The weather forecast has been quite dismal in recent days. Having said that, our experience on the boat trip was that the forecast was never right when rain was promised. Happily, they did not get it right yesterday either.

We woke to the forecasted rain. It rained as we got up and prepared for the day. It rained while we had breakfast. It was raining as we headed out. Our intention was to choose a few indoor activities, not always easy on a Sunday in Split. We asked the woman at the hotel desk if she had any suggestions. The best she could come up with was the mall and that was not on any of our must-see lists. Between the city map and my trusty guide book, we managed to come up with a few ideas and set off.

Our first plan was to head over to the Green Market, a collection of small stalls in a nearby park, where I could acquire a small fold up umbrella for the day. Sadly, I had brought the wrong rain jacket, which was a rather tight fit. The umbrella would allow me to leave it unzipped so I did not have to walk through town looking a bit too much like a turquoise stuffed sausage.

To get to the Green Market, we had to make our way through the surprisingly crowded square, where two men dressed as Roman guards were sheltering under a scrap of the remaining roof system. Fortunately it was warm, even in the wet, and they did not look too uncomfortable.

A small local church near the park had its doors wide open. The sound of singing drew us near enough to peek inside and watch a bit of the service. It was quite pleasant. The hymn was familiar, but there was no way to make out the words as, of course, they were singing in Croatian.

Our first plan had been to go to the Ethnography Museum almost next door to our hotel. Sadly, it was unexpectedly closed, even though my travel book noted that it was open on Sundays. While on our way there (I say that like it was more than 100 steps away) we had to enter through what was originally Diocletian’s impressive entry hall. The domed roof is long gone, but the space is still beautiful.

A group of 4 men were singing traditional klapa (a capella music “with friends”) under the open dome. It was beautiful. We listened for a short time, huddled against the stone walls, seeking some small protection from the rain. They were selling CDs, which I briefly contemplated. I think I have learned that some magic only retains its properties in the right time and space – it just can’t be captured and brought home and be at all the same. So, no CD. Here they are if you want to have a listen: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lnb7G-revKc

Our Plan B was to go to the Ivan Mestrovic gallery just outside of town. I am so very glad that we did! Mestrovic was one of the most famous modern Croatian artists, known primarily for his sculptures. He was born to Croatian peasants, began studying marble cutting at the age of 13, and attended the Vienna Academy. He lived in London, then Paris, where he became friends with Auguste Rodin.

(Brief sidebar: when my children were 13 and 16 respectively, we went on a week long trip to Paris. We experienced all kinds of art and architecture and history. The Rodin Gallery was the one place they asked to go back to. I think it was because of the accessibility of sculpture; a story that can be circled and viewed in all three dimensions. I will always remember that.)

The rain had stopped, at least temporarily, so we decided to walk the 2+ km along the sea, rather than take a taxi. It was a lovely walk, albeit a bit blustery.

The seawall is Croatia’s walk of fame. Along much of the distance there are embedded bronze plaques, each with the names of their medal-winning Olympians. They dated back to the 50’s and it is a bit mind-blowing to consider that in during those many years, the athletes competed as Yugoslavians and Croatians. Some won medals across multiple Olympics, competing as representatives of both countries.

The remainder of the walk was through quiet residential streets with small homes and apartments, leafy trees, and masses of bougainvillea.

We finally arrived at the gallery, an impressively large building, designed by Mestrovic as a space to live and work as well as display his art. There was a large garden in front containing 8 or 9 very large bronze sculptures. The building itself was fronted by a long row of columns and we climbed many steps to get to the doorway. The actual door was impressively large with a handle so high I could barely reach it.

Mestrovic’s work was visible as soon as we entered the building’s massive foyer. Most of the pieces were sculptures, though there were also some paintings, sketches and even some furniture he designed and built for the living areas. The sculptures were in a variety of mediums including wood, bronze and marble. There was a wonderful video about his life, which we watched in its entirety. Many of his pieces are religious, La Pieta shown here, Moses, Adam and Eve. There were also sculptures and sketches of regular people.

Mestrovic sculpts to an amazing level of detail, especially the men. The women typically have fuller figures but are often much less detailed in the form of their bodies. I have had a number of thoughts on that….

The rain was still holding off when we left the gallery, so we took a brief stroll through the sculpture garden. More wonderful pieces and a few very sweet cats.

