Lickity Split

Split is a coastal city and although I haven’t heard anything about it, I know for sure that it will be heaps better than Zagreb. The train station is near the water for easy ferry access to islands. To our left are the three beaches for swimming and to our right is old town and our hostel. We arrived at our Mediterranean Backpackers Hostel and unfortunately we were placed on the offsite housing. It lacks and hostel social scene and doesn’t have a/c, but the accommodations are much cleaner and nicer.



It is already late afternoon by the time we get there, so we head for the beach. It is a holiday here so the beaches are extremely crowded. On the walk over there we see a lot of people walking back, but I was still amazed at the number of people out. The waters feel so good after a day of sitting and walking around in the blazing hot humidity. Mark breaks his flip flops and a feeling a déjà vu sets over me. Last time Mark and I went to a beach was out in California in Malibu. We each took 20kg + of scuba equipment all the way down a cliff to scuba dive “the stairs”. After we put on and prep all of our equipment, Mark breaks his fin strap and we had to call it quits.



Since the beaches are rocky so Mark stays on the beach and just lays out. The waters here are clear to where I can still see the bottom at almost any point. I swim out to a small island area off the shore. There people take turns diving from the top. I do the same. During the climb I see a ton of sea life. There are soft corals lining the edges of the rock and then as I grab on to start climbing I see numerous crabs jump into the waters.



That evening I head over to the hostel to get on the internet. It turns out that it is Croatia’s national holiday and to celebrate the hostel owner has cooked a meal for all us. There was spaghetti, a seafood dish, meat dish, and bread along with cold beer and wine. Not a bad deal for free. We meet these two Swedish people, Linnea and Joel. Linnea breaks out her guitar. So the rest of the night we all chat and listen to the guitar. I can’t believe someone is traveling with a guitar, but I guess it’s a lot more short term compared to my traveling itinerary.