Today we were in Split and our highly anticipated Tuk Tuk ride. It was also our last day on the ship. The sea air must be doing me good because I’ve been sleeping more that 6 hours a night. In fact Lyn had to wake me this morning as apparently my 6am alarm was annoying her. Quite frankly I think she was making it up because I didn't hear anything.
As I walked towards the buffet for my morning coffee it passes a smoking area. There’s been a woman sat there in the same black tracksuit all week. I looked at the sun coming up and said “looks like that’s going to pretty”. “Yes it’s our last day so better make the most of it” she said lighting another fag. A good reminder that everybody’s idea of a good/relaxing time is different. I like to think in everyday life she’s the manager of a health and wellness spa.
The Tuk Tuk ride was not really what we expected. You see the main tourist bit of Split is completely inaccessible to vehicles. Even deliveries are moved about on these tiny electric vehicles. They are now limited to only being used at certain times because when they were allowed in willy nilly they ended up hitting too many people.
Our first stop on the tour was a beach. A very nice small beach but not that interesting. Next we stopped outside the centre and then had a guided tour by one of the drivers. Wow. Basically Split was the retirement home of Roman Emperor Diocletian. Somewhere for him to kick back, relax and tend his vegetables (true story). I knew all this before coming to Split but to see it all is amazeballs. I won’t bore you with it all but I highly recommend reading up on Diocletian, the man who saved the Roman Empire from collapse.
We were then taken to a cemetery. It had a cafe in the old morgue and everything but the main purpose was the views over the city and harbour. Not satisfied with that we were then taken to another old cemetery which apparently is very popular for wedding photos. Because Split has been here for such a long time they are constantly repurposing graveyards. They say in New York you’re never more that 2 meters from a rat, well in Split it seems you’re never more than 2 meters from a grave.
We were finally dropped off at the promenade to explore ourselves. I thanked our driver, a nice young man who was probably expecting a tip but got a firm handshake instead. I can report that Tuk Tuk aren’t that dangerous. I only hit my head once getting in and only nearly fell out when he took a corner a bit quick trying to avoid an oncoming lorry.
As it was our last day we needed to spend our kruna. We had some coffee (it’s so cheap in Europe it’s no wonder everybody starts their day in a coffee shop) a doughnut and then went on the hunt for some tat. We seem to have bought a lot of stuff on this holiday far more than normal but a Lyn tells me you can never have too much tat.
We had a spot of lunch and I had some Cevapcici. The waiter very kindly taught me how to say it. I’d not heard of this before but it’s very popular in the countries that use to make up Yugoslavia. I like to think of it as burger turds. It’s very nice.
I needed something for my shed, a bit of tat to go along with my bobble head Pope and plaster leaning tower of Pisa. We stopped at a random stall and I got a stone boat. Anyway the man asked if I was Swedish! “No English” says I. ‘You don’t look English’ he said. This happens to me a lot but I’ve never been mistaken for Swedish before. I like it. It’s better than being mistaken for Russian these days.
So that's that for another adventure. In the evening we got dressed up and had dinner in the Surf & Turf restaurant. Then we finished packing our suitcase and left them outside our cabin. We won't see them again until we land in Bristol. We'll have the usual ritual of seeing people who have been perfectly mobile while on the ship suddenly being wheelchair bound for the airport which is always fun. It's our wedding anniversary and Lyn's birthday today. It's a bit shit to have to travel on your birthday but I hope the week has made up for it. Happy Birthday and anniversary to the love of my life xxx.
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