Split!

Sunday was our one day in Split. We had to get up at 6am because, you know, the ferry was docking. We walked to our hostel, which was an adventure because the directions from the ferry on the hostel website were straight up WRONG. They literally said turn right when we were supposed to turn left, then it said go to the end of the promenade when we were supposed to go to the middle.

We finally found the hostel, dropped off our bags and took full advantage of the free wifi to plan the next few days. Since it was early on a Sunday, almost nothing in town was open except the beach. Since it was rainy out, the beach didn't seem so pleasurable so we researched how we were going to get to Plitvice, Zagreb, Vienna, Prague and Hannover and everything else we wanted to do this week. After a while we realized we were STARVING, so we headed out to a restaurant. Actually, it was called a “buffet,”but it appears that here “buffet” just means “restaurant.”

After lunch we wandered the town, where a bunch of vendors had set up booths. We didn't buy much of anything, except gelato, and decided that since it was finally hot out we'd visit the beach to swim in the Adriatic Sea! Because I am lucky and also graceful, I slid down some stone steps on the way to the beach and scratched up the back of my leg and cut my toe (I know, it doesn't even make sense.) To remedy this, I went swimming! It worked fine, I'm all better.



Post-swimming we were exhausted and sandy, so we headed back to the hostel, showered, skyped our parents, ate dinner and went to bed at an acceptable hour for grandmas.


Hostel review: Situs Hostel in Split is one of the few hostels we've stayed in that was not a Hostelling International hostel. It turned out to be basically a 3 bedroom downtown apartment filled with bunk beds, but it was awesome. Our room had 3 bunk beds in it,so 6 people could sleep there, and the other 2 rooms had between 2 and 4 bunk beds, I'm not sure because I never went into them. There was 1 womens bathroom, with 1 shower, 1 toilet and 1 sink, a mens bathroom (with the same amenities), as well as a gender-neutral half bath. It sounds like it would be crowded, but there were lots of people there and almost never a bathroom line. There was also a kitchen we were free to use, which is the first time we've encountered that at a hostel, and a common area with a TV and free computer usage (there was also free wifi). And air conditioning, which was amazing. The guy in charge of the hostel lived like 5 minutes away, and he would stop by to check people in but was not there all the time, which was never a problem. It was within walking distance of everything we wanted to do in Split, including the ferry and bus stations, and overall a great hostel. The only cons were that the lockers were too small to fit our bags, so we were only able to lock up our valuables(not that anything was stolen, it was just sort of strange) and the dorms were coed, so we had to change clothes in the bathroom instead of in our room. Also, there was no breakfast (a lot of hostels either include it or charge a couple euros.) Other than that, it had everything I ask for of a hostel: clean, with a common area and wifi and in walking distance of things...with the added benefit of air conditioning and a kitchen.