Europe Day 11: Split

After a long day of driving through and hiking in the Croatian countryside, it was time to hop in the car for the the 2 hr and 45 min drive to Split, 253 km further down the highway, where we would be staying for the night.
So far to this point, we had traveled 3439 kms.
We used the LPTG to find a room for the night and it recommended a place in the marina area, but when we got there and found out how much the room was going cost, 130 euros, we decided to look elsewhere for a cheaper place to stay. We ended up with a hotel room in a residential neighbourhood, about a 10 min drive from the harbour, for about 80 euros a night.
Remember earlier when I said that when you arrive in a place at night, sometimes it appears scarier than it really is? Well, not where we were staying. We took a walk after we settled into our hotel room to look for a place to eat and found nothing but residential sprawl everywhere we turned with night clubs attached to the main floor of all the apartments filled with loud kids, cigarette smoke and the smell of alcohol. Trying to find a bank machine that didn't look like a good place to get mugged was a little tricky, and in the end, all we managed was a  couple of hamburgers cooked with some sort of hair dryer at a roadside cafe in the street which we both couldn't quite finish.
In the light of day, touristy Split, turned out to be not such a bad place after all.

We explored the ruins ... 

... strolled through the city ... 

... climbed the stairs for a view of the city ...

 

... and enjoyed a lazy lunch along the shores of the Adriatic sea. 

Not a bad way to spend part of your day, while in Croatia.