From Plitvice - We caught a coach to Split. The interesting thing about the coach is that it takes a very circuitous route to get to Split so instead of taking 3 hours it takes 6.

This was fine for us because it gave us a chance to see the country-side. Especially the territory from Zadar down the coast to Split.

While we were waiting at the bus stop for the 9:45 coach a guy in a mini-van pulled up and said he would take us to Split in 3 hrs for 150 kuna's. There was no one else in the mini-van and both of us being Australian remember the victims of Ivan Milat who offered lifts to travelers and then took them to Belanglo State Forest where he killed them. So we declined. Not to say that this guy was dodgy, because later on he stopped and picked up two British tourists at our stop only this time his mini-van was full of people who had taken up his offer of getting where they wanted to go in a fraction of the time.

Anyway it took us 6 hours to get from Plitvice to Split. The tour through the country side was worth it in my view. I got to see so much territory that I wouldn't have with a direct site-to-site trip. Amazing mountains and the Mediterranean on our right hand side as we traveled south from Zadar to Split.

The housing in Croatia is mostly Stone, Concrete, Brick and Render. Roofs seem to be a tile, sheet metal, timber shingles. Croatian housing seems to be of the type that is built for multi-generational use. Non of this quick and nasty construction. Australian housing seems to be created to last 30yrs. The Croatian houses are solid. One thing I noted was that the roof timbers aren't 90x45mm trusses they are about 150x180mm beams. I approve. Of course the towns have modern units and the like but in the rural areas the housing is traditional.

When we finally got to Split we checked-in to http://gollybossy.com/ which is an experience in itself. Billed as a "Design Hostel" it has many details that make it an interesting stay.

We arrived at 4PM but had a good look around the touristy areas of Split from 4 onwards.

Split itself has the Ruins of a Roman Emperor's Retirement Palace called "Diocletian's Palace" it seems to have had everyone build new dwellings / churches / shops inside over the centuries so I wasn't sure what was original and what had been added. There is a lovely promenade in front of the palace with Al Fresco dining and places to sit and chill. It's pretty at night.

One thing I can say for the old European architecture is that they really know how to build in stone.

We have purchased some tickets to get from Split to Hvar Island and Hvar Town on the Island on a Katamaran (That's how it's spelt in Croatian) which should take about an hour. Lisa has done a great job of getting us accommodation over the internet and so we should have a nice sea view from our rooms when we get to Hvar.

The ferry to Hvar is at 2 and it's currently noon. So I'm blogging this in the Bar in the ground floor of Golly&Bossy.

This morning (22/5) we went to the Laundrymat and got our dirties cleaned, dried and folded. I must say it's a relief to get some clean clothes into my luggage. I'm not a fan of 4 day undies.

OK. The next step in the Journey is Hvar. There will be WiFi at our accomm so until then Dobra Dan ("Good Day" - I think)