We finally arrived in Split about 5:00 p.m. and made our way from the bus station to Diocletian's Palace. We stopped at the nearby tourist information office to ask directions to our hotel, the Hotel Jupiter, but the person at the desk hadn't heard of it. He gave us directions to the nearby Jupiter Temple and mentioned that there was a youth hostel close by and that perhaps that was where our reservations were. We made our way to the temple and found our hotel just beyond.
We checked in and went up to our room to get cleaned up. The room was very charming with windows on three sides and a small balcony overlooking one of the small squares. Almost immediately I noticed several dark specs on the wall. Mosquitoes. Some dead, some alive. All the windows had been opened and a nice breeze was blowing through the room, but with the cooling breeze came the mosquitoes. We set off to find a bank, some mosquito repellent, and some dinner.
The bank we found right away. The mosquito repellent took a little longer. The restaurant we were looking for, Kod Joze, was a little off the beaten path and took a while to find but was well worth the search. We arrived at the restaurant about the same time as two large parties so we assumed that the service would be a little slow. For a smaller restaurant with several large parties, the service was actually quite reasonable. The wait staff took the time to make recommendations and suggestions. Leslie ordered a local white fish that had been perfectly pan seared - a nice crust on the outside and cooked through but not overdone on the inside. The fish was served with some pale yellow bell peppers and onions in a light sauce. Leslie pronounced it the best meal of the trip.
On the way back to the hotel, we stopped and listened to the end of a concert at the Palatium.
Saturday morning we enjoyed a leisurely breakfast at one of the coffee and pastry shops before heading out to take a self-guided tour of Dicoletian's Palace.
Having found out that our travel adaptor did not fit the Croatian wall plugs, we also set out to find an adaptor. After checking at several stores, I finally found one at a small electronics store in Diocletian's Palace - for almost the same price as I had seen similar adaptors back in the United States.
Our next stop was a kiosk just outside the palace where we waited in line to purchase ferry tickets to Supetar on the island of Brač. We asked about the next ferry and the clerk said something along the lines of, "if you can make it". Between the line for tickets and the 1/4 mile hike to the dock, we just missed the ferry.
We stopped in at a waterfront diner where we had a quick sandwich while waiting for the next ferry. We returned to the original dock only to find that the next ferry to Split was leaving two piers to the north of us. A brisk walk down the waterfront and we made the ferry with several minutes to spare.
