On Croatia’s Adriatic Coast, The Ancient City Of Split Has Become A Major Tourist Destination In Dalmatia

As Croatia’s second largest city, Split has been enjoying remarkable success over the last five years as a quieter, cheaper alternative to Italy’s tourist crunch. Split is especially popular with French, German and Austrians who come for the surrounding natural beauty of the mountains, white beaches, hiking and biking. Many rent the same apartments overlooking the sea year after year, and last year nearly 800,000 Americans visited Split and its sister cities of Zagreb and Dubrovnik. Up until 15 years ago Split was an industrial city, but now tourism has become a major industry.

Split itself is a unique archeological treasure, and, after recent development and restoration, now more vital than it’s been in centuries, with ferry crossings to the islands of Brac and Kvar. (Croatia has more than 1,200.)

Originally a Greek colony, Split was long one of the Roman Empire’s largest, best located cities, with a population of as many as 60,000 people. In 293 AD Emperor Diocletian began construction of a vast fortified retirement palace, which itself could house 10,000 people. Over the next millennium Split was constantly fought over and sacked by those who recognized its strategic location, including the Byzantine Empire and the Republic of Venice; in the 19^th century Napoleon took the city; on his defeat in 1812 the Austrian Hapsburg ruled, then after World War I Croatia became part of Yugoslavia, with Split as its most prosperous city.

In 1991 Croatia declared its independence, which led to four years of brutal war with Serbia, and creating a massive refugee problem. There are few vestiges of that conflict now in Split, although many of the houses and apartments surrounding the center of the city are mundane cement and red tiled-roof remnants of an era when alternatives were not possible.

Nearer the center of Split there are some modern buildings, few taller than ten stories. The center itself, which lies along the graceful, curving harbor facing the Riva, a long stretch of cafés where everyone meets from breakfast through late at night and anchored by Diocletian’s extraordinary palace whose vast limestone arched hallways lead into well-restored sections where both the emperor and the population once lived and worked. There is an Ethnographic Museums within, and Egyptian lion sculptures still resting on the walls.

The palace’s ongoing restoration has meant a rapid acquisition of spaces converted to apartments, boutiques, cafes, even a sushi restaurant. New modern hotels have opened in the old town, including Vestibule Palace (Iza Vestibula 4) ––“since 305 AD”––and indeed you really can sleep and dine, at its restaurant Magnus (with a superb wine list), within those fourth century limestone walls. For the summer rates runs around €360.

I was being thriftier, booking a splendid Airbnb called Riva City Rooms (they have five locations) just outside the Palace walls and overlooking the Riva for €90.

Outside of city center the new Méridien Lav Hotel (Grljevacka 24) is expansive, with a long beachfront and panorama on the Adriatic where you can take breakfast, sun-lighted spacious rooms, a large sophisticated bar and lounge called LaVue, and quite a good Italian restaurant named Conlemani, where I chose from an array of wood-fired pizzas, vitello tonnato and spaghetti with lobster.

Nearby, in the town of Strobeč, is very much a local favorite restaurant, Konoba Nikola (Ivankova 42)––konoba means a tavern or cellar––reached by climbing a rocky road up from the plaza in a secluded converted house. It’s been a restaurant for a quarter century, whose ebullient owner, Nikola Džalo, grew up in these premises. Located a few steps down, the rustic room has only 24 seats and is set with folkloric art and photos. Displayed on ice is the day’s catch, which might be pretty red mullet, fat scampi, John Dory, branzino and more, all grilled to perfection and served with French fries. The wine list is deep, and if you wish, Nikola will charge you only by how much of a bottle you consume. Our three-course meal for two, with desert and wine, came to a very reasonable €214.

I will be following up with a report on more of Split’s best restaurants but let me for the moment give you some tips about local customs.

● Both Uber and Bolt are readily available, with some of their cars parked right at the Riva, and they are cheaper by far than the taxis, which are not easy to find unless your concierge calls one and you pay for the pick-up.

● At restaurants a ten percent tip on the bill is considered standard.

● Split has hundreds of ATMs all over town but use only those with a bank’s name on it. Do not use the red, yellow, blue or green ATMs. I did on my first day and ended up paying a whopping twenty percent service fee.

● If you sit by the Riva for coffee, snacks or a full meal at the restaurants there––all of which have more or less the same tourist menu––do not take a table far to the left (facing the street), because for some reason the sickly stench of sulfur rises from below the pavement.

● It would be difficult to find any resident of the, or elsewhere in Croatia, who doesn’t speak very good English, and the populace is exceptionally welcoming and helpful to America visitors.