Roman ruins, sea kayaks, and waterfalls: a weekend in Split

The Dalmatian Coast of Croatia had long been topping my destination list, but somehow the trip just never seemed to materialize. By the time I was at the pulling-my-hair-out, cannot-possibly-buy-any-more-shoes stage of my thesis writing, I realized I was in need of a beach. Again, however, the Croatia conversations I sparked up with friends fell through. This time, though, I'd really worked it into my head that I'd be going, and I'd have been damned to watch this trip slip through my fingers once more. Travel buddies or no, pricey last minute booking or no, I was determined to finally make it to the blue seas and white Roman ruins of the Dalmatian Coast.

And so, early Saturday morning, poor Nicolas actually woke to drive me to the airport, which means that for the first time after six years of regular international travels, my early morning flight didn't equate a night spent flirting with the sandman on an airport bench. And things didn't exactly go downhill when I was the sun rise over a peach-tinted fluffy cloud cover, through which we soon emerged upon this view.

Flying in over Split

And soon enough, the bus into the city left me along a palm-tree lined boulevard hugging the sea.

The Split boardwalk

I'd tossed aside my Airbnb Croatia wishlist in favor of a bed in a hostel dorm room, so I quickly swung by my home-for-the-weekend just outside Diocletian's Palace before the exploration began.

My home-away-from-home: Hostel Split Mediterranean House

First on the list was the Saturday morning Art Market in the Republic Square where I'll confess to splurging. (A girl deserves to treat herself for writing a whole thesis, n'est-ce pas?)

A handmade present to myself (in case the trip alone wasn't enough!)

Next on the agenda was the mazes of Diocletian's palace, around which the city has built up and thrives. It was amazing to see ancient walls housing the same stores which line the streets of Paris, children playing soccer in courtyards of Roman ruins, and café tables springing up in the same shadows that had been cast daily since the toga was considered a fashion statement not limited to university students.

Diocletian's Palace

The city of Split was first a Greek settlement, but it was really built up when, in 295 AD, the Roman emperor Diocletian decided to fix himself up with a nice little retirement palace which took a mere ten years to build. Diocletian lived here until his death in 313 AD, and subsequent emperors continued to use the palace through the late 500s. In more recent history, Split has changed hands a number of times. It was ruled by the Venetians from 1420 to 1797, and their influence is still felt in the regional traditional cuisine. After the Venetians, Split was ruled by the Austrians, next the French, and then the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes. During WWII, it was occupied by the Italians, liberated, then occupied by the Germans until 1944. Afterward, Split became part of the former Yugoslavia which lasted until war broke out and Croatia became independent in 1991. Although the city itself didn't undergo heavy damages, there are still crumbling buildings and mine fields outside the city, which I noticed the following day on a drive to a national park well beyond city limits. Luckily, Croatia's been going through better times since the 1990s. In fact, just last year Croatia was incorporated into the EU as the 28th member state.

During my wanderings, the sun shone strongly and the temperatures convinced me for just about the first this year that summer had found its way to some part of this continent. And the weather couldn't have been better for my evening's activity: sunset sea kayaking. (If you ever go to Split, I highly recommend it.)

Split sea kayaking: the highlight of my weekend

Hopped out of the kayaks for some snorkeling and cliff jumping

I'd heard great things about the nature in Croatia and, lacking proper company to keep me otherwise entertained, I figured it couldn't hurt to sign up for a tour through Krka National Park, a park built around the Krka and Čikola Rivers. We even got to go swimming around the base of some falls called Skradinski buk, and we stopped to look across the waters to Visovac Island (which you can see in the panoramic photo in the Krka collage), which has housed the Franciscan Monastery of Our Lady of Mercy since 1445. We sampled some locally produced wines and cheeses, both of which are staples of the traditional Dalmatian cuisine.

Krka National Park

Sadly, my last day in town was completely rained (and thundered and lightened) out, but I took the time spent sheltering to enjoy some more local cuisine, notably homemade pastas, seafoods, and a Dalmatian/Venetian specialty: black squid ink pasta.

Croatian specialties and currency... take a second look at the image on the coins. It has a story to tell.

And to wrap things up with a final fun fact, I learned something about the cash which flowed all too freely this weekend: the Crotian currency, called kuna, is literally translated as marten, a sort of ferret-like animal. (You'll notice said ferrets leaping across their coins.) It is so named because the pelts of martens were actually used as currency in medieval Slavic cultures. Who'd have guessed there'd be such historical traces wrapped up in a little coin? Makes me a little disappointed by the constrasting neutrality of the euro to which I've now returned. Luckily I've still got a few kuna on hand for the next time I find myself along the Dalmatian Coast.