Within a few days of arriving at Stobrec Camping, we drove into Split Centre to have a look see.  Having been round a one way system twice, incidentally the same one we took when we left the ferry, we found an attended car park without height restriction.  Result!  It was in the Ferry Port and a short walk to the main drag which is dominated by sea front restaurants, bars and jewellers and of course the Diocletian’s Palace. 

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Popping into a Tourist Information Centre round the corner from the car park, we found out many of these ‘helpful Tourist Information units’ were simply agents and not official.  Walking towards the official Tourist Board of Split, took us through the Green Market, open daily except Sundays, where we admired fresh produce of salads, vegetables and fruit but decided not to buy anything as the weather was hot and we had no idea how long we would be out. Some of the market’s selling spaces were taken by locals trying to sell anything at all; a kind of mini secondhand flea market.  Steve looked round the stalls, I held on to my bag which contained our passports.  Having satisfied our lust for market stalls – remember everything in Italy was Red Lock Down, we made our way to the Tourist Office which was roughly in the middle of the run of bars.  I don’t think we’ve ever walked past so many bars without stopping.

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The two personnel behind the desk were delighted to welcome and see us – tourists from the UK!  Any tourists having made it to Croatia are mainly German with very few Brits around.  Going through Island Ferry Timetables, Points of Interest and UNESCO Sites we were given a carrier bag full of useful information leaflets, brochures and maps.  Steve was in his element.  He loves researching where we should visit and also collecting maps.  This works well for me, as I’m in my element having it all planned on my behalf.

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Our first decision was to do the Walking Tour of the Diocletian Palace.   It’s a 24/7 UNESCO Site, with everything you would expect in the centre of a town – houses, flats, bars, restaurants, shops, exhibitions and museums.  We noticed how empty it was of tourists and how face masks didn’t seem to be obligatory.  Although the squares and restaurant/bar areas had customers, the walking tour was relatively free of other people and we appreciated the empty streets and admiring the sights in our own time.  Having completed the walking tour and taken a lot of pictures on our cameras and mobiles it was time for a bite to eat, a non-alcoholic beer for Steve and a glass of local white wine for me.  We chose No Stress in one of the central squares and enjoyed local fish dishes whilst sitting in our t shirts in the sun. Throughout this whole tour so far, we have never taken for granted how lucky we are to be where we are.

Split is as beautiful as we have been told, all Croatians speak really good English and considering the circumstances welcome us as tourists to their country.  Walking back to the car we appreciated not having the bustle of having to walk through Cruise Ship passengers but wondered how the many jewellery and tourist shops must be struggling.

NOTE: We enjoyed it so much, that we visited again, saw even more, collected the Guide Books from the book shop and had another lunch at No Stress

Official Website – Diocletian’s Palace