We decided to walk back, even though it was still quite windy. A few sail boats were out and one woman was wind surfing, brilliantly might I add. All of the souvenir stalls along the water were still buttoned up tight and none of the boat tours were running. There was one cruise ship in town, the boat brightly painted with a giant Tweety Bird on the stack, Wile E Coyote and few other Merry Melody cartoon characters on the bow.

The character of Split is quite different during the day, when hundreds (thousands!) of people from the cruise ships are in, compared to the evening when it is largely locals and people like us staying in town. Eighty percent of the economy is fuelled by tourism and the pandemic has been hard on them. Yet everywhere we go we are greeted warmly, and almost always in English.

We stopped for lunch and a coffee (always the coffee) and decided to go to the Cathedral of Saint Dominus next. It is a rather petite Cathedral, believed to be the oldest Roman Catholic Church in the world. It was built on top of Diocletian’s mausoleum (from the late 3rd century) and consecrated in the 7th century. The bell tower was added in 1100 and the choir in the 17th century when most of the Romanesque sculptures were removed. Then the entire structure was rebuilt in 1908. It is a bit of a hodge-podge, but quite beautiful in it’s own crazy quilt way.

We did not climb the 180 steps to the top of the tower after a peek inside confirmed how very tiny and narrow the staircase was. After testing my sea legs and my bike butt, I wasn’t up for the claustrophobia exam.

Across the square was Jupiter’s Temple, originally built in ~300 AD and converted to the Baptistery of St. John the Baptist in the 6th century. There were reliefs depicting many of the Roman Gods; very cool! The interior was quite simple except for a beautifully carved stone ceiling depicting human faces expressing a range of emotions (like we saw in Sibenik!)

The bronze statue of John the Baptist was made by our friend Ivan Mestovic. One of the 2 remaining sphinxes stands in front, though sadly headless. This one, and the one in the Peristil, are all that remain of the 21 sphinxes originally brought from Egypt.

Cathy and I were interested in going back into the cellars to make some purchases, the husbands were not. So off we went, kuna in hand, while they opted to find a nearby bar for a drink.

Cathy is a very careful shopper. I know what I want and get in then get out. Between the two of us we were done in 30-ish minutes. My purchases were tiny as I was very mindful of the fact that I only had a carry-on bag. Rick could only allow for a small amount of overflow as his carry-on is already very full – some of it due to my overflow.

My three purchases fit neatly inside my small travel purse; Cathy had two full bags. We were back standing in front of the hubbies in short order, surprising them both. We had a glass of wine on the square, chatting and people watching, After a relaxed hour had passed, it was time to go back to our rooms to prepare for dinner.

In this world, ‘prepare for dinner’ does not mean a whole lot. I essentially took out my pony tail, swapped my sneakers for sandals, and added a light sweater.

Although there were women in dresses, everywhere, long and short, there were no heels in sight. The shiny limestone cobbles are not evenly shaped and are particularly slick when wet. The only safe shoe is a flat one and we see them on everyone. (I saw one woman in kitten heels at the bank but that was quite a notable departure from the norm. I also saw a security guard carrying a gun, which surprised me given the low crime rate in Croatia. And considering the fact that many of the security guards at our banks are fairly old unarmed men that would have no hope in a tussle or a chase with an actual bank robber).

After a very short break we stepped out again for dinner at a little wine bar called Zinfandel. Apparently the Zinfandel grape, so popular in California, was genetically proven to have originated in Croatia. So of course, we ordered a bottle of Zinfandel with our meal and it was lovely. Zinfandels come with varying bodies from light to very full bodied, or ‘chewy’ as Ken describes them. We opted for medium, which was perfect.

The meal itself was one of the best we have had on this trip. I had ravioli with figs and sage butter to start. There were only three ravioli but they were magnificent and I would never have thought to include figs (filing that away for the future). My main course was grilled Hama which came with generous portions of roast vegetables. Rick and I shared a mousse for dessert (complete with figs again) and we all had a Grappa in varying degrees of sweet and fruity. I chose the plum which was by far the driest.

There was a couple playing music for much of our meal – they were really good. She sounded very much like Amy Winehouse, in style and voice. It was a lovely jazzy vibe and not too intrusive.

We strolled back to our room pleasantly full and happy, contemplating our options. Tomorrow would be our last day in Split.