split
6th September 2022
The next morning, we upped anchor and made our way towards Split. Today Tony’s cousin Michele was arriving in Split. She is another Michele with one “L” in her name like me so of course she is a good sort! Michele is from Adelaide but has a friend’s wedding in England so was able to make a side trip to Croatia.
Split is a huge centre for ferry traffic and has a great large, sheltered bay. There is also a bay around the back of the town near a local marina which suits the cruising population and provides a safe anchorage. The place we left the dinghy was next to a pier the local older people hung out swimming and drinking coffee. I am not sure they appreciated our presence as during the three days we used that spot there was no greetings from anyone or smiles. It got a bit awkward, but we also were never asked to move somewhere else, so I guess you are never going to please everybody.
We were meeting Michele at the bus station at the ferry dock the day we arrived in Split. We walked down to the old town and port which took us the best part of an hour and eventually found Michele before walking back to the old town to find a spot for lunch.
The next day we called a taxi to meet us at the marina dock to take us into town to be tourists. We hit the jackpot with our driver Bozja who liked a chat. After some discussion, we arranged for him to pick us up after lunch and take us to Kris castle up in the hills behind Split. The castle was used as a sentry point due to its strategic location in the hills behind Split. Before that we all wandered through the gorgeous old streets of the old town. Ben and I had wandered around for a bit the afternoon before and it had been relatively quiet, this morning it was manic with lots of people, and it was hard to get the same feel from the place that we had had the afternoon before. Some of the sights in the old city also featured in the Game of Thrones series as did Kris Castle. We stopped for a coffee next to the castle and on closer inspection the photos on the wall showing some of the cast from the Game of Thrones also showed the local café owner in costume as well. As he delivered the coffee to me, I pointed at the photo on the wall and asked, “Is that you”? After a small nod and an understated grin, he walked away.
The last night in Split for Ben and Sarah we all ventured back into the old town to find a place for dinner. It was not going to be the same on the boat without the kids. The next morning Tony and I went with them to the ferry port to catch the ferry to Dubrovnik. All good plans can be thwarted with no particularly obvious reason so when the 9.15am ferry was cancelled due to some expected bad weather which we couldn’t see on the forecast we just had to roll with it. We walked over to the bus station and booked tickets for the bus to Dubrovnik at 1pm. It was a credit to the kids to see how they had gained confidence through travelling from home to Europe when they suggested that they would just walk around Split rather than come back to the boat. They knew Tony was keen to get back to the boat as there had been a bit of a blow the night before and from past experiences these winds develop without much warning. With tears in my “sooky mother’s eyes” we hugged our babies tight and left them to wander around and get themselves back to the bus in time to head to Dubrovnik. They were staying the night in Cavtat and then flying out the next morning to Australia. Both are keen to return next year for another adventure.
The next morning, we upped anchor and made our way towards Split. Today Tony’s cousin Michele was arriving in Split. She is another Michele with one “L” in her name like me so of course she is a good sort! Michele is from Adelaide but has a friend’s wedding in England so was able to make a side trip to Croatia.
Split is a huge centre for ferry traffic and has a great large, sheltered bay. There is also a bay around the back of the town near a local marina which suits the cruising population and provides a safe anchorage. The place we left the dinghy was next to a pier the local older people hung out swimming and drinking coffee. I am not sure they appreciated our presence as during the three days we used that spot there was no greetings from anyone or smiles. It got a bit awkward, but we also were never asked to move somewhere else, so I guess you are never going to please everybody.
We were meeting Michele at the bus station at the ferry dock the day we arrived in Split. We walked down to the old town and port which took us the best part of an hour and eventually found Michele before walking back to the old town to find a spot for lunch.
The next day we called a taxi to meet us at the marina dock to take us into town to be tourists. We hit the jackpot with our driver Bozja who liked a chat. After some discussion, we arranged for him to pick us up after lunch and take us to Kris castle up in the hills behind Split. The castle was used as a sentry point due to its strategic location in the hills behind Split. Before that we all wandered through the gorgeous old streets of the old town. Ben and I had wandered around for a bit the afternoon before and it had been relatively quiet, this morning it was manic with lots of people, and it was hard to get the same feel from the place that we had had the afternoon before. Some of the sights in the old city also featured in the Game of Thrones series as did Kris Castle. We stopped for a coffee next to the castle and on closer inspection the photos on the wall showing some of the cast from the Game of Thrones also showed the local café owner in costume as well. As he delivered the coffee to me, I pointed at the photo on the wall and asked, “Is that you”? After a small nod and an understated grin, he walked away.
The last night in Split for Ben and Sarah we all ventured back into the old town to find a place for dinner. It was not going to be the same on the boat without the kids. The next morning Tony and I went with them to the ferry port to catch the ferry to Dubrovnik. All good plans can be thwarted with no particularly obvious reason so when the 9.15am ferry was cancelled due to some expected bad weather which we couldn’t see on the forecast we just had to roll with it. We walked over to the bus station and booked tickets for the bus to Dubrovnik at 1pm. It was a credit to the kids to see how they had gained confidence through travelling from home to Europe when they suggested that they would just walk around Split rather than come back to the boat. They knew Tony was keen to get back to the boat as there had been a bit of a blow the night before and from past experiences these winds develop without much warning. With tears in my “sooky mother’s eyes” we hugged our babies tight and left them to wander around and get themselves back to the bus in time to head to Dubrovnik. They were staying the night in Cavtat and then flying out the next morning to Australia. Both are keen to return next year for another adventure.