Split, Croatia

Split is a port city on the Dalmatian coast of Croatia and the capital city of the province. Its new waterfront pedestrian boulevard abutting the Diocletian Palace makes for an interesting contrast that seems to define Split well. It is a bustling transit hub with its train, bus, and ferry stations all located next to eachother at the end of the waterfront but it is also a fairly small-sized town with old buildings, cathedrals, and walls. The Diocletian Palace is basically a less-maintained version of Dubrovnik's Old Town. The term palace is a bit misleading here. It was pissing rain when I arrived, so I just checked in at my hostel and got caught up on blog posts until it let up. Luckily, it didn't take too long and once the rain stopped, the entire sky was blue within 15 minutes. I had an amazing meal of pasticada, basically a traditional Croatian beef briskit served with potato gnochi. Since it will probably be my only Croatian dinning experience, I was pretty content with such a quality meal at a bargain price. The start of the stairway to the viewpoint of the city happened to be right by the restaurant, so I climbed up for a look.

Then I went through the Diocletian Palace to check it out, climbing up the cathedral tower and wandering the streets. Unfortunately, the cathedral itself was closed because a wedding was going on inside.

Took me awhile to figure out that one, cause someone decided to post watchmen outside the biggest tourist attraction in Split who didn't speak a word of English. After waiting for quite some time, it was only when I heard Wagner's Wedding March that I got it. There really isn't much to Split, but it's a cool city, all said and done. And lucky for me, my hostel was awesome and I saved loads of money with the free Internet.
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Details:
There are tons of daily ferries from Hvar to Split. Most leave from Stari Grad but many leave from Hvar town as well. The price is $8/42kn for all of them. Leaving from Hvar town is quicker and if you are staying there, it is much more convinient, as the taxis to the Stari Grad port cost $38/200kn and the buses leave more than an hour prior to the departure times of the ferries. The ticket office and departure point in Hvar town is right on the main waterfront promenade, right by Carpe Diem bar. The katamaran takes about two hours. I stayed at CroParadise, a nice hostel but an expensive one if you can't get the 8-bed dorm ($23/130kn for 8-bed, $33/167kn for 4-bed). However, the Internet more than makes up for any difference in cost, it is speedy and the computers are nice so I was able to get plenty done much quicker than I would have elsewhere. It is right by the northwest corner of the Diocletian Palace.