Got up this morning at eight o’clock and took my time in the power shower, letting the powerful jets of warm water wake me up and wash away yesterday’s grime. I shampooed and blow-dried my hair, then finished getting ready before going down to breakfast.
Our other five fellow travellers were there as well; Jane and Kath would be moving to a beach hotel in Split for a further four-day stay, whereas the rest of us would, unfortunately, be flying home. 🙁
Once we’d finished breakfast, we returned to room 511 and finished all of our packing, then we locked our cases, checked around the room to ensure we hadn’t forgotten anything (Trevor made sure he had the passports!!), then left 511 for the last time.
Lugging our cases round to the lift, we descended to the hotel foyer and checked out, asking the lady behind the desk if they could store our luggage for us until our airport transfer at seven o’clock tonight; she was happy to oblige. Just then, we saw Linda appear, and as she was on the same flight as us back to Manchester, we said she was welcome to spend the day in our company if she wanted.
We walked out of the hotel into the sunshine, and made our way to the main promenade along the sea front. We weren’t quite sure what we wanted to do today, so we stood in our little group pondering. Nearby a guy standing in front of a tuk tuk with a banner saying “City Tours” beckoned us over and asked if we were interested in an 90-minute long guided tour; it would cost 60 euros for the whole vehicle which, between the three of us, would be 20 euros each. We decided to go with that, and the three of us took our places in the back of the ‘vehicle’. I had never been in a tuk tuk before, so this was a new experience. 🙂
Off we went, through the streets that had now become familiar to us. Our driver told us he’d first of all take us to the the old Jewish Cemetery, which was located on Marjan Hill overlooking the city. Established in 1573, the cemetery currently contains some 700 tombstones, the oldest one dating from 1717. It certainly had an excellent vantage point all over Split harbour, and we could see a couple of cruise ships; RCI’s Brilliance of the Seas and MSC’s Armonia.
We then continued on our way, rattling and jolting over any speed bumps; our driver waving and tooting to any of the other tour vehicles, whose drivers he clearly knew. We next stopped at one of the more popular beaches in Split, a little further along the coast where there was a man-made beach, swimming and snorkelling area, water polo area and large car park. Looking down, we saw a typically cheerful summer beach scene; many people sunbathing and swimming, colourful beach towels and parasols in abundance.
We enjoyed our ride in the tuk tuk, just watching the passing scenery, listening to our cheerful guide and enjoying the sea breeze through the open-sides of the vehicle. Our next place of interest was the football stadium where the local team, HNK Hajduk Split (usually just referred to as Hajduk) play. The ground is called Stadion Poljud and holds amost 34,000 spectators. Outside the ground was an intrguing sculpture of the six letters that spell the club’s name; but only when viewed from exactly the right angle. 🙂
Continuing along our route, we came to another stop which allowed me to take a final lot of photos of the wonderful city of Split. The first photo shows the Armonia and the Brilliance of the Seas in port, and in the third photo you can see the Stadion Poljud and the club crest for Hajduk.
Soon we slowly made our way back to the square where we first started, and we paid our driver and said our thank-yous before climbing out of the vehicle. It was about 12.45pm and we weren’t really hungry because of our massive breakfast, but we certainly thought we could use a drink. 🙂
We thought we might go back to Terminal F, that bar based on an airport departure lounge, but when we got there the place was heaving with people having lunch and drinking beer and cocktails. We therefore went to a nearby rooftop bar which served champagne and cocktails and looked very fashionable, with the price tags to match. We each ordered a bottle of cold beer and they were 42 kunas each, twice the price we had normally been paying. Needless to stay, we only stayed for one drink here before moving on. 🙂
We then went along to the bar we’d been in last night and enjoyed another couple of drinks. We were really just passing time until our airport transfer tonight; we no longer had a hotel “base” to go back to, so it was all just about wandering around, looking around the shops and the bars, watching the boats in the harbour and, as ever, indulging in a delicious ice cream.
Around 2.30pm we decided we were hungry and went off to find somewhere to have a late lunch. We found a trendy-looking place called Street Food and went in there, where I enjoyed the house salad washed down with an Aperol Spritz.
Afterwards, it was just a case of wandering about killing time until we had to head back to the Hotel President and await our transport to the airport. We took a slow stroll back, collected our luggage, used the loo and sat around in the hotel foyer.
At 7.00pm our taxi appeared and the driver loaded our cases in the boot before we took our seats inside. It was about a 20 minute ride to the small airport, and it didn’t take us long at all to check in our bags and get through security.
In the departure lounge, all they had by way of refreshment facilities was one counter that sold a limited variety of soft drinks, coffee and tea and a very limited selection of alcoholic spirits or beer. We bought ourselves a drink and sat down, just before a massive queue started to form.
Looking at the FlightRadar24 app, I saw that our plane was due to arrive shortly and, a few minutes later we watched as its lights approached and it touched down on the runway. Soon it was time for us to board so we took that walk, as we have done so many times before, over the tarmac and up the steps into the aircraft, stashing our bags in the overhead locker before taking our seats and clicking our seatbelts in place.
We were pushed back from the gate at 21.55 hours exactly, and soon we roared off into the night, destination Manchester Airport.
Another really fabulous, interesting and enjoyable holiday had come to an end, and now it was time to start counting down the weeks until the next one. 🙂