DREAMING IN SPLIT

We visited the train station the evening before we planned to depart to Split. It was the first time I hadn’t bought our tickets for transport online and I was a little nervous. I’m always one to think the worse, “it’s going to be full”, “there won’t be a train at a suitable time”, “it’s going to cost so much money last minute”. But I had checked ticket prices online beforehand and Rail Europe had shown the price as 44 pounds! (Yes pounds!) I was so unhappy that a domestic train ticket was going to cost us almost $100 each, that I couldn’t even bring myself to buy them.

So, when we approached the counter and asked the woman for two tickets to Split the following morning, she responded by asking for 50 kuna per ticket. Martin and I stared back at her with dumbfoudned looks on our faces. I quickly did the math in my head again, it was only $10 Australian dollars… We politely asked the woman to repeat herself and again she requested 50 kuna. She must be mistaken. Maybe we had pronouced Split completely wrong and she was sending us only a short journey somewhere else entirely. But no, it was a $10 ticket to Split, at the perfect time the following morning. I learnt a big lesson that day. Don’t trust everything you read on the internet. Don’t get me wrong, I use the internet everyday for hundreds of different useful reasons… but our generation has become entirely dependant on googling every possible snippet of information. If I had bought those tickets online we would have paid  $160 more than we needed to. In some countries, like Croatia, you really just need to go with the flow, don’t over plan or try to organise everything online. Because they’re still a little old school.. everything is done in person (yes you actually have to talk to a human!) which we learnt quickly during our trip. By now we were definitely feeling very lucky.

We arrived bright and early at the train station the next morning with homemade sandwiches and breakfast pastries. It might have been the slowest train I’ve ever been on, but it also weaved it’s way through some of the most beautiful scenery. It was unlike anywhere I had seen before, with stark white rock littered by small tufts of green and yellow. A deep blue sky lined by small wisps of white cloud. My first sights of mediterranean terrain and I loved it. But nothing quite compared to my first sighting of the ocean after passing a particularly beautiful mountain. We were almost at split and the vast blue sea was spotted with rocky islands and bordered by little red roofs.   I was mesmerised.

When disembarking the train I was hit with the nostalgic smell of salty air and sun warmed concrete. Summer, it smelt like Summer. We donned our backpacks and I pulled out the map to our airbnb accommodation. Walking along the dock to get to town, I stopped for a moment to greet the sea. Crystal clear, deep blue, magnificent. It was hot and the bag was dragging me down, there wasn’t much time for a reunion so we powered on through winding streets with cobbled stone pavements and white stone buildings. We were staying in the heart of old town. When we finally found ourselves at the front door of a beautiful stone apartment block I was so glad we had spent the extra dollars for this location. A quick phone call, our host greeting us and soon we were running excitedly from room to room admiring the beautiful little home. An oven! A dishwasher! A bath tub! Air-conditioning! You could have sworn we thought we were staying at the Ritz.

There was no time for settling because it was already mid-afternoon and we only had two nights in this newly found paradise. We changed into summer attire with our bathers on underneath (bathers! swimming! sunshine!). Out into the winding streets we went, firstly wandering through Old Town looking for lunch and losing ourselves in the history of such a magical place. I’d never seen an ‘Old town’ like this before, with some of the best preserved Roman remains in the world! Little nooks hidden town tiny lanes leading to craft stalls or handmade trinkets. It was bustling with tourists so I made a mental note to explore again one morning at sunrise when most would still be tucked in their beds.

It was said to be a sandy beach but we found it to be more of a dark muddy sand. We weren’t picky though and dove into the shallow cool waters. Trying to avoid flying balls from boys playing volleyball and kids splashing water at one another. It was freezing but refreshing and I couldn’t believe here I was swimming in the ocean for the first time in four months!

We cooked a warm curry that night, all three of us exhausted from a long day of travel, exploring and swimming. My skin felt salty and warm, I was happier than I’d felt in weeks.

I stayed true to my promise and forced myself out of bed the following morning at 7am. What I’ll do for a photo never ceases to amaze me (trust me, I’m really not an early riser…). I set out into the quiet streets, the sun already beating down and reflecting off of the white sand stone. I was basically still wearing my pyjamas and my eyes were half closed but I only needed to turn onto the first street and I couldn’t stop taking pictures. Quiet corners, beautiful windows with wooden shutters, pigeons flying sky high, washing hanging to dry from window frames. I weaved in and out getting lost within the maze of ancient streets. I hadn’t felt that fire of passion for simply documenting my surroundings like I did that day. Croatia is honestly the most beautiful place I’ve ever seen.

It felt like minutes but I spent three hours wandering that city in the morning sunshine. On my way home I stopped by the fish market and watched as people shouted and laughed over the remaining produce. When I arrived back at the apartment Molly and Martin were just rising from slumber, I made a bowl of muesli for breakfast and we planned a day of market exploring and swimming. We laughed that we felt like we were on vacation, but from what? We no longer worked, had responsibilities or belongings. We were vacationing from our permanent vacation! Although, it is true that sometimes travelling can be gruelling on the body and mind, Croatia was simply bliss.

As the sun set on our final day in Split we headed out into the dusk-lit streets. The harbour was busy with people enjoying the evening sea breeze and we marvelled at the almost full moon sitting fat and happy in the sky. We wandered the winding streets for the last time in search of a bar that didn’t seem to exist. I noted the sky full of foreboding birds, soaring and swooping and cooing. Cats hid in dark corners and warmly-lit windows. The city had an entirely different feel than it’s cheery sunny daylight hours and I loved it even more. We found the bar but it was closed, so we made our way to another for evening cocktails. It was the perfect end to two magical days, I would almost be sad to be leaving if it weren’t for our next adventure, my first visit to the Islands of Croatia.