area since it feels like home. The location could not have been better and our room was fine, but I was a little disappointed in the place overall - especially the breakfast. Normally there is a really nice buffet with all sorts of cereals, yogurt, rolls, eggs, etc., but this place just served plain rolls [Andy: and cheese and cold meats and hot chocolate and assorted juices and spreads]. Oh well. After unpacking and changing, we quickly made our way to ...