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Wandering the World

Stories and tips from around the world.

Dalmatian Coast Day 8

In the Centre of Dalmatia

My first job of the day was to run up Marjam Hill to get some photographs I might otherwise have missed. It’s a steep climb, and I most likely walked more of it going up than I ran. At various points I stopped to take photographs of the sunrise, and of the views. About halfway up there was a church I passed - one of many that are on this hill. The others I didn’t get to see, but on my way to the cross at the summit, I did pass a modern amphitheatre. In all honesty is was one of the hardest five kilometre runs I’d ever done.

Sunrise in Split

The group had organised a car for four people to take a tour without telling us until three of the places had been taken - it made it impossible for us to join them. This was with two of the ones that had already backed out, and had since changed their minds.

We couldn’t help but think they’d got something against us. One of those spots had been offered to me, but I wasn’t going to leave Lindsay behind. She felt that one of the group didn’t like her or Marion much so was quite offended. Was there some bitterness about something there I hadn't seen?

After a buffet breakfast beneath the hotel, I spoke to the receptionist and she was able to change the vehicle from a car to a van to fit more people. Now we could all go as originally planned. It also made it cheaper for the group anyway as instead of them paying around HRK450 each, it’d now be about HRK270 - I’d say that’s a pretty good saving. It’s better for the driver too as he’d be making more money for the same amount of work. Winning all round.

Surprisingly our first stop of the day was Klis to visit the fortress there - this was one place I was keen on seeing. I think it being first was potentially because it’d get busier later in the day so the driver wanted this out of the way. I think it was a nice start to the day as not only was this used as the city of Meereen in Game of Thrones, but it’s also an interesting fortress with great views of Split.

I found it difficult figuring out exactly which views had been used by HBO when filming. I knew the exterior shots of a ramp with slave masters strung up was shot here, but there were a couple of possible bits that could have been used. As you’d probably expect I photographed pretty much everything there was to see there anyway, so at least that way I knew I’d seen it all.

Klis Fortress

After about an hour we’d finished and was back on the road to the Illyrian archaeological site of Salona. The morning sun was already getting warm, so I kept to the shade the best I could whilst photographing the ruins of a church and the graveyard.

Slightly further down the hill we could see more ruins, but to see the amphitheatre we got back in the van and was driven down to them to avoid the twenty-five minute walk. The ruins aren’t too bad, and I think they were worth the visit even though I’d not heard of them until they were mentioned by our tour guide in Split. These are ruins which still have some intact arches, and are quite sizeable.

Salona

What we’d been told about Salona was that it had been the ancient capital of Dalmatia - the region we’d been exploring over the past week. It had been the home of the Roman Emperor Diocletian whose palace had become Split, and later the new capital. This was another piece that explained the region's history.

Kaštel was a place another in our group wanted to see, but sadly we couldn’t look around there due to a lack of parking. The best our driver could do was to go passed them and point out the place that had been used as Braavos in Game of Thrones. I agreed it would have been nice to have stopped in the old fishing village - I think it’d have made for some interesting photographs.

As we couldn’t stop there, we continued on down the road and over a bridge onto the small island of Trogir. We were told we’d have two hours there - enough time to wander around and find some lunch. It wasn’t quite enough time to see around the castle, but that was okay - we’d been around plenty already and those of us continuing on would have a few more yet.

Trogir

There wasn’t that much else to see really - we walked down the sunbaked quayside and down various alleyways and the main attractions we saw were yet more churches. Eventually we decided we should find somewhere to eat and sat at a restaurant by the water.

Unfortunately I managed to sit in the sun, and was slowly roasting whilst we had a relatively light lunch. With another welcome dinner at the end of the day I didn’t really want too much - I wasn’t even that hungry before we sat down.

I hadn’t noticed it at the time, but later on it was pointed out that there had been a bit of an atmosphere over lunch. One in the group would barely talk to two of them, and even actively turned their back on them. I wasn’t entirely sure why, or what had gone on previously as to my knowledge neither one had spent as much time socialising with the group. Perhaps that was it - they may have felt like they didn’t really know each other and now for some it was the end of the trip. Would anyone even care in a few days time?

For us we had more to see, but this trip was over. We headed back to the minivan to be taken back to Split; where once again we went our separate ways for a time. Three of us took a slow walk to the main square, and just sat there for half an hour.

Romans

By the time we got back to the hotel it was about time to meet up with the new group. This new group immediately didn’t seem as good as the first group. Though when do they ever? I was hopeful this opinion would change over time, though four of the group were missing. Those of the group that were there had arranged their own evening meal so only three of us and Vlad turned up for the welcome meal. Good start there.

The food wasn’t great unfortunately - I’d asked for a medium steak, but got rare. Lindsay asked for very well done, but got medium-rare. Vlad had issues with all of his meal. The roast potatoes were however good.

Once again it was time to pack, ready to move on once more.

Tags: croatia split travel trips

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