Leaving Dubrovnik was a little sad. It had been the longest time we have stayed in a place on this trip, and been home for four whole nights. However, aeroplanes wait for no man, and it was time to leave for Split this morning.

Dubrovnik to Zadar is about 9 hours by bus along the rugged Dalmatian coat, and I had decided before we left that we would do the trip in two stages – first to Split, and then from Split to Zadar.

The time on the coach seemed to pass in a flash when you could do nothing but gaze out of the windows at such stunning coastline and we made it into Split by lunchtime.

We had booked into a hostel which was a stones throw from the city walls, but after finding it and trudging up several flights of stairs, we were told that we wouldn’t be in the actual hostel and that our room was actually going to be a small apartment ‘a few minutes walk away’. Croatian for ‘a few minutes’ is actually about 15 – which meant that nice though the one room with private bathroom apartment was, it was that little bit further out of the centre of town and away from where we wanted to be spending the next few hours. Not much you can do about it though, so we dumped the rucksacks and headed back into town for lunch and a wander around.

Nige and I felt like we had Split to ourselves this afternoon; not a soul seemed to be around, and we seemed to have happened on a town where everyone else had decided to leave. No queues for ice cream here, although we started to get a little disappointed about being out on the town if it were just going to be us!

The promenade in front of the Diocletian’s Palace was empty of people, although yachts and boats bobbed gently on the sea nestled up to the harbour walls so someone somewhere must be about. We roamed around the Roman ruins within the old town and climbed the Marjan (which is actually a dormant volcano!) to get some spectacular views of Split and her harbour.

By night, the place had come alive – where had all these people been?! Suddenly the streets were full of life, a fire dancer was performing to a live band in amongst the Roman ruins where a hundred or so people thronged to watch. The promenade was bustling with life – street performers doing their stuff and people wandering the length of the harbour watching the sunset and the performers in equal measures. It was like a different place.

Tired from the journey and the exertions of the afternoon it’s not too late a night for us – the same beckons tomorrow – our last full day of the trip.