Walking Tour of Split Old Town

The alarm was set for 6am, but I was already awake. Sarah was not. 😮 We needed an early start so we could explore Split’s Old Town area before it got too hot. Breakfast first, then off to the bus station—€1 each for the 5 km trip.

We had a quick look at the waterfront, then headed into the alleyways of the Old Town. This is the Europe we came to see—narrow alleys and a little café or square around every second corner. Our map and GPS struggled in there. Each time we stopped at a landmark, it turned out to be the one on the map a block away. We soon figured this out and started relying on the signs posted on the walls of the alleys instead.

We slowly ticked off the sights, including:

Iron Gate

Jupiter’s Temple

Diocletian’s Palace

Saint Domnius Cathedral

Gregory of Nin Statue

Golden Gate

Republic Square

Plus a few others. The highlight was Saint Domnius Cathedral, with its amazing columns and tower.

Then—against my better judgement—we headed to the Marjan Hill stairs to walk up the hill and check out the view. It was already over 31°C and getting hotter by the minute. Some of the steps were in the shade, which helped, but it was still bloody hot. At what I thought was the top, we met a man from Colombia sitting in the shade. He thought the temperature was quite nice. I chatted with him for a while, asking about Colombia. He’s from Cali—not Medellín, Pablo Escobar’s home city—but I’m pretty sure Cali still featured in the Narcos TV series. He said visiting is relatively safe these days, as long as you're not wearing flashy or expensive jewellery or watches. I’ll be fine then. 😉

Turns out that wasn’t the top, so we kept going a bit further until we reached a little chapel called the Church of St Nicholas. The walk and park carried on well beyond that, so it seemed like a good place to turn back. I checked the geocaching map and saw one hidden just 105 m away on a side track, so I went and found that before we headed back down the hill.

It was now after 9:30 a.m. and getting crazy hot. Fortunately, we’d brought water with us today. We caught the bus back and stopped at a supermarket for better supplies, including some mince, sausages, a few veggies, and other basics for dinner.

Our Old Town walk was just over 5 km, so with the extra distance to and from the bus stop, let’s call it 7 km. That’s enough for today—except maybe the 200 m down to the beach. Or maybe just stepping outside to the pool is a better idea.

The afternoon was spent reading and taking a couple of dips in the pool. The temperature outside hit 35°C, but it was nice and cool inside.

We had half a packet of spaghetti that needed using up, so that’s dinner sorted. But since we also had mince, it was more like proper spag bol. We won’t be winning any culinary awards for our recent efforts. If we were still at school, the teacher would say: “Must try harder.” 😂

After dinner, we arranged to do a load of washing with the lady who looks after the apartments. There’s no washing machine in the apartment, but there is one downstairs that she unlocks for guest use. Bonus: there’s a dryer too. It seems odd given how sunny and hot it is—it would dry outside in no time. I guess they don’t want washing hanging around outside.

While the wash cycle was doing its thing, we popped down to the beach for a swim and an ice cream—followed by another dip in the pool. A pretty good day, and another day of not doing much is lined up for tomorrow.