A Day in Split - Friday June 28

Today was our opportunity to try to synchronize with the time change while doing some exploration of the ancient city of Split. 

Sunrise was at 5:15 and had me up early. We took our time and ventured down to the kitchen at 8:00 to prepare our own breakfast of yogurt, musli and fresh fruits. A couple of shots of espresso and we were ready to go. Bob and Sue met up with us and we ventured into the walled city surrounding Diocletian's Palace, now the heart of the city with labyrinth streets packed with people, shops and restaurants. 

From there we walked through the open air market where you could buy just about any fresh grocery item. 

After that, we found a fish market dating from the 1800's. 

This was followed by a gelato stand.  

After looking at all of this food we had to go for a hike up the hill to the Marjan. A moderate incline plus 456 stairs brought us to a fabulous overlook of the city. 

Here we are with Bob and Sue at the quaint church part way up....

After descending, we took a trolley tour of the town and surrounding area

We had a stroll down the "Riva" and returned to our patio to wait for Jim & Sharon to arrive. 

After they arrived, we had a happy hour then ventured back into the walled city for supper at a superb outdoor cafe. 

After returning, we retreated to our rooftop patio for a glass of wine before retiring by 2300 h.

Travel to Split Croatia - an 18 Hour Odyssey

We got underway on Thursday at around 3 pm giving ourselves ample time to get to the airport. We had good traffic in Toronto and managed to get checked in by shortly after 5 pm. Lots of time for a bite to eat.

Air Canada got the plane loaded and pushed off from the gate on time. After sitting on the apron for about 15 minutes, the dreaded announcement, a computer problem..... The flight crew was working over the phone with a technician to solve it.  Another 15 minutes and an announcement that we would have to return to a gate when one was available to have maintenance come on board to do the repair. A half hour later, an announcement that the computer problem was solved but somehow, the ovens had shut down and all of the food was spoiled. Need to wait another hour or so for the kitchen to whip up a new batch of airplane food. 

We finally took off at 10:30 pm, 2 1/2 hours late. Because of the late takeoff, the meal wasn't finished until nearly 1 am which cut into sleep time. 

We arrived in Munich at noon local time (GMT +1). We had time for a snack and stretch our legs before departing for Split at 15:20. A one hour flight and we got to see some of the coastline we will be sailing.

The next challenge was to load up with Kunas at the ATM. Got a little scared when the first machine rejected my card.

We had about a 30 km taxi ride into the heart of the city. Unfortunately, the taxi driver dropped us at the incorrect location. We ended up having to drag our luggage a km or so down the street. Even within a block of our residence, we could not find anyone to zero us in (its a maze of alleys). Finally a waiter pointed us in the right direction to St Luke's Residence shown below. 

Looks old and it is but with a modern interior and a very friendly owner. There is a fabulous common room with complimentary breakfast foods, fruits, pastries, wine and scotch.

Some of the nearby buildings.... This part of Split is a UNESCO Heritage site. 

Bob and Sue met up with us shortly after our arrival and we had supper at a restaurant just down the lane. Lots of open air dining to be had.

Everyone was tired so it was early to bed after a very brief stroll to the waterfront. 

Getting ready for our sailing trip

Here we are in the final few days of preparation for our two week flotilla sailing trip on the Croatian coast between Split and Dubrovnik. Just got an iPad to use as a lightweight portable communications device so I am attempting to generate my first post to Blogger. A little less versatile than using the iMac.

Just about everything has fallen into place in the last week or so. We have secured accommodation on both ends of the charter. My ICC (European sailing qualification) arrived last week. Got a good deal to leave our SUV at the airport for the duration, renewed our Passports, arranged to get the house looked after, installed a sprinkler system so the lawn and gardens survive, got our boat looked after etc.

The weather forecast for Croatia looks great for temperature, not so great for wind.

Our itinerary looks like this.....

On Wednesday we fly to Munich with a five hour stop over before a short flight to Split Croatia. Enough time for a schnitzel and beer in the airport.

We will be staying at the St. Luke's Residence in Split for two nights, time to get re-synchronized with the 7 hour jet lag.

http://www.tripadvisor.ca/Hotel_Review-g295370-d2271853-Reviews-St_Luke_Residence-Split_Split_Dalmatia_County_Dalmatia.html

We will have a full day to explore Split and scope out facilities for provisioning etc.

Bob and Sue, one third of our crew, arrive about the same time we do followed the next day by Jim & Sharon.

On Saturday afternoon, we pick up our Beneteau 43.5 at the marina. You can check out the two week itinerary at:

http://www.poseidoncharters.com/flotilla_sailing/mediterranean_flotilla_sailing/croatia_croatian_adventure/itinerary.aspx

We will try to do a daily blog update but will only be able to post when we have wi-fi access. I will not be sending any e-mail notifications of individual posts so if you want to follow our adventure, please bookmark this blog in your browser and check for updates.

http://croatiasailingadventure2013.blogspot.ca

After our two week sailing cruise, we will be saying goodbye to our friends and taking a ferry to Italy for a nine day visit to Tuscany and Florence. I have created a separate blog for that portion of the trip at:

http://bellavistatuscany.blogspot.ca

We will be starting that adventure on July 13.