Split

i took another bus ride to Split. courtesy of my new book purchases it was less boring than normal, in fact i read half of the Syd Barrett one, and so far hes coming across as a bit mental, surprise surprise. anyway, i came over the hill i saw Split in my sights, it felt a little bit like déjà vu, because it reminded me so much of the south of France. actually, the longer i was here, the more i felt that. there were palm trees along the water, labyrinths of streets, really relaxed, etc. i think if you wanted to go to the south of France for a holiday, but couldn't afford it, i would recommend coming to Croatia, its so cheap here. I'm getting side tracked, anyway, i got off the bus and i got hounded by a little old lady, telling me that she had a room i could stay in that i had supposedly booked, i had no recollection of this, but then i remember, as i got out of the old guys car in Dubrovnik he said he had friends in Split, he told me that they were cheap, i said 'oh yeah, that's ok i think I've got somewhere'. he clearly didn't take that as a polite, thanks but no thanks. i tried to explain to her that i had somewhere to stay but she wouldn't take no for an answer, and i hated doing it, she was looking at me like he life depended on it, but i really didn't want to stay there. eventually she let me go on my way to the hostel i had in mind. on the way there i got hounded by other people asking me to stay with them, geez, i knew it was low season, but these guys are really desperate. i ended up finding my hostel, which was in such a good location, right in the heart of the old town.

Split is the same deal as Dubrovnik, its more of a summer destination, but oh well. but i enjoyed it a bit more than Dubrovnik, i think mainly because of the location of my hostel, actually, i think where you stay plays a big part in whether or not you like a place. my hostel was pretty good, newly renovated and had some cool people staying here too. meeting cool people are always a bonus too. but think the main reason was that the weather here was better and that there were more people around, giving the place a bit of a vibe. they had a couple of good bars here too but you had to go searching for them.

the main thing to see here is Diocletian's Palace, which was built for, yep you guess it, Diocletian, who was a Roman Emperor, it was built for his place of retirement, maybe they didn't have meals on wheels back in those days? anyway, he lived there right up until his death and was buried there. this Diocletian guy killed more Catholics than any other Emperor so after time, probably when it was ok to be a catholic, as a pay back they built a church other top of where he was buried. the bell tower at the top is supposedly the towns symbol, and has a great view over the water and the city. the palace is massive and is built as a fortress. its changed shape over compared to what it would've originally looked like, today everything you would want is within its walls, shops, markets, squares etc. actually i lie, just outside of the walls is a market of this and that, mainly crappy clothes and stuff, but i found stalls of food, there was raw meat there just sitting in the sun and carcasses hanging up, i could practically taste the food poisoning, it always astounds me to see stuff like that and how people still buy it and manage not to die, they must just get used to it after years of eating it. I'm up for trying stuff wherever i go, but i'm pretty sure if i tried some of the food from there, i would be getting well acquainted with a toilet bowl not far after consumption. another thing outside of the walls that i did while i was here was i walked up Marjan, which is a hill here in Split. its quite pretty with it being densely covered in pine trees etc. Up the top you get a great view all around, they have a zoo about half way, but it looks like its fallen into disrepair.

i saw a photography exhibition while i was here, some artist from the Czech republic who, funnily enough, took photos of the Czech republic. he was pretty good too, they were all in black and white but i felt it suited the landscape, they were shot in the winter and having it in black and white made the shots really moody. it made me want to explore more of Czech i really loved Prague when i was there. i planned on heading back to Czech soon actually, Kate and Josh are living there and working at a hostel, (for those who have no idea who they are, I began traveling Europe with Kate and Josh) and its Kate's birthday at the end of the month. i felt really torn, because it was either, i go and see them, or i continue on my original plan and head to Switzerland. i really wanted to see Switzerland so i made the tough decision of not going to see them also because im meeting my friend Sarah in Amsterdam at the end of the month, so travel wise it would've been quite tricky. im keeping an eye out for cheap flights, so who knows, hopefully i might be able to do both. at the hostel, for some reason. they always had the discovery channel playing on the TV. i saw this show where they had a camera that would take something like 20,000 frames a second and they put it in slow motion to watch what happened when, for example a boxer gets punched in the face or when you burst a balloon. i sat there glued to the TV, it was fascinating! click here to check it out.

something that had got to me while I've been in this part of the world is EVERYONE smokes, you can't escape it. because its illegal to smoke in pubs and clubs in Australia, i totally forgot what it was like to be in a bar full of smoke, i hated it. i hated smelling of smoke all the time and i would end up with these massive head aches, it was horrible. i remember when they introduced the ban in Australia and people said that it was going to kill bars and clubs, if anything i think its made it better. but i don't see it changing here anytime soon.

I'm heading to Salzburg next, which turns out it isnt as easy as it sounds. i dunno what it is, but i found public transport here really quite difficult. you can't just jump on a bus anywhere, you have to go through all of these detours to get anywhere, which is why i've have to do a big loop. i think it might have something to do with certian countries not getting along with each other. which is why, to get to Salzburg i have to go all the way to Zagreb then back out to Salzburg, its a bit of a pain but what can you do? hopefully the hills will be alive with the sound of music when i get there.