Continued from 48 hours in Dubrovnik …
Realizing that there was no way that Mariana was going to get on that plane, I remembered that there was a Sixt Rental Car station in the parking lot of the airport. I decided we would drive, so I got on my phone and booked a car that we could drop off in Split. The next step was convincing the airline to get our bags back off the plane, but I think that the staff had already worked out that we were not getting on that plane. They led us through s few closed hallways until we came out at baggage claim where our bags had been recovered for us. As we walked out of the airport Mariana was calming down and I was looking forward to the unplanned adventure.
While we waited for the car I thought I should check the map to see what I had just gotten us into and I realized then that we would be crossing the Bosnia and Herzegovina border on our drive to Split. It turns out that as part of the 1995 Dayton Peace Accords, BiH got access to the sea at the town of Neum, a 22km (13.6 miles) corridor that splits Croatia in two. The Border was 1 hour from the airport so we loaded the car and got on the road.
The Neum Corridor
When we reached the border crossing it was basically empty, because there aren’t many tourists in January. This is great for sightseeing but terrible when you want to watch what other people do at a border crossing to make sure you do the right thing. The cross is three booths in a row, only about 15 meters (50 feet) apart. To be honest, crossing a border in a rental car is always an interesting adventure, especially when you don’t speak the language. We approached the first booth (leaving Croatia) and gave the officer our passports, they looked at the documents and waved us on. I then proceeded to pass the second booth, which was empty, so I figured that was it so I rolled my window up and proceeded past the last booth. Just as I was about to pass I heard someone yell “hey”. I slammed on the brakes and looked back, turns out there was someone in the final booth and it was supposed to be the check into Bosnia and Herzegovina. I started to put the car in reverse but the guy kinda rolled his eyes and waved us on. Mariana and I laughed about my attempted running of the BiH border for the next week. We crossed the Neum Corridor and as we were entering Croatia on the other side, I was careful to stop at every booth, even if there was no one there!
The remaining drive to Split was beautiful, we took a combination of the Coastal road as well as the Motorway. When we arrived in Split it was getting dark and Mariana and I were staying in separate Airbnb’s so we went to hers first to drop off her things. Once she was settled in we headed off to my accommodation to drop my bag before dropping off the car. We made it to the rental car return after they had closed, after a bit of confusion as to where to park the car, we dropped the keys through the door of the closed office.
Ma: Toni
We had finally arrived and we were pretty hungry! Mariana had gotten a tip from her Airbnb host about a restaurant called Ma:Toni, so we decided to check it out. The restaurant was on the other side of the city from where we were so we made our way along the Riva (Split’s Harbor). The walk to dinner was a good overview of how the city was laid out. The old town is right on the harbor, but closest to the water, on the Riva, there were many cafes and restaurants. This would be where we would watch the sunset the next evening for sure.
We arrived at Ma:Toni, and like most of the places we had been thus far, it was fairly empty. The place is beautiful, it’s like a cave with the old stone walls decorated with soft twinkling light. The food was incredible, and the wine was a perfect pairing. The waiter had also given us a little history of the area and the wine regions surrounding it. Mariana and I shared a starter of Burrata which was absolutely amazing, then I opted for a seared salmon with a local white wine as the main. Everything we had was superb, I highly recommend Ma:Toni if you find yourself in Split!
Diocletian's Palace
The next day we started off fairly early in search of a coffee shop, but like Dubrovnik, most things were closed still for the season. We managed to find a place called D16 that was open, and it was a lifesaver! The shop was a tiny little joint that served amazing coffee! After our caffeine fix, we started to explore the old town of Split.
We started at Diocletian’s Palace, which makes up about half of the old town of Split. This ancient palace was built for the Roman Emperor Diocletian at the turn of the fourth century AD, intended for use as his retirement residence. “Palace” can be misleading as the structure is massive and more resembles a large fortress: about half of it was for Diocletian’s personal use, and the rest housed the military garrison. The emperor retired in May of 305 and lived out his days tending to the palace gardens until he died in 312. As I previously mentioned, the palace is huge so we spent the morning wandering to the various temples, courtyards, and vestibules. It’s crazy to look at the facades of these buildings and realize that they have been standing here for over 1700 years, even crazier to see that the cellars are now home to a market and the peristyle, where guests were once welcomed and made to bow to the emperor, now is the home of a shisha bar and cafe.
Marjan Hill
We spent the better part of the morning exploring the old town but after lunch, we decided to go for a bit of a nature walk. We set off to the Marjan stairs, 314 winding concrete stairs that take you to the first lookout of the Marjan hill. From this lookout, you get a beautiful panoramic view of Split, the Adriatic sea, and the islands of Brač and Šolta. To be perfectly honest I don’t think that either one of us had much of a plan when we headed up those stairs, but once we got out of the city walls and into the sunshine, we just kept going. The Marjan hill is full of hiking trails, so we just took off without a direction. Being out in the forest was so nice, we walked along the winding trails stopping to take a few photos along the way. Along the way, we saw a few people rock climbing at a place where the trail led us past a couple of churches and rock cave dwellings, called Karepić’s Tower. The rock-dwelling was built in the 1500s. It’s hard to think how these were even built into the sheer rock face. From here we were able to see Kasjuni Beach and decided that we should check it out. During the high season, Kasjuni Beach is one of the most popular tourist attractions in Split and it is easy to understand why, it is an idyllic beach with turquoise water, a beach bar, and a picturesque row of palm trees. In January the water temperature is quite cold but there were still people paddle boarding and even swimming. We were happy to have the whole beach basically to ourselves so we camped out on the rocks in the sun for a bit to rest our legs.
After a bit of sunbathing we started to make our way back into town, we walked around the peninsula and ended up back at the Riva in time for sunset. We got a coffee and watched the sun go down. We decided to go back to Ma:Toni for dinner a second time since it was so good the first time. After all of the hiking and the amazing food, there was nothing left to do but settle into bed with a book.
The last few hours in Split
The next day we got up and checked out of our accommodations and decided to go to Bene beach before we need to be at the bus station to move on to Šibenik. Bene Beach is another popular tourist destination in the summer months, there is a large beach bar and restaurant, as well as a big park for kids to play in, not to mention the beach itself. The water was so clear you could easily see the little fish darting in and out of the rocks below. We wandered back toward town, to do one last walk through the city before we needed to leave.
Mariana and I ended up in another cafe drinking a glass of wine (well I was having wine, she was having tea) and sharing a piece of cake when we overheard a woman checking in with friends to see if they were ok. From there, things got a little chaotic because there had been the first murder in decades in Split. A gunman had shot and killed 3 men at a cafe in the middle of town, at around 3:30 in the afternoon. The whole thing seemed a bit crazy, all of a sudden in this picturesque old town there was a sense of panic while the police searched for the gunman. People were told to stay inside and the small laneways were filled with flashing blue police lights. After 3 hours the police found the man sitting in a cafe waiting to be arrested. If you would like to read the story you can see the news report here.
For us too time was up, we needed to collect our belongings and head to the bus station. We made it to the station with plenty of time, and were able to grab a bottle of water and snacks for the road. The drive was only going to be an hour and a half, the perfect amount of time to nap. I can’t wait to come back to Split, I really enjoy traveling when there are not many tourists but I also would like to experience all of the water activities that the Dalmatian Coast has to offer.
If you haven’t read it yet, check out my previous post about Dubrovnik!
