Split

We arrived in Split last night, two weary travelers, not having gone to bed until 5:30 a.m. the night prior. (We were happy to discover, upon leaving Dubrovnik's old town our last night there, that our landlord owns the bar next to our building...and so the night went on).

Although we arrived in Split with no plan on where to stay and it was evening, we needn't have worried. A grandma-type met us the moment we descended from the bus and offered us a "sobe" or room, for the night. We wheeled our luggage behind her, through the walls and down the smooth steps and around the market, until we went through the Split Palace East Gate, or as they call it: Silver Gate. Lisa and I are staying there, just inside the Palace, in a three-bedroom abode.

Split is an ancient city and is beautiful in a way much different than Dubrovnik. Its walls are crumbling and old and tired. They are dirty and the architecture is a wondeful college of roman and middle ages and early 19th century. The people of Split live here in a very romantic fashion, amongst the yawning columns and sore buildings. The excavation process and restoration has only been going on since post-World War II.

The stones and walk ways are so smooth, worn and polished and shiny from centuries of use, that we slide and slip our way throughout the Palace.

Today we took a private guided walking tour throughout the Palace and just outside the gates. Our guide was a feisty and proud native who spoke good English and loves her cigarettes. She had brown sugar eyes and orange hair that framed her face like a helmut. She took us inside the Church here and Temple of Jupiter. I was impressed with her detail and knowledge and stories.

She insisted that we must buy Italian shoes. They come cheap in Croatia.

People here eat ice cream and pizza before 9 a.m. We noticed this as we sipped our cappicinos and nibbled on omelet bites. If we had wanted to blend with the locals, we should have had an ice cream cone in hand.

We also strolled through the market, a huge affair of carts and stands and locals pushing through the crowd like mules. This market makes the Brentwood market look itty bitty. We strolled through rows and rows of cherrys and black berries and fields' worth of strawberries, bright and red and lush. We pass through a meat market row, where salami and meat and carcasses hung in the open air. Satin bras and panties and cotton clothing can be bought and bargained for, in mass quantities and various styles.

I am happy to have made contact with a tour guide in Hvar (our destination for tomorrow). If all goes according to plan, we will arrive in Hvar by way of ferry at about 11 a.m. and after a lunch near the water, a guide will find us and take us wine tasting for the day. I believe it is a private tour but that is to be determined.

It is fitting that I love the smell of lavendar so much. Hvar Island is known for its lavendar production and here at the market and throughout Southern Croatia old women sell lavendar -- oils, dried, in pouches, etc. We are told that when we reach Hvar we can smell the lavendar in the breeze, will view field of olive trees and vineyards...