SPLIT HAPPENS

HAPPY TRAILS

Travel destinations are personal things. You want to visit a place because you’ve read about it or heard about it or have seen pictures. Perhaps, a destination is alluring because it was a location of a beloved television show or movie or a sporting event. Perhaps you’ve heard the vistas are spectacular or the color of the water is exquisite. Perhaps wine is the magnet, or the people, or the food, or the history, or the siren song of long-lost friends is calling you to a particular place. Well, Croatia has all of that for this humble traveler, but Split was not on my radar at all.

It’s a busy port city after all. Ferries and cruise ships to all the islands depart from here, and buses and trains stop here, and seemingly everyone is scrambling to leave Split to get to somewhere else in Croatia as soon as they arrive. Personally, I would never have considered Split as anything more than a transit point, but thankfully Janet insisted on lingering here to see the city.

 

BEFORE

Even Diocletian’s Palace, a massive Roman edifice built in the 4^th Century as a retirement home for the first emperor of Rome to voluntarily abdicate his position, and is today Split’s most important tourist destination was effectively called a “dump” by the tour guide arranged by Unforgettable Croatia. Still this palace that also housed a military garrison in the 300’s remains the best-preserved example of Roman architecture.  

 

AFTER

We ended our trip with the Unforgettable Cruise line in Split. It is an attentive, small ship luxury cruise line that had us stopping at several islands in Dalmatia. The trip began in Dubrovnik and ended in Split. As alluring as Dubrovnik, Mljet, Korcula, Vis and Hvar were to me, Split was just not there at all. We remained on the M/S Infinity for a final night while in port, checking out early the next morning. Then after a two-day drive up to the Plitvice Lakes National Park we returned to Split for a final night. Yes, Split is a very busy port city, with the area down by where the Infinity docked having all the charm of Port Newark in New Jersey. It was a bustle of trucks delivering supplies and passengers going back and forth and it was almost too much frenetic activity. But, I have to admit, by the time we left Split, the second largest city in Croatia, I had changed my mind about it and when we left I wanted to linger there a while longer.

UNFORGETTABLE CROATIA CRUISES

HISTORICAL and VIBRANT

After Diocletian’s death, the massive palace was eventually abandoned by the Romans and people in the surrounding area made it their home. The outer walls were kept intact, but many interior walls were torn down or added to by people moving into the former palace to create homes.

 

SPLIT

Today the interior of Diocletian’s Palace is a mish mosh of narrow curving streets filled with shops, cafes, wine bars, restaurants, sobes and apartments and is home to roughly 3,000 people. Countless tourists stumble along this warren of haphazardly arrayed network of alleys where over time apartments were built wherever possible. The tourist hordes choke the walkways and locals working the shops have a withered look to them and greatly appreciate a simple “dobra don,” or ‘good-day’ from the relentless babel of foreign voices that fill this choked, but fun area. If you can say “Doviđenja” to them or ‘good-bye’ faces light up into huge smiles..  

One large open area in the middle of the former palace grounds is the peristyle. A peristyle is a columned veranda, sort of like a front porch, that would lead to the house. Usually decorated with plants or shrubs or even fish ponds, Diocletian’s peristyle was within the palace grounds and the entrance was guarded by several sphinx imported from Egypt. Over time many of them have been lost or destroyed, but one remains at the peristyle still protecting the apartment area of Diocletian.  

 

PERISTYLE SPLIT

Music and shows are performed nightly at the peristyle. During our last night in Split we watched for a time a performance of the opera Aida with a full orchestra before the stage. We actually just walked slowly past the stage. We couldn’t move very quickly because of all the people; it was that crowded. The alley that our sobe, Croatian for room, was on, actually led to the stage. So rather than being a part of the show, we had to walk around to reach it from the other side. When we got to the door of the Base Rooms Sobe there were several members of the chorus hanging on the steps of the Temple of Jupiter which was right at our door, waiting for their cue. Dressed in appropriate Egyptian garb, one woman started singing the Bangles, “Walk Like An Egyptian.” Janet slapped me when I started to dance with her and pulled me inside the Sobe.

 

BASE ROOMS & TEMPLE

Despite the proximity with the thick walls of our very centrally located sobe we heard none of the opera. Base Room Sobe wasn’t fancy, but it was clean comfortable and very reasonably priced. We stayed in Room 201

BASE ROOMS SPLIT

PARTY OUTSIDE THE PALACE

The palace was the main attraction of town, but the spacious quay beyond the walls was festive. Palm trees lined the walk-way near the water and were also interspersed among the many busy tables of cafes and restaurants. It was cooler here with the sea air, although the sun was fierce and the umbrellas were needed. Sitting at a table made for good people watching as people still incessantly walked around. We walked along this area our final evening and a traditional band was playing and women in folk dress waited their turn to take the stage to dance. It was a good relaxed breezy feel to this area which contrasted to the stifling air inside the palace.

