Fall Break in the Balkans entry #3: Split & Zadar

View of old town in Split from Diocletian's bell tower. Marjan Hill visible on upper right. Our flat was just below the hill on the water.

Major Activities for the remaining days of the Herbstferien break for us in Split, Croatia:

1. Buying an eel at the fish market and figuring out how to cook it later.
2. Exploring the old streets of the original town's footprint, a walled city built around Roman Emperor Diocletian's Palace.
3. Hiking and bike touring around the city peninsula park of Suma Marjan, a natural offset to the bustling Split waterfront.
4. Taking a ferry ride out to Brač Island, where the autumn olive harvest was in full swing. Hiking a bunch of old roads defined by piles of limestone rocks that made them into tunnels. One lane only!
5. It was not swimming weather being October, but the days were full of gorgeous beautiful blinding sunlight. Our 5th floor flat looked right out on the harbor and the old town in by far the coolest places we've stayed.

Split, Croatia. A photo-tour!

Split has been a port town for over 2000 years. Much of the original town walls and structures are still there.

I love the old worn stones of these towns.

Within the old town various squares suddenly open up before you. And they are filled with cafes.

Ok, so some of the city has been restored. See the floor...

Outer city wall.

Climbing up the belltower in Diocletian's Palace. We make it a priority to march the children up as many belltowers as possible in Europe.

Cody Climber.

View from our flat.

The kids sat and watched this old gent fishing for 20 minutes. Having just had successful fishing experiences on our trip to the States, they were interested to check on his methods.

Sunset after a day of biking and hiking around Marjan Hill behind Split.

Cold in the shade, but that delicious blue sky was just what us sun-starved Berliners needed!

It's a Yugo. In Former Yugoslavia. A piece of history really.

The ferocious eel from the Fish Market.

Island of Brač, one hour ferry ride out from Split. The trucks trundle down these little lanes taking the olive harvest to market.

Poofballs!!

Diocletian's Palace. A midnight ramble through the streets of the ancient town.

The night fountain shot. Every digital scrapbook needs one.

Waterfront stroll on the last day. Such an amazing thing to need sunglasses!

There is a huge fish hook behind Cassandra. The idea was to show how she is such a good catch! It sorta worked.

In Zadar, yet another ancient port town a bit further up the coast, they have installed a wave organ that emits super-eerie sounds in response to the action of the waves coming in.

Zadar Ruins. 

Zadar old town pizza for dinner...

With the vitamin D stocks replenished, we went back to Berlin to take on another cold and cloudy winter! And then it took Jay three months to finish the blog post. Results of this trip:

1. Cassandra loved Split, on the level that she has loved places in Spain. She would like a return trip.
2. Jay was swimming in history again, which is all he really needs to stay in a pleasant, baffled state of wonderment. The experiences in Bosnia specifically awoke a desire to visit Sarajevo and explore further into the Balkans. Which means Bulgaria.
3. Jasper enjoyed the fish market and playing on the chaise lounge chair in our flat.
4. Cody enjoyed feeding the eel remains to street cats in a back alley next to the hotel decorated with colorful grafitti splashes and unused construction materials.

So it really is a good thing we specifically went to Split or else the kids might not have had those experiences anywhere else. Ha!