bay – Benny & Bessy's Travels from 2021 and Samson & Suzi's European Travels 2016-2020…… (as named by Jack Spencer)

Split was our final destination before we return to the UK for some remedial repairs on Samson. From here we have travelled down to Dubrovnik, inland to Krka, and north to several smaller coastal towns.

The campsite we are on is about 5 miles south of Split, the area is called Stobrec, its an easy journey into the town but we are on the edge of a busy, noisy dual carriageway which turns into a racetrack at night and a competition for emergency vehicles during the day, to see who’s siren is the loudest! In the last few days, we moved to a corner plot, for an easy get away on moving day. The back is all ready to travel, gaffa tape is amazing stuff!!

The bay at Stobrec is not particularly clean and clear, due to the fact that for the past 2 years the mountains behind the town have caught fire and the soot and debris has been swept into the sea. This has not encouraged me into the sea, if I cannot see the bottom, I won’t go in. We have stuck to the campsite’s swimming pools instead or headed up or down the coast to cleaner bays!

The Town of Split

The town of Split is strange, it portrays an image of being a tourist attraction, again where Game of Thrones was filmed, with an “old walled Roman town”, a promenade full of bars and restaurants, and a busy port and ferry station, where ferries and ships head out to the islands, or over to Italy. The reality is very different.

The walled city is simply an enclosed area of shops, restaurants and cafes, but with some housing thrown in! The old walls and entrance gates are certainly spectacular and well maintained, but internally it’s very different, with walls being supported by scaffolding and crumbling away. The only building left that resembles an “old building” is the cathedral and its crypt and baptistry. However, these were very disappointing, the cathedral is very Very small with two modern stainless steel organs; the Treasury is a room filled with religious artefacts but with no explanation as to what they are or their age; the Baptistry is a small stone building with a simple baptism font in the middle, no explanation or anything else in it!!

The promenade is modern and full of bars, restaurants and cafes, heaving with travellers waiting for a ferry, or coach trips being guided round with a quick lunch stop. The outdoor “green market” was a mix of old weather worn locals selling their own produce, no prices, no English spoken, pay for it or move on and larger modern farming types, shouting their wares and prices, hassling you to buy.

The entrance to the ferry port is a strong mix of tourist shops selling boat tours or adrenaline inspired trips, souveniers and fast food, but you have to step over the hoards of traveller type teenagers and young adults loaded with back packs, dirty clothing and smelling of weed! A bit like Benidorm for hippies!!

As you enter the town, you are surrounded by high rise modern and not so modern tower blocks, decorated with graffitti and dumped rusting cars. Parking is at a premium in Split so we sometimes parked 1.5km outside the town and walked in, a real eye opener walking past smelly overflowing bins, piles of dog poo on every little patch of greenery and dirty rusting cars full of scrapes and dents.

The Croatians do not seem to be the best drivers, it seems to be compulsory to have a mobile phone attached to your ear whilst driving, and rear seat belts do not seem to exist. One evening we sat watching the traffic drive past and 1 in every 3 cars passing had a driver on his/her mobile, very few children in the back were in car seats or strapped in and only this morning we saw a saloon car with 2 adults in the front, 3 adults in the back, plus 2 children! Police enforcement of any kind does not seem to exist here!

So today, we leave Split but will certainly return to Croatia. Overall, we loved the northern part of Istria, did not like Split on the Dalmation coast and although we felt Dubrovnik was a highly expensive tourist trap, it certainly was beautiful. The whole coastline is amazing, if only we could win the lottery and return in our own captained boat to cruise the islands at our leisure…..well, we can dream!!