We arrived in Split quite early as we had to be off the boat by 9:00. Uber is a thing in Croatia, so we hired the only XL Uber available to haul us and our many bags from Trogir. It was a bit of a wait, though I was happy to be standing on solid ground in glorious sunshine.

The driver got us as close as possible to the gates of Diocletian’s Palace. The rest of the journey to the hotel was through tiny, I mean really tiny, streets and alleyways. Since we had arrived so early, we were unable to check-in, but left our bags locked in the office and went out for a bit of sightseeing.

It was quite challenging to navigate the streets by map or GPS, so we just walked. Straight ahead of us we went down some stairs and into a section of underground chambers. These were originally the palace cellars, now converted into a collection of stalls selling local crafts, goods and a fair collection of tacky souvenirs. The space itself was quite lovely and has been used for everything from movies sets (Daenerys kept her dragons there in Game of Thrones) to fashion show runways.

At the end of the cellars we exited to the Riva, a beautiful seaside promenade with palm trees (imported a few hundred years ago) and lovely restaurants. There were water views and excellent opportunities for people watching. We started with a morning cappuccino, then wandered along the water, pausing to check out the occasional souvenir cart.

One wide street, just outside the original palace walls, took us back into old town. The street was busy, but not jammed, so we could stroll and look as much as we pleased.

Everywhere we go, Dubrovnik to Ston to Trogir to Split, we have noticed these huge candy stores. They are filled with all kinds of sugary treats, most notably giant marshmallow bananas about the size of my foot and marshmallow strawberries of a comparable size. Although I am painfully curious about them, I loved marshmallow bananas as a kid, I cannot bring myself to actually buy one. Rick has been gazing longingly in the windows of all of them. He finally went inside and bought a rather restrained quantity of chocolate treats. I assume the quality is indicative of the rest of the inventory, so would pass on anything else. High quality Swiss and German chocolates are readily available.

There were a few building of interest, both outside the palace, and a super cool water feature which was a hand shooting water into a large cup across the street and about 10 feet away.

At the top of the street there was a relatively small but handy department store that I expect we will visit later. The forecast is rainy, lots and lots of rain, beginning Sunday and pretty much until the end of our stay. Lulled by the fact that it was still hot at home, and the high temperatures in Croatia’s weather forecast, I have no jacket of any substance so a purchase of some sort must likely be made. Well, I have my old K-Way, which must have shrunk the last time I wore it. In consideration of the pending weather, we opted to see as much of the outdoor Split as possible today (Saturday) and Sunday morning. We will delay our museum, gallery and cathedral visits for the rainy days.

We had a delicious lunch of cauliflower and shrimp soup, and an arugula salad at the Poseidon Café. It is clear (after almost 2 weeks and several attempts) that an arugula salad would be more aptly described as – a bowl of arugula. The only thing that elevates it to salad status is a drizzle of olive oil and, in this case, about 10 sesame seeds. Rick had calamari, which was actually a giant plateful of grilled squid chunks, not the tasty fried rings we are so accustomed to. He did eat it all and said it was delicious.

The post lunch hotel check-in was so very welcome. We sorted and sent off our laundry to the hotel service as this was most definitely our top priority. I kept some things back that were easily washed by hand and spent a half hour hunched over the giant bathtub doing a small ‘load’ of laundry. Once this was hung about the room, most on the handy towel warmer in the bathroom, we settled back for a restful few hours of lounging and reading. It was marvelous.

When we we got back to our room, our neatly folded was ready, a mere 3 hours later, and just in time for dinner. Although we had chosen a nearby restaurant for dinner, it was full when we arrived. Forward thinking, we made a future reservation for Sunday and headed to the main square, which had the largest concentration of restaurants. We ended up at “No Stress”, mostly because the name struck me as amusing.

The people watching was great. We actually saw our first Dalmatian dog a local Croatian breed. They were originally used to guard the borders and were often seen in firehouses as they are particularly comfortable with horses, the original haulers of fire engines.

Our dinner was good. Rick and I both had cacio e pepe, though I would suggest that his was superior to this one wrt its pepperiness. We shared another bottle of delightful Croatian Syrah.

After dinner we strolled about the palace, ending up in the section with the highest concentration of Roman ruins. We were also near the Peristil, the center square of the palace. It was filled with people and there was even some live music.

This is a picture of the Cathedral of St Dominus, originally Diocletian’s mausoleum. It was converted to a cathedral after the fall of the Roman empire. The bell tower was added by the Venetians sometime during the 13th to 16th century. It is quite lovely all lit up at night.

We are all in agreement, Split Day One was lovely.