We came in late October just as the tourist season began to wane. It was an interesting transition from the hustle and bustle of the crowds and festivities to near silence. There were days in mid-November we would barely see a tourist until a cruise ship would arrive. Some of the restaurants and shops in the old town closed for the season and the ones that were open often adjust their schedule based on the arrival of the cruise ships. The touristy old town goes into hibernation until the spring when the next season starts.

It was definitely an intriguing time to visit, especially for an extended stay. We really enjoyed it!

We wanted to share some thoughts and tips, especially for visiting Split in the fall.

1. Foods – Our favorite dishes in Split where Dalmatian classics like octopus salads, black ink risotto, and fresh grill fish/seafood, but you will find that generally that these dishes are on the more expensive side and don’t vary much across a high-end restaurant versus the everyday konoba. The street foods are generally cevapi, hamburgers, sausage, and pizza, which will be your cheap eats. Food in Split, usually encompass various Mediterranean cuisine and can be really spectacular, but if you are looking for a little variety, you might find it lacking. For instance, it is very hard to find (good) Asian food. Tip: We found that some of the restaurants started to reduce their prices starting in early November. In general, if you head out a little further from the Riva and the old town prices are also better.
2. Wines – We were extremely surprised by the local Croatian wines. For the most part, most folks haven't heard much about Croatian wines, because there's only enough production for local consumption. However, Croatian wines are excellent, especially for the price. If you come to Croatia and you love wine, you have to try Pošip, Dingač, Babić, and Crljenak. If you enjoy Zins, Crljenak is the original Zinfandel! Good bottles of these are magic and affordable! We hope to discover more wines in our future visits to Croatia.
3. Photography – Fall might be an ideal time to come on a photography trip. The sky is consistently dynamic with epic sunrises and sunsets and the color of the landscape gradually changes to rich orange and browns. There are very few people around, especially early in the morning. You can capture major sites without anyone. You will always have the great Dalmatia landscape all year long, but it’s super comfortable to hike around in the fall for photos as there is not the repressive heat of the summer. Tip: Come after the first week of November after the tourist season dies down. Only disadvantage is that the days are shorter.
4. Hiking – From Split you have access to a lot of great hikes. There are three hiking areas that we would suggest:
   1. Biokovo – The national park is about 90 minutes south by car. We rented a car for the day to give us the most flexibility. Biokovo is one of the highest point in Dalmatia you can drive with specular views of the surrounding islands, mountains, and Adriatic. It’s beautiful and there’s an abundance of well-marked trails. We didn’t drive up. Parts of the road are single lane roads that can get hectic with traffic, especially if you are there in the summer. We wanted to hike up from the bottom. You have to plan for a full day to entertain the most popular hike from Makarska to Vosac, which is between 3.5-4 hours each direction (upwards of 8 hours round trip). In the fall, it’s hard to complete before you lose daylight. Tip: If you don’t want to rush, especially in fall or winter, it is worthwhile to stay in Makarska for a day or two. It’s a great little town and you can enjoy hiking Biokovo without having to cut it short like us (park info).
   2. Marjan – We jogged up this beautiful park regularly. There are well paved paths as well as good trails. If you start from the city center and walk north to any of the major loops, it will be about 6 miles (10km). There’s some spectacular views from Marjan, including great rock climbing, biking, and trail running. Tip: Start your hike/run before sunset and catch sunset from the top (history).
   3. Mosor – It’s a local bus ride to the start of this trail from Split. Basically, you will be hiking the mountains you see looking east from Split. Unfortunately, we didn’t get a chance to go, but it is on our to do list (hike info).
5. Shopping – If you are looking for a little retail therapy while abroad, Split has three very modern malls (Joker, Mall of Split, Center One). Of the three, Mall of Split is probably the most posh, Center One is the largest, and Joker is the most convenient. Joker is about a 10 minute walk from old town. For the most part, fashion is accessible quick fashion, which includes the many global brands you are familiar with. Coming from the US, major brands carry a premium compared to prices at home. The bargains come from locally made or manufactured products. Tip: Some store support VAT refund with purchase of more than 700 Kunas (about $100) on one receipt. This is essentially a 25% refund of the cost. Just ask. You get a stamp at the airport and then mail in the refund form to complete the process. It’s quite complicated, but can be worth it if you made a big purchase.
6. Grocery – When you talk about groceries, it’s a very similar story with other shopping. Imported products are expensive and local products are more affordable. The grocery stories are everywhere in the old town and it’s easy just to pick-up what you need when you need it, especially if you have limited storage space. Locals shop for produce and meats in the open markets (Green Market, Fish Market) versus from the grocery store. A lot of the produce come from China and they prefer the locally grown stuff. Prices vary quite a bit between different grocery chains. If you are on a budget like us, we usually go to different chains for different things. Tip: If you going to a grocery store bring your own bags or you will have to purchase them. Also some store require you to weigh the produce before checkout.

There’s a lot to do in Split and the surrounding area, including many beautiful UNESCO sites, which we didn't cover. Also, there are amazing outdoor adventures and intriguing local foods. For example, if you want a food adventure, right outside of Split there are towns that specializes in frogs and lamb. Split and Croatia seem like an endless adventure.  We will be back for sure!

​Come to Split and go exploring!

-Vu

​P.S. ​Sorry we have not provided updates about our boat as we promised, but I did sneak in a photo in the slide show above.

