Zadar - Trogir - Split

After a leisurely breakfast this morning, we leave Zadar behind and set off travelling south – taking the coast road rather than the motorway – to Trogir.

We stop on the outskirts of Trogirfor a spot of lunch at a very nice restaurant. It is empty when we get there, but soon fills up, and I am impressed with the middle-aged waiter who speaks impeccable English to us, perfect Italian to the next table and fluent German to another group. I even hear a smattering of Swedish later. This proves that language skills is not the exclusive domain of the young, and it certainly puts most English waiting staff to shame as they often speak nothing but English, even in tourist areas.

The food is good too – I have what they call “scampi risotto” and David polishes off a plate full of home made sausages.

As we approach Trogir, the traffic starts to build up, and once we hit the town the cars are very slow moving indeed. We finally find somewhere to park in a marina the other side of the bridge and walk back into town. There are great views of the old town from across the water.

Trogir

Trogir certainly has a lot of history - the area was first settled by the Greeks in the 4th to the 3rd century BC. In the first century AD, Trogir became the Roman municipality "Tragurium Civium Romanorum" and the city has been added to since, with many of the buildings still standing.

The 12th century St Nicholas' Fortress

South Town Gate, "Porta Civitatis", decorated with renaissance ornaments and you can still see its original wooden doors.

The alleys are even narrower here than we have seen elsewhere, and we walk up and down, criss-crossing the whole of the old town. Nearly every alley has a small café with either tables hugging the walls on one side, or spaced out a bit more in small squares of sorts.

Love these rustic chairs!

It's a very hot and muggy day and we succumb to an iced coffee. And wow! What an iced coffee it is! More like a sundae than a drink.

Most of Trogir is in a state of charming dilapidation, rustic appeal and ramshackle chic.

One of the specialities of Trogir is natural sponges, with lots of shops having strings of them hanging outside, much like one would see garlic in France.

To save some time (with my poorly knee, my walking is a snail's pace at the moment) David goes off to get the car while I stay and take some more photos.

St Barbara Church

City Hall

When he gets back to the car park, the ticket machine is broken and there is no-one in the booth on the exit gate. Several other foreign tourists are hanging around, unsure of how to get out of the car park. The sign on the booth is in Croatian, but David can make out the word “recepcija”, so goes off in search of a “reception” in the marina. Sure enough, they can sort him out with an exit ticket. Result. The other foreigners are still scratching their heads at the gate.

We meet at the bridge to continue our journey along the coast to Split.

Despite the fact that I know Split is Croatia's second biggest city, I am not prepared for the sheer size of it. All those modern high-rise blocks of flats – I never expected that! My heart sinks a little. I have wanted to see the Diocletian's Palace for so many years, and now I am concerned that it is going to be a disappointment; that it is going to be surrounded by modern housing.

We get very lost as we approach the town, with unclear lanes and confusing junctions. We even manage to cut someone up in the traffic, with a screech of tyres!

Eventually we pull up at the end of the road in which our guest house is situated. All the Old Town is pedestrianised, and this is the nearest we are going to get. We take the bags up and David goes off in the car with the owner to find somewhere to park for free in one of the side streets not far away.

The Apartments Matkovik are inside the walls of the old Diocletian's Palace and superbly positioned for the old town.

I have been worried about having to climb several flights of stairs, but our room is only up one level. Phew. And a very nice room it is too.

We chill in the room before meeting up with Homer and Eddie for a stroll around the Old Town and dinner. They've been here for several hours already, as they came here straight from Zadar. Eddie is very excited about Split, pointing out places of interest as we go along. His enthusiasm rubs off on me - this place rocks.

Diocletian's Palace has been on my wish list for years, and I can't believe I am here now, walking around “inside” what was once his home. We even get to meet some of his men.

Just like the Diocletian himself, they aren't always friendly.

There are certainly no shortage of places to eat in Split; it is more a question of deciding where to eat.

Homer and Eddie

We settle on a pizza restaurant as we all had a big lunch and didn't really want anything too heavy.

Homer and Eddie go off to climb a mountain – well, a small hill on the outskirts of town anyway – for a sunset view over the city and night time photos. Green with envy I decline as there is no way my knee is up to it.

I buy a post card instead.

As an alternative to climbing the hill above, David and I take a walk along the waterfront before retiring for the night.