CARS TRAINS BOATS AND PLANES

Left Amsterdam on Thursday by way of EasyJet at the low cost of $98 for both Ray and I. Arrived at Split Croatia a few hours later and what seemed like a totally different world from Holland. Palm trees, scrub brush, dust, cinder block housing was all we saw on the bus ride from the airport to the center of Split.

Once we got to our destination another world opened up. Diocletian's Palace ruins make up the major tourist area. Our room was within the palace walls. Nothing special, but kinda neat. The palace area has large courtyards filled with restaurants, loads of shops for every pocketbook and a gelato stand every few yards. Of course there is a church and bell tower, which Ray had to walkup. Ray took tons of pictures that you will see. And to top this all off, it is right on the Adriatic Sea. Our room was steps from all of this wonderfulness.

The weather was beastly hot, so we had to consume large amount of liqiuds, which we happily did. I am a huge fan of Trip Advisor and found a very samll place (6 tables) for dinner the first night. We were so lucky to snag a table. After we were seated in the lobby area a steady stream of folks were turned away. I had the best sea bass ever.

Evening on the Riva was party central. Traditional dancing Thursday night and a rock band on Friday. All age groups vacation here and it seems the majority of tourist are Italian from just across the water. Our Friday night dinner was highlighted by our having luckily been seated next to 6 older guys from Canada who are part of a Welsh Men's Choir. They were originally from Britian. One was from the town were Ray's grandparents lived in Wales. They were on a sailing trip. They shared some food with me and had a bit too much to drink. Another family from Spain were also in the small room and one of the kids was celebrating his birthday so the guys sang loudly to him. Fun times.

Picked up our car and started driving along the coast to Zadar and onward to Pula. The scenery pretty breathtaking. Ray took some pictures as you will see. Lots of winding and twisting. The next mode of transportation will be a ferry to Venice on Tuesday where we will add to our list of the 1001 paintings hopefully, then a train to Milan on Wednesday to top off the trip with a viewing of the Last Supper. Probably won't add to the blog until we return to Amsterdam on Thursday. 

Aug 30-31, 2012 Split Croatia 8-30

Aug 21 Split 

Sep 01, 2012 Split

Sep 02, 2012 Zadar