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It was a scorching hot day that we ventured to Split for a day trip. Around an hours drive away from Baska Voda, Split is another of Croatia's coastal towns that was once Venetian and, years before that, Roman. It is also one of Croatia's larger cities, so driving into it was a bit of a mission. But the combined navigational prowess of Tomtom, Tim and Beks meant we made it to the waterfront without incident, and we even managed to find a carpark without too much fuss, so luck was on our side! The upmarket waterfront with its gleaming white buildings and pavement, was too hot to bear, so we ventured into the ruins of the Emperor Diocletian's Palace. Beneath the first level were the Palace basements - which have been well preserved. The centre of these basements is now used as a market hall, while the rest is on display for tourists and can be toured after payment of an entry fee. Up a steep stone staircase, we exited onto the level which would once have been the Palace's ground floor. Parts of the original structure remain visible, but mostly it has been overtaken by the modern shops and houses now built within the ancient palace complex. A tomb was also built here for Diocletian himself, but nothing remains and now at the heart of the palace stands a Christian cathedral. We did the tour of the basement, which gave us a much better appreciation for the scale of the palace as it once was. Quite a lot of work has been done to restore the basement, as during the middle ages the citizens living above simply dug holes through their floors and dumped their rubbish and sewage directly into the Roman basement below.
We walked through the old town, past the fish market, to the main shopping area. After some window shopping, I was wilting in the heat despite the copious amounts of water I was drinking. I can only imagine how Beks and Tim must have been feeling fresh from chilly England! We found a shaded courtyard where we could drink some more cold water and grab a bite to eat. I had prawn and white wine risotto which was tasty but filling, Beks chose the mackerel and got just that, a cooked mackerel on a plate without even a lettuce leaf to garnish, and Dale and Tim both found the fried food section of the menu.
At the tourist information office we spent several minutes trying to find out whether it was possible to do a day trip to the nearby island of Hvar. I had expected that it would be relatively common that visitors to Split might wish to spend a day on Hvar which is both historically interesting and beautiful. But the ferry timetable made it virtually impossible, with only one fast ferry to Hvar township per day and this returned barely an hour later. Slow ferries made several trips per day to Stari Grad (another town on the island) but this was a 45 minute bus ride from Hvar... It was all getting complicated, (not to mention that tickets can only bought on the day of travel and tend to sell out during summer!)
We returned to our little rental car, which was now so hot that a bottle of water left behind in it was heated to the point it almost scalded me when I poured it over my dusty feet! We drove back to Baska Voda on the coastal road which winds along the cliff face, climbing up above the sea, and offering amazing views over the deep blue water and tiny boats down below. We passed several small towns hugging the slopes, and witnessed some more death defying Croatian driving!
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