Day 1 Sept 16 Travel and Split

It poured all morning in Villa Park so we pushed up our taxi pickup by 30 minutes for fear of freeway slowdowns. When we left the house at 1:30 all the roads were dry and we got to LAX in less than an hour. The flights were very nice.. Flying into Split gave a gorgeous view of the Croatian coast. Many beautiful islands. The airport is small and efficient, but it’s rather far from the city, on the other side of the bay. Split is a big city, the second largest in Croatia, but the historical center is relatively small and very charming. Our hotel (Luxe) is very modern and nicely located just steps from the harbor and the old town. We checked in around 4 pm. Left our bags and walked to the harbor to see where we must go tomorrow for the sea plane. The harbor is very busy; lots of big and smaller ferries going to various islands, boats, yachts…and people, cars, buses. Then we walked through the old town and the ruins of Roman Emperor Diocletian’s enormous retirement palace from the 3rd century. We walked and walked the streets of the old town, and then the main seaside pedestrian promenade, the Riva, which is full of little bars and cafes, and amazing ice cream places. After walking, we got tired and hungry and after a long search (There are tons of lovely restaurants in the old town), we settled for one inside the palace and had dinner with excellent Croatian beer (Tomislav) and wine.