DAY 10 AND 11 - SPLIT
We walked down to the station and as we had time we enjoyed the flower beds outside the station.  We were going the take the train to Split on the Dalmatian coast.  This was  a journey of over 6 hours and we arrived into the evening.  The line passes through some hilly, even mountainous country and was very pleasant indeed.  There were only a few passengers because there are more buses and they take less time and are cheaper. A shame because it is such an interesting trip.  The line is full of bends and the train tilts to allow it to travel faster than normal without causing discomfort for the passengers.

To view a larger photo, left click on the image once or touch on a tablet.  To return to the Blog click or touch off the image.

The lovely flower beds outside the station


The Tilting Train

We were met at the station by the apartment owner as promised and he drove us the short distance to the apartment.  This was very well appointed in an older building.
He gave us a few gifts, wine and dried apricots. He was a really pleasant man who was very helpful to us.


DAY 11 
The first day was largely exploratory. The area we were in was quite compact and we could walk everywhere, never took a bus or a taxi.  Near the apartment was a set of market stalls, this one had all manner of treasures.


One of the tourist features is the Diocletian's Palace. This is the city's living heart with its labyrinthine streets packed with people, bars, shops and restaurants.
Inside Diocletian's Palace
Today we were just passing through on the way to the busy waterfront.  We spent more time there later in our stay.

The statue of Gregorious of NIn.

He was a medieval Croatian bishop  who strongly opposed the Pope and official circles of the church.  He introduced the national language in the religious services after the Great Assembly in 926. Until that time, services were held only in Latin (being under the jurisdiction of Roman influence before the split between the Catholic Church and Eastern Orthodox churches) and not being understandable to a majority of the population.   It was a very large statue.

The port of Split is large too.  It has over 26 berths and there was always something on the move.  There are many ferries  and car ferries serving the off shore islands, we used one ourselves to get to and from the Island of Vis.  There are also regular ferries to Ancona in Italy.  It is also on the regular run of many cruise ships.

Port traffic -  the cruise ship in the background is the MSC Opera which crashed into the dock in Venice on June 2nd this year

Just around the corner from the port are a series of well populated beaches.



A favourite past time taken very seriously

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