Jen and Rebecca Split for Split (and Points Beyond)

We managed to leave our soba earlier than every day proceeding it to pick up our rental car to split town. But in vain!  No one was at the rental car place when we arrived, and once they finally showed up, the renting process took forever.  So an hour and a half later, we finally had the car loaded up and heading north to the city of Split (yes it's called Split). At least we got the promised automatic car, so Jen could take her turn driving, and it was even upgraded for free to a Passat.  Fancy!

Though we took the "fast route" it really only cut 30-45 minutes off the drive time to Split since the divided highway hasn't made it all the way to Dubrovnik.  So Jen got to experience driving on plenty of curvy mountain roads too!  We made it to Split in time for lunch (Jen had more pizza, Rebecca a risotto with gorgongozola.  (We love that that Venetians ruled this coast for awhile, brought their food with them, then left it behind at all the restaurants.)  Then we had a few hours to wander through the Old Town, originally built by Emperor Diocletian for his retirement.

Here we are with a bust of Diocletian in the excavated palace cellars.

Jen in the cellars. We escaped the throng of tourists below ground!

Rebecca at the Silver Gate entrance to the palace.

We also went into the Cathedral of St. Dominus, which we liked for the ironic, poetic justice that it was once built to be Diocletian's tomb, but was re-purposed and rennovated to be a church by later generations, dedicated to several saints who were martyred by Diocletian.  Ha ha, Diocletian!

The bell tower of the cathedral, which we didn't actually climb, with the older portion of Diocletian's palace columns in the front.

Above our heads at Jupiter's Palace (which became St. John's Baptistery post-Diocletian.)

We only spent a few hours in Split so that we could get back on the road and find our hotel for the night near Plitvice Lakes National Park, about three hours north of Split.  Because of the very handy A1 expressway, this wasn't a challenging drive.  It went pretty quickly, and because of those well-labeled roads, we even found our cute, nicely kept hotel easily.  And there's even a restaurant attached, and since we're kind of located in a remote area, we were able to eat and head to bed early to energize for a full day of hiking tomorrow!

Jen enjoying her much-deserved Croatian beer after a full day of driving.