DRINKS AND FOOD

Any café or restaurant in town is good. Here are three notables for us:

PORTOFINO  

Located in a little courtyard near the Silver Gate of the Palace. Outdoor seating and serving pastas, steaks and seafood. We got a 10% discount with our Privilege Card from Unforgettable Croatia. Great wine list and attentive staff.

 PORTOFINO SPLIT

PIZZERIA BOKAMORRA

This is also a 10% discounted place, but this is a restaurant that specializes in pizza. Fancy atmosphere and the place got extremely crowded after we were seated. They had an extensive listing of toppings and had drink or wine recommendations with each. We dined with another couple from the Infinity, Simon and Maureen from Fremantle, WA, and Simon and I had a dram of Ardbeg after dinner.

 

SPLIT

BLACK DOG

Located outside the palace, also near the Silver Gate, the Black Dog was a craft beer bar, of both domestic and foreign brews and a number of specialty cocktails. This place was quite the find.  

BLACK DOG BAR SPLIT

For The Birds

Just south of the Pennsylvania border the broad Susquehanna River empties into the Chesapeake Bay. Creating electricity from the flow of this river that has its headwaters in Ostego Lake at Cooperstown, New York, is the Conowingo Dam. Route 1 travels over the dam and although the Conowingo is not a proud edifice like the Hoover, it is quite the tourist attraction. Bald Eagles are readily seen fishing the waters beneath the dam, mostly from mid-October through January. It is the greatest gathering of Bald Eagles east of the Mississippi. During the peak viewing times hundreds of these majestic birds can be seen at one visit, although lesser numbers of eagles can still be seen throughout the rest of the year. Several species of gulls, heron and vultures can be readily seen as well, but it is for the Bald Eagles that people visit the Conowingo.

(C) Baltimore Sun

Birders and photographers gather here on a daily basis and there is quite a culture built up around the Bald Eagles. A google search of the Conowingo Dam reveals how popular (and free) this destination is to curious onlookers as well as professional-looking photographers. There is even a Facebook page devoted to the Conowingo Bald Eagles. Don’t fret! Although your lens may not be as big as those who gather to snap action shots of this symbol of America, you must not feel inadequate. The Conowingo is worth visiting even if you are just hauling out an instamatic.

VISITORS GUIDE TO THE BALD EAGLES AT CONOWINGO DAM

ANOTHER BALD EAGLE LINK

HANFORD BIRD CLUB

When the Conowingo releases water to generate electricity with their turbines fish get trapped in the mechanisms above the dam and get sluiced through to the other side, often dazed and disoriented. Red caution lights alert the birds the turbines are opening and the fantastic display of nature begins. This is the prime time to view the birds as they are the most active. It is possible to time your visit with the release of water by calling the Conowingo Dam “hot-line” at: 888-457-4076.

 

Conowingo Dam, looking south

There are two places to watch, either down near the water at Fisherman’s Park or along the fence line across from the island and the twin power towers, although you can also sit in your car and catch glimpses. Be sure to back into the spot. Be sure too to dress warmly and to take food for the invariably long wait. There are picnic tables and portable toilets, but nothing else, so arrive prepared. The entrance to the viewing area is on the south side of the river. The street off Route 1 is Shuresville Road then a left onto Shuresville Landing Road.

I missed the release of water that day when I recently visited the dam. The edifice itself was impressive and gulls swirled in the air and vultures perched on the dam itself, but I did not see a Bald Eagle. Just a few photographers remained and they were talking among themselves about their craft. They snickered at me when I hoisted my flip phone to snap a picture, but I ignored them. It was a mild day and I walked the grounds and read about the fish elevators that bring spawning fish upstream and about the tours that the Conowingo Dam authority had recently started up again after 12 years and the efforts to renew the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission license for the 85 year old hydro-electric plant, which will expire on September 1, 2014.

On the way to the Conowingo Dam I stopped for snacks at the Herr’s Factory tour and outlet. It’s just a few miles north of the Mason-Dixon Line in Nottingham, Pennsylvania and directly off the highway. I didn't time the tour well either and did not wait for the next one. Instead I stocked up on supplies and snacked on some chocolate covered pretzel sticks as I visited the Conowingo. The Herr's store is open Monday through Thursday 9 a to 3 p and Fridays for two hours, 9 a to 11 a.