This is going to be the last post from my trip to Europe. Split was the last city we visited before coming home, and it was a great place in which to relax after a whirlwind of a trip! We ate, we tanned… and that’s about it. Fabulous.

Split is a very pleasant tourist city, and is also a good base from which to visit the nearby islands of Hvar, Brac and Vis. We only had time to visit Hvar and Brac, although I’m told that Vis is awesome too.


Split

We stayed at another pension, Ana & Miki Guesthouse, which was a 10 minute walk from the harbour.


View of Split from the Balcony of our room


Houses in Split

On the street from the house to the town, we came across an almost totally hidden bakery, run by a really friendly lady, which sold yummy yummy baked goods. We came here pretty much every morning to get breakfast and provisions for the day.


Ivan Ivac Pekara


Ivan Bakery


Baked Donut – filled with fig jam


Milk Bun


Cheese pastry – Now, unlike the one from the dodgy bus stop servo, this was a quality cheese pastry.

Brac island is a ferry-ride away from Split harbour, and is famous for Bol beach – a unique pebble beach that extends 500 metres out from the shore, which changes shape depending on the winds and tides. It does get ridiculously crowded in summer, but don’t let that stop you. It has the clearest, most beautiful water I’ve ever seen, and is a perfect spot for last-minute, about-to-return-home-to-winter tanning.


Bol Beach

Of course, we made the time to stop off at a cafe before hitting the beach.


Pastry from cafe on Brac


Clarice with massive piece of cake

There are lots of restaurants in Split and on the islands, and I think that Lonely Planet and Time Out both do really good recommendations, so they’re a good point to start from.


Dalmatian Prosciutto


Pag Cheese


More Cheese


Ice-cream!

There’s a market in Split, near the Diolectian’s palace, which sells all manner of touristy goods (I got a fab black & white Panama-style hat!) and food.


Market


Market 2


Market 3


Market 4


Market 5

I got a beautiful peach, which I ate later that day on the beach in Hvar.


Fresh Peach

Here are some photos from Dubrovnik...

If you thought we left gelato behind in Italy, you were wrong! Croatia is a beautiful sunny tourist paradise. That means ice-cream is EVERYWHERE!



This is the entrance to the old town through the massive city walls.



Croatian beer rocks!

PIVO!

The following is what we had for dinner one night at another portside restaurant whose name slips my memory. The prices weren't too bad, and they had a jazz pianist playing too. Sheesh, we're SO not backpackers!


Fish soup!


Grilled prawns on blue cheese risotto

The following photos are of these "hole in the wall" type joints that they have in Dubrovnik. They're built into the cliff face, and you can get to them by climbing some stairs on the edge of town and following the signs that say "Cold Drinks". I'm told that it's perfectly acceptable to strip off and jump into the clear blue ocean whilst you drink, but we abstained.


Hole in the wall drinking place at sunset


Hole in the Wall drink joint during the day

This is a small market that was located in the centre of town, selling lots of local produce.


Market in Dubrovnik

Clarice bought the biggest jar of honey I'd ever seen.


Clarice with a ridiculous jar of honey - how happy does she look?

You may remember that in my last post, I mentioned that our accommodation was a mere 5 minute walk from the beach. Here's the street that takes you to the beach.



And here's the beach itself. How convenient!


Lapad Beach

Dubrovnik, in the south of Croatia, is a lovely town. Clarice and I stayed in a wonderful pension in the suburb of Lapad, run by Maro, and his wife, Irena. (By the way, if you're heading to Dubrovnik, I highly recommend staying here - check out Apartments Irena Dubrovnik, on the Hostelworld website). It's a short bus-ride away from the old town, and a 5 minute walk from a great pebble beach. More importantly, Maro is awesome! He was so helpful, and gave us great advice about where to go (and more importantly, where to eat!) in Dubrovnik. Furthermore, the actual rooms were wonderful. It was just like having our own home in Dubrovnik!



One of the restaurants Maro recommended was Lokanda Peskaria, located just on the port of the old town. (Photo above, with blue awnings and white umbrellas). This is one restaurant that serves good quality food and won't rip you off. (We were warned to avoid the restaurants inside the old town with touts to lure you in). Lokanda serves pretty common Croatian dishes - fresh seafood, cheese, salads, and so on - done really well, at reasonable prices and in a great location. We ate there twice.

Located on the port, Lokanda has a great view of the water and town, as well as lots of boats offering tours and day-trips.


Great view from Lokanda

Our first visit was on our first night in Dubrovnik...


Bread


Marinated Sardines


Seafood Risotto


Grilled Squids - exquisite!


Creme caramel

And we returned for lunch the next day.


Octopus salad - meltingly soft octopus in a delightfully astringent dressing


Cheese in oil. Hint: whenever you have the option of ordering cheese in Croatia, go for it!


Salad


Lokanda Mussels

From Rome, we slowly made our way to Dubrovnik.

First was a train ride from Rome to Ancona…


Roman Countryside

And then an overnight ferry from Ancona to Split (that’s in Croatia!)…


Ancona

We took a Jadrolinija ferry, and got a sleeper cabin. It was awesome! It did cost the same as 3 nights in a hostel, but it was worth it - the beds were super comfy, and you get a private shower, which was infinitely cleaner than many of our previous hostels.

There are a couple of restaurants on the ferry, serving expensive and uninspiring food. I got a spag bog and beef consommé.


Spag Bog and Beef Soup on Boat

After arriving in Split early the next morning, we took a coach to Dubrovnik, with a couple of rest stops on the way.


Cheese pastry from random servo. It wasn't that good - too much doughy pastry, not enough cheese.

If you do travel from Split to Dubrovnik (or vice versa), you have to drive through Bosnia and Herzegovina for a short period of time. Below is a photo of a delicious lamb bourek that I bought at a dodgy-looking servo in Bosnia and Herzegovina. It's greasy and delicious spicy minced lamb wrapped in layers of filo pastry. We sell "lamb boureks" at my work, but they're nowhere near as good as this!


Lamb Bourek from Bosnia and Herzegovina