So travelling to Split started out with one major delay with our train leaving an hour later than planned and somehow we just kept losing more and more time as we travelled along. I just felt terrible for making our Airbnb hosts wait so long. I kept having to update them where we were and how long I still thought it would take to get there. At least they were pretty understanding, as I’m sure that delays happen all the time in Croatia; at least that is what we experienced with the trains and buses.
When we eventually arrived, it was dark but there was so much activity around us. The train station was just across the way from the Harbour and it was crazy busy with people walking past every 5 minutes and boats and cars everywhere. I’ve actually never seen a city so busy after 10pm at night. Admittedly we hadn’t often been out at 10pm at night because we were usually fast asleep after a long day of walking, but this seemed a bit extreme. I’ve never been to Miami, but I have a feeling it would be similar.
So, usually we would have walked to our accommodation no problem, but we were both exhausted and felt completely disoriented in our new surroundings. It felt like the only logical thing to do was organise an Uber. Turns out, the Uber driver had no idea where we were and just kept doing u-turns and getting further and further away from our position. At one stage I swear he was in the water.
Eventually after a 30 minute wait, he finally arrived. To both his and our relief. Luckily for us, it turned out that our accommodation was only a 10 minute drive away and when we got there all we wanted to do was eat and sleep. It had been yet another stressful day of public transport delays and just plain craziness.
The owner’s son who checked us in, because we had taken so long to arrive told us all about the tour company that he worked for and how we should come to visit him the next day for specials on day trips, which we duly did.
Honestly, I had only seen Split as a stop off point for day trips out to the islands etc. This worked for me, because I really found it a bit overwhelming. On our first full morning there, we walked through the historic part of Split, got ourselves waffles with ice cream for breakfast and tried to find a shady spot to sit in away from all the tourists. Up until this point in our trip, we had seen quite a few tourists, but somehow the amount tripled when we arrived in Split.
It took me all of 2 hours to realise that I didn’t want to spend the day pushing past other people to just get one or two photos. Unfortunately, we felt obliged to get video and photos, because that was the whole point of our trip in the first place. So, we spent most of the day walking around to the main sights, but we stopped our sightseeing early and went to the beach. In fact we ended up at two beaches in one day, just to cool down a bit.
The next day was more our style though. We booked a day trip through our Airbnb host’s son and were super excited to get on the water and away from the crowds. I’m not a big fan of dingy boats, so was so happy to see that it was a proper size boat when we arrived. Not only that, but there were only like 10 of us travelling together, so it wasn’t too busy. The staff on the boat were also really relaxed and played music through the speaker system as we travelled along.
First, we headed out to Bisevo Island where we would take a boat to the Blue Cave. What an experience. I don’t think I’ve ever seen so many people packed on to a small island. We had to wait on the island for an hour and a half while the people that had bought tickets before us where called – about 30 at a time or so. At least it was relatively well organised with an electronic board counting down until it was finally our turn. And the best part about booking with a tour company was that we didn’t have to stand in the huge queue to buy the tickets in the first place. The only time they were terribly disorganised was trying to get us all on the boats together. Eventually our guide just gave up and put us on the boats two at a time.
I think the most fun I’ve ever had on a boat was us having to duck down our heads when we went to get into the Blue Cave. It felt like an adventure ride at Disneyland or something and the Blue Cave itself was just magical. I’ve never seen anything like it. Apparently the colour actually comes from sunbeams that shine on to the water from a submarine hole at the bottom of the cave. Apparently the best time to see the cave is between 11am and 12pm. We could only fit in the cave with three other boats and you only get a few minutes to appreciate the cave before heading out again, but it was worth it nonetheless.
Then we got back on the boat and headed to Stiniva Bay and it’s beautiful beach. Our guide told us about how the beach had been named the best beach in Europe in 2016 and since then it had become crazy with tourists. Luckily, the boats can’t actually go right up to the beach because it is a reserve area, so people park their boats and you get off and swim right up to it. Unfortunately for us, we couldn’t stay long, but Luch and I and one other couple decided to swim it. I’m not a great swimmer, especially in the sea, but I couldn’t pass up on the opportunity just to do it. We couldn’t take any photos or video, because we didn’t want to risk them getting wet, but the bay itself was beautiful. Like something out of a movie – in fact it probably was in some movie once upon a time. Crystal clear blue-green water, big white rocks coating the beach and these massive towering cliffs above us.
I only regret that we couldn’t stay longer. Instead, we had a few minutes to catch our breath on the beach before heading back to the boat again and this time we were off to Hvar Island for a few hours.
My first experience of a Croatian island was definitely not disappointing. With the amazing old town feel that Hvar has and the delicious pastries and ice cream that we found along the way, we were two very happy people. It was so hot when we arrived, but that didn’t stop us from climbing all the way to the top of the hill and taking photos of the Fortress and the aerial view of Hvar as well. We even phoned our families on Whatsapp video call to show them the views as well.
I loved the medieval fortress walls that were there to protect Hvar and found it so incredible walking through the town and finding ourselves lost more than once down a winding passageway. Most of the time, it was to our benefit because we’d come across a beautiful tree filled with flowers or an apartment that we had to take a photo of and come back and stay in one day.
After Hvar, we travelled back slowly and stopped a few more times for us to swim and snorkel a bit. This was Luch’s favourite bit. He so enjoyed just cooling off in the ocean and forgetting how crazy the last few days had been. My favourite bit was sitting on the boat in the sun afterwards and drying off on our way home. It was so peaceful with just the wind in our hair, the sun on our face and the spray of the ocean to keep us cool.
The moral of the story: Would I visit Split again? Probably not. Would I take more day trips out to every island I could find? Definitely 🙂
