My son and I arrived in Split, having commuted via bus from Zagreb. The bus ride seemed like a forever long ride with one bathroom break, in its 6hr duration due to traffic. I recommend anyone traveling from Zagreb heading towards Split to take the train or book a domestic flight with Croatian airlines. In order to make the most of your vacation time.
We arrived into Split during the evening hours. Our airbnb was located in the heart of Old Town, as we entered into the former grounds of the Ancient Roman palace, we were greeted by actors portraying Roman guards. My son found this entertaining and we quickly took advantage of the photo opp. We made our way to our airbnb which of course our room was on the very top floor, 5 flights of stairs to be exact. Another recommendation travel light, rolling luggage means nothing in the Balkans, cobble stone streets and stairwells everywhere.
On our first night we roamed further into the center of Old Town to grab a bite to eat, soaking in the historical atmosphere that was bestowed upon us. The Old Town city of Split is a popular tourist attraction due to it’s UNESCO World Heritage, with the Diocletian roman palace dating back to 293 AD. We ended up having dinner right outside the courtyard entrance of the palace, enjoying our meal and people watching. There are local street vendors selling homemade foods, desserts and other goods. My son and I bought watermelon ice cream from a local vendor, which was by far the best tasting ice cream I ever had. So fresh, with bits of watermelon in it. We walked around buying some trinkets making our way to Saint Dominus Cathedral, a must see built in 305 CE. Absolutely breathtaking.
Old Town – Split 
Old Town’s Gladiators 
Old Town – Split
Day 1
Excited, my son and I could not wait to explore. Both of us being early morning risers, me a Yogi, we wanted to head to the outdoor market and seaside port. It was beyond quiet and peaceful walking through the streets of Old Town, the palace was empty it was perfect to take pictures. I even threw in some yoga poses at some locations. We finally made our way to the markets for fresh fruits and homemade baked goods. Being of Balkan and Baltic decent, I’m accustom to the foods but fresh burek (phyllo pastry with meat, cheese or spinach) in the morning is a favorite. Here in Hrvatska (aka Croatia) you can purchase small donut sized bureks perfect for breakfast. My son loves the meat phyllo bureks while I prefer cheese or spinach. We strolled around the markets, watching the fisherman unload their morning catches from their boats.
Adriatic Beach & Kayaking
Back in the states before the trip, I had purchased a kayaking & cliff jumping excursion located off Split’s coastline. We had met up with our vendor at noon, hoped on the bus to our destination point. We had packed a change of clothes, protein bars and of course our Gopro camera. Our tour guide handed us all our gear, in addition to this over-size plastic barrel which we were able to store all our personal items in and strap to the kayak. That was nice no need to worry about personal items getting wet or stolen. We were loaded into our kayaks, my son and I riding tandem. The view was amazing, I could not believe that I was kayaking the Adriatic sea with my 10 year old. We finally made our destination of resting/cliff areas. We were given an hour to swim, climb rocks and for those who wanted to cliff jump there was a rock formation in the middle of the sea where the water was 10ft deep. And would you believe before I had a chance to take my life vest off, my son was already half way climbing the rock formation and was the first to jump! Our tour guide reassured me that there was no worries of rocks below, the water was safe for jumping. He had taken several pictures of my son cliff jumping that he asked to share on his website which I’ll share later in this post. The entire experience was amazing, the water is sooo clear and clean. My only comment and recommendation is WATER SHOES, its a must especially at many beaches along Adriatic coasts. I did not have water shoes, never found them fashionable nor did I think I needed them. Oh boy, was I wrong. The rocks are no fun to walk on, make sure you have a pair before heading to the beaches or any other water activity. The total cost for parent and child kayaking was $70 for approx. 3hrs. This fee included the guide taking pictures with Gopro underwater camera, pics were emailed to me later that evening.
Day 2 Krka National Park & Waterfalls
So having been to Plitvice Lakes National Park when I was a student at the University of Zagreb for a semester, I knew next the park on my list was Krka. Krka National Park unlike Plitvice allows for swimming, has several hiking trails and allows photo opps while standing in waterfalls. And with the social media frenzy of having the perfect pic on facebook, instagram and pinterest, its impossible to have one against these waterfall backdrops.
We had booked a day excursion from Split to Krka National Park, included private ac van of 6 to 8 patrons, entrance tickets and boat tickets. Once you get to the parks main parking entrance, you will board a boat with your party to the falls and trails. The boat id fairly big, but it packs quickly and you will want to sit inside on a hot summer day as the boat moves slow there is NO breeze. My excursion pass allowed me and my son to part from the group, giving us 4hours to do whatever we wanted. Because we went in July, we wanted to swim in the falls not hike. Krka is a popular tourist spot in the summer, be sure to bring sunscreen and lots of water. There are a few food and bakery vendor stands, but when its 90+temps and crowded, foods like sausages and hamburgers do not sound appealing. We ate protein bars and apples that I had packed.
We had spent majority of our day cooling off in the waterfalls, taking lots of pictures. We did a small 1.3K hike to surrounding smaller waterfalls after cooling off in the main waterfall. Again, I cannot stress enough the need for water shoes. The rocks here are slippery with grooved edges to them. We saw countless people stumble and fall, pack a first aide kit in your backpack just in case. I will definitely come back here again, outside of the summer season to enjoy the other parts of the park when its not so hot and crowded.
We ended our last night in Split with dinner on the main strip of board walk with the view of the pier. A Dalmaticija must in Hrvatska, if you love seafood is buzara (mussels) so good. We dined on seafood, which is very affordable in comparison to dining in major US cities. So indulge, the food is fresh, healthy and tastes amazing. We topped our night off with grabbing ice cream again. However, this time we opted for lavender ice cream which seems to be popular here. I personally liked the watermelon flavor I had the night before. That’s just my opinion. Gift giving ideas to take back home: olive or truffle oil, lavender sachets, or plum moonshine slivovica.
Split’s boardwalk, my cousin Mio joining us from Zagreb