At 06:00 the church bells would have woken us even if I’d not set an alarm. Two hours later we’d had breakfast, met up with the group, and had began our journey to Split. This would signal the beginning of the end for our group. Split would be where we’d be splitting up to go our separate ways.

The ferry ride was much warmer than the last one had been, even though it was the same catamaran as before - it being later in the day meant the sun was heating it up. The downside to this is that we had to stay seated - we couldn’t wander outside where it would no doubt have been cooler. Pesky health and safety, and not wanting to risk anyone falling overboard at speed.

Even at 09:00 when we arrived in Split it felt too warm. I was convinced I was slowly being burnt as we walked along the seafront and into the area that had been the Diocletian's Palace. We soon found out that not only was hotel we’d be staying in located over some baths that had been in the palace, but parts of the hotel were using some of the original wall too. It seems strange to know you’re sleeping in a room where one wall is well over a thousand years old.

The receptionist there was then our city guide for the next two hours. She was very cheery and full of enthusiasm for their history. It’s amazing what you can learn from a knowledgeable guide when they care about what it is they’re saying. It wasn’t a monotonous drone like guides on some previous trips have been.

This tour started with seeing more of the palace wall, and gaining the understanding of how it is part of a living history in the city. This entire area has stayed fairly consistent since the Roman times, and even during the Yugoslavian years. It wasn’t until about fifteen years ago with the advent of tourism in the area that things started to change.

Tourism had driven the prices up, and the locals could no longer afford to stay in the palace. Gradually the buildings turned to apartments, restaurants, and other places that tourists might want. There was only one restaurant our guide knew of that would still have locals eating at.

Tales of what life was like under communism and how you could talk to two different people and get a story of woes from one and prosperity from another conjured images in my mind. They were images I’d seen in museums from both Russia and China where I’d also heard stories of how bad things had been. Though here, from from the Russian bear, we heard more about how some hadn’t seen the bad.

When we reached the Vestibule there were some performers getting ready to sing Klapa music. Their voices demonstrated the incredible acoustics of the room with a traditional song - this room would have been used by Diocletian to have sounded more powerful when talking. Klapa is the local tradition of a capella music which focuses in harmonies. In some ways the people signing reminded me of a Mexican Mariachi group, but these were more melodious.

Just a stone’s throw from there was another wall where you could see out to the port. This part had once been a number of houses, but they were destroyed by a bomb during the second world war. When they’d started to clean up the mess they found generations of history in the different layers of stone wall. It provided insight into how the buildings here had evolved.

Next she led us into the substructure of the palace - it was a bustling marketplace aimed primarily at tourists. I could imagine few locals would go here. For tourists though, there was the added interest that this had been where filmmakers had gone to film scenes of Game of Thrones - the location where Daenerys kept her dragons.

At the Cathedral of Saint Domnius we were told a little about the history of Diocletian and his rise to power, his downfall, and the revenge the Christians persecuted by him took. The building that had once been the mausoleum of Diocletian was a now a church for the religion he hated so much.

Back at the hotel we were asked what we wanted to do, and attempt was made to book a trip. Of course, myself and Lindsay wanted to do it, but then two backed out, and then another two which meant it was no longer feasible. From that point onwards I tried my best to find a way to make it possible to at least see Klis Fortress even if we couldn’t get to see the other bits.

It didn’t seem like it was going to be possible, so three of us went to the supermarket to get lunch and some drinks for a group gathering on our terrace. Before the gathering we had a little time left to sight see.

The first place we saw was the Temple of Jupiter, which was a little crowded. The cathedral’s bell tower was even more so - to the point of it almost being dangerous as they weren’t controlling the numbers. Lindsay waited at the bottom whilst I began the climb up.

The route up is a little tight to start with, but once onto the second staircase it completely changes. There was a stream of people that I had to wait for, and once onto the stairs I looked up and noticed a lot of people were being extremely cautious and moving slowly.

In places it was possible to step out onto the ledges around the bell tower due to a lack of railings against the wall. The only railing was on the inside, and the steps creaked - the sort of noise that metal makes when it’s straining. I wouldn’t be too surprised if one day we heard of a collapse or accident inside the bell tower. There was one lady who’d had a panic attack on the way up, and had to sit on one of those ledges to let the flow of people continue.

At the top it felt a lot more secure, but I was still cautious and limited my time up there. I’m fine with heights and have climbed far higher than this previously - it’s just this one didn’t feel right. I couldn’t imagine health and safety standards were quite the same here.

Back at the bottom we continued our tour with the cathedral, though we found we had the choice of two tickets for this. A ‘blue ticket’ would give us access to the Cathedral, Crypt, and Temple of Jupiter, or the ‘red ticket’ for entry into the Cathedral, Crypt, Bell Tower, and Treasury. Having paid for two of them on the list already we decided our best option would be the blue ticket.

It didn’t take long to look around the cathedral - there’s not really that much to see. The crypt is a little more interesting, but again takes no more than a few minutes. I could understand why the crypt was bundled with the cathedral for both tickets.

I think the morning tour had done a good job of orienting us to the city as we found our way through the vestibule to the Ethnographic museum quite easily. It was shame about the graffiti on the windows, but inside there’s a reasonable amount to see. They have costumes from different regions in Croatia and from different periods.

From there we found that the substructure we’d seen earlier hadn’t been everything. In fact, it hadn’t been the bit used in Game of Thrones either. At the end of the thoroughfare there are two entrances to see more - one on either side. With a price tag of HRK42 we had our doubts whether it was worth it, but I didn’t want to miss it. When you’re faced with a dilemma like this though you have to ask yourself - will we regret it if we don’t see it? Are we ever likely to have another opportunity to see it if we change our mind?

I thought about it some more, and realised it would only be around £5 - a bargain compared to what something like this would cost back home. So I persuaded the others to do it. There were quite a few rooms to see, some were outside and bright, some were dark. When half the lights went out, even more of the indoor rooms went dark. I was glad we’d done it - it was probably the best thing I’d seen in Split. I’d spent a reasonable amount of time in a few of the rooms to make sure I got the exact photos I wanted.

When we left we found a shortcut back to the hotel, so we’d be back in time for drinks with the others on our terrace. Jess and Olivia, two of the younger members of our group, had gotten engaged whilst they’d been travelling through Mykonos and this was something the group knew about. In response to this we’d organised a engagement cake for them that was waiting on the roof terrace.

The roof terrace is a spot not used by groups often, but thanks to Vlad we got use of it. Once we were all up there, the engagement cake was presented to them - sourced by Vlad’s tour guide cousin. It wasn’t a bad view from up there either, so it was a nice end to the day before our farewell dinner at Bajamont.

This restaurant is one with handwritten menus which they’ll write out every day based on the ingredients they’ve got. As ingredients run out, they’ll cross items off each menu. I took this opportunity to try one of the local cuisines - a sausage-like meat called Cevapcici. I think they tasted quite nice, and the serving was plentiful.

Nobody really wanted the night to be over, so we went across the town and out of the north gate to a bar inside the art gallery. They’d got live music on that night, with a young singer who had a good vocal range.

By 21:50 I was starting to think about our potentially early start, so I made my way back to the hotel. Lindsay stayed with the others, and was helped find her way back by them about fifteen minutes later.