Splitactular!

Celia here! We arrived in split, a coastal town in Croatia via an overnight ferry at 8am. We found our hostel without too much trouble and decided to start our day by browsing the shops at diocletians palace - a 4th century AD stone palace that is still used as an underground shopping area today. It's amazing. And cool. Which was good as it was around 30C. We ended up not doing any shopping down there but instead toured around the other parts of the basement which are the same floor plan as the place above would've been (not much of the palace exists above ground but most of the basement is well preserved). We then saw the remaining parts of the above ground palace before visiting the ethnographic museum which features lots of interesting traditional Croatian clothing, jewellery, crafts and furniture. 

Next up we visited a cathedral that diocletian built as his tomb. This was taken over by Christians who he ironically hated. We also saw the crypt, which was very lame (pretty much just a well) and jupiters temple; a place used for baptisms. We then went to visit the statue Gregory of Nin, a croatian bishop. It is said if you rub his toe you'll be brought good luck. His toe is very shiny as a result. Just before dinner we decided to climb up the city's old bell tower. I made it up about 1/3 of the way on stone spiral staircases, but the following 5 stories of rickety, see through iron stairs put a stop to me. Daniel ventured up, but even he admitted it was unnerving. He thinks climbing up the Eiffel Tower stairs was easier! (He did that last trip!)

We got dinner at a restaurant recommended to us by the receptionist at the hostel. I had amazing gnocchi with bacon and Daniel ordered chicken in a Gorgonzola sauce with fried potatoes! Yum! We also spontaneously booked a half day boat tour for the following day. 

After dinner we decided to work off the calories by climbing up a hill that over looks the city. It was soooo many steps but we made it! And had a cocktail at a cafe up there as the lights went on in the township.