Grocery Beer Price Index: 7 kuna for 500ml Karlovako ($1)
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No Dragons!  This is probably the biggest disappointment after a week in Split.  Of course that is a Game of Thrones reference.  And we love GoT!  Visiting and staying in Croatia you get to see many of the spots that the show was filmed in (scenes from Split).  It's fantastic!  Oh, you might catch us reenacting a scene or two as we walk through the city.  It’s like waking someone sleepwalking – it's dangerous, be careful.  ;-P

Split is so much more than GoT.  It is the second largest city in Croatia behind Zagreb.  It’s not only a tourist attraction with beautiful historical sights, but a city people actually live in.  So you can find a genuine experience here.

After the first week, here are our top things to do.
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1. Take in the Riva.  Even in late October it’s still a bustling place full of people all day long.  It’s a great place for cocktails or a meal and people watch.  You can sit for hours and watch the changing scene throughout the day.  Sunsets can be epic from the Riva!
2. Wander the back alleys of old town.  This is where you can find more intimate shops and feel like you are exploring, especially if you are looking at the details.  We personally found that once you escape the throng of the tour groups, you can find better food, reasonable prices, and more authentic atmosphere.  Still touristy, but better.  Here are our favorites: coffee shop (D16), budget eatery (Pizzeria Gust), fine dining (Bokeria Kitchen), local cuisine (Villa Spiza), and brunch (Brasserie on 7).
3. Visit the markets (Green Market, Fish Market) and grocery stores.  You can really get immerse in a place and culture when you do that.  You can see everything from what people eat, what the society values, and meet the people.  For most of the week, we’ve been trying to cook at our apartment.  We had an opportunity to explore the local produce, meats, cheese, and wines.  It's been wonderful.  
4. Nightlife in Split is proper.  It can be quite the party town in the summer time, but even in mid-fall, the lounge and clubs can be packed.  We did have an opportunity to go out a couple of times in the last week with folks visiting.  People do get dressed up.  It’s a blending of all the latest fashion trends -- 80s bohemian, hipster grunge, and urban goth.
5. Hike Marjan and run the coast.  We try to work out most every day.  Split provides great scenic hikes/runs in almost in every direction.  Our favorites are Marjan and around the peninsula and running south of the city along the coast and the beaches.

It's not always perfect.  Our apartment is beautiful and is built within the Diocletian Palace.  The palace is more than 1700 years old, but living in a place like that has a few drawbacks.  First, there are a lot of tourist/tour group that go by our door all day long.  It’s busy and can sometimes be loud, but most of the time just festive.  We are right next to the bell tower and the bells ring starting at 6am every morning and does so several times throughout the day.  This hasn’t been a problem for me since I’ve been up before 5am every day, but I imagine once I get over jetlag it can be a problem.  Finally, living in the old town, you can smell sulfur (or sewage) every so often.  We’ve stayed in 3 apartments/hotels now in the old town and this has been a problem for all.  You can even smell it on the Riva at times as well.  Probably not a big problem for a short visit in town, but maybe something to think about if you are here for longer stay.

That is our impression after a week.  It’s a great city to start our adventure.  No dragons, but it’s been pretty amazing!

​-Vu

P.S.

The next few weeks will be about working through more of the boat details.  I know folks have been very curious on our social media accounts.  We will be sharing some of that soon!

If you ever wonder if the sketch comedy Portlandia is a good representation of Portland, well you will have to discover it for yourself.  Although it is not rare to find free range organic chickens in people’s backyard or bearded hipster tech worker on a fixie bike or a tattooed gluten-free master beer brewer in the city.  Reality is probably much more interesting than fiction.

Portland is a place where academics (one of highest per capita with college education), nude cyclists (well established tradition), alt musician (The Dandy Warhols, Everclear, Pink Martini, Sleater-Kinney, The Shins, Blitzen Trapper, The Decemberists), environmentalist (top 5 greenest cities), craft brewers (more than 60 breweries), and food cart (over 700) purveyors can live together in harmony.  Blend that with the beauty of the Northwest and intimacy of a small friendly city, Portland is a hard place to beat.  It is one of our favorite places in the world.

We are spending most of our 3 weeks off before we head to Europe in the Portland area.  We both essentially spent most of our formative years in Oregon and we both lived in Portland after college.  Portland is a special place for us not because it amazing, but also that so many of our family and friends live in the area.

So what do we like to do while we are in Portland?  It’s hard, as the city is constantly growing and evolving, to make absolute recommendations, but there’s a lot of great things.  Here are our top things to explore when we are in Portland:

1. Wander one of the eclectic and eccentric Portland neighborhoods.  They are all charming and weird.  Top neighborhoods.
2. Dine at some of the best (and underrated) restaurants in the world.  Top restaurants.
3. Happy hour at one of many breweries.  All breweries.  Top breweries.
4. Grab food at one of the several food cart locations.  All food carts.  Top food carts.
5. Watch a concert in one of the more intimate venues.  Top venues.
6. Walk around in one of the many in-city park (highest number of parks per capita, I think).  Top parks.

We hope that helps.  The links we provided represent some of the quintessential things to check out while in Portland.  Come visit Portland and don’t forget to be weird!

-Vu

Grocery Beer Price Index: $1.85 for 12oz (355ml) Deschutes Mirror Pond