Croatia day 1

One of the prices you pay for a £30 flight is a 4.30 a.m. alarm. *Bleugh*. Fortunately, my friend Hannah lives within striking distance of Stanstead, so a price I didn't have to pay was bus or taxi fare. (Though I did buy her a thank you dinner.)


The sky over London was so foggy it looked like it was being propped up by street lights but I was headed for Croatia - the forecast for Split was 27C and sunny. I was still half asleep when Hannah dropped me off at the airport, but by the time I'd negotiated security (congratulating myself on travelling with handluggage only, printing my boarding card at home and not paying for speedy boarding as my flight was half empty) I'd woken up enough to start being excited. A week in Croatia, with the challenge of sticking to a £250 budget, what could be better?


We landed at 9.50am local time, and within twenty minutes I was on the bus into central Split Harbor, half an hour later and I was there. The seafront at Split is a sort of backwards 'L' shape; the arm where the big car ferries and cruise liners dock (also where the train and coach station is) is busy and functional as you'd expect. Turn the corner along the other arm of the L and it's busy and beautiful instead. Split's main attraction is the heart of the old town, Diocletian's Palace. The Roman emporer built his retirement palace (and, unusually, was able to enjoy it for a while) right on the seafront and rather than the stones being looted for other buildings, when imperial powers moved out the town moved in and the Palace is filled with life. People live, work, stay, eat, drink, party and wander around the narrow stone alleys.  


I hadn't booked any accomodation in Split because I wanted to see a natural phenomenom called the Blue Grotto which you can only get to from an island called Vis - but I wasn't sure if there'd be an economical daytrip from Split as Vis is comparatively pricey to stay on. I couldn't see anyone offering the trip, so I resigned myself and bought a ticket to Vis from the Jadrolinjia Ferry kiosk by the head of the waterfront promenade (the Riva) - 50HRK for the catamaran. It was 11.30 by this point - the boat was due to leave at 3.15. I donned my shades, reapplied suncream and set out to do Diocletian's Palace. Thank goodness for handluggage only!

The Palace isn't huge, but there are plenty of alleys and squares to nose around and lose yourself in. I found the statue of Gregor of Nin by the northern gate, rubbed his shiny toe for luck, and dived into the Palace again. I wandered west, and emerged by a fish market. Gargoyles on the corner of a building were covering their ears and looking horrifed - perhaps unsurprisingly as the stall holders were vociferously brandishing their tubs at innocent passersby and (I can only assume) encouraging them to buy the last of the catch. 


Intermingled with this babel was the melodic strains of a male-voice choir coming from the direction of the Riva. Sirens? I wondered, following the sounds southwards along the sunny street towards the waterfront. Well, sirens I got... in a fashion, anyway. Alas, it wasn't sexy fish-men; it was the Croatian Police, singing the National anthem. I was about to walk away, when they dropped "Final Countdown" over the soundsystem and started demonstrating how they go about fighting crime in Split - judo stylee. I stopped taking them seriously when they started punching and kicking chopping boards in time with "Eye of the Tiger." 




Afterwards I basked in the sun, a light sea breeze cooling my face and wafting the scents of salt and lavendar from the market stalls along the way and gave some thought to my next moves until the ferry arrived.


I got a window seat on the catamaran ferry. It took about an hour and a half to get to our first stop (Hvar Island) where we docked in a beautiful looking town that nestled right between yachts and hills. Definitely a place I'd like to go back to on another trip, preferably on a little yacht with a floaty dress and a tan for some cocktails. That was definitely the vibe. It was another 45mins (ish) to get to Vis Town. 

I was nervous getting off the ferry since I didn't have anywhere to stay booked, and the sun was setting. I don't like not knowing where I'm going to sleep arriving somewhere at night. There are two towns on Vis Island, Vis Town and Komiza. The ferry docks in Vis Town, the boat to the Blue Grotto is from Komiza. The island's bus across to Komiza meets the ferry, and that's it. I had a bit of a dilemma (Vis vs Komiza) but I didn't want to run the risk of getting to Komiza and not finding anywhere to stay so when I got off the boat, I went straight to Navigator travel agency. It was recommended in the Lonely Planet and it was right in front of my face, good enough. Mario found me a single room, with a shared bathroom for 150HRK/night, and they did a trip to Blue Grotto for 200HRK. I went for both. My landlady for the night was very nice, the room was old fashioned but spotless (as was the bathroom) and as soon as I was settled I went for a wander around the bay until hunger hit me.


I headed back to the main riva and had dinner outside the Hotel Tamaris restaurant. Red wine for 8 kuna, YES PLEASE. The food was good and the staff were friendly; at the end of the season, I was the only diner. I'd had a small operation on my hand the week beforehand, and I was still all bandaged up so when the waitress saw my hand she offered to cut up my chicken. I declined politely but got chatting with her and the other waiter. All kinds of useful snippets came out of our chat; there was only icecream for pudding as it's the end of the season, in September you can hire an 8berth yacht for around 120euro pp for a week, Vis has healing waters, and (most specialist insight) September is the best month for weed on the island. Good to know?! I must've looked slightly stunned but we laughed it off.