Wednesday October 25, 2023
Hi All! We had a really fun day in Split today. As I mentioned yesterday, we’ve been here before and loved it. In fact, we love all of the places along the Croatian coast or as they call it, the Dalmatian coast. The scenery is amazing, the people are so friendly and most speak English, and if you get a chance to try their home made food, called Peka, go for it!
But first a little bit about Split. In the 4th century AD, the Roman Emperor Diocletian wanted to retire here in his native town so he built a huge palace right on the water. We toured it last year and it is really cool. Then in the 15th century, the Venetians took over the whole Dalmatian coast and put up lots of Gothic Renaissance architecture. But even as Split grew, the palace was still the nucleus of the old town. Today 2,000 people live or work inside the palace walls. It’s a maze of narrow alleys that have boutiques and galleries, wonderfully atmospheric cafes, and Roman artifacts around every corner.
So today we decided to do an excursion into the mountainside to experience what real Croatia was like and boy are we glad we did! Our bus took us way into the mountains above Split to this little village with just a few houses. It was a family homestead where 30 of the relatives from the same family live there. Within minutes of pulling up, the owner greeted us with these delicious homemade donuts along with both red and white wine… at 9 in the morning! Lol.
From there he and his wife showed us around the property and introduced us to some of the other family members. They all seemed so at peace living in a beautiful setting away from the city. But they said it is hard work since they grow most of their food, dry their own hams and tend to the animals. But they said they wouldn’t have it any other way!
After visiting for awhile we sat down to this delicious homemade meal. They started with this tasty soup made from beef and rooster (yes, rooster!!) and this warm homemade bread. We then had a big salad and all the chicken (I think it was chicken and not rooster!) and beef we could eat. They cooked the meat “Peka” style which is where they put the meat over hot coals and cover it with this huge metal cover and let it cook for 3-4 hours. The meat was so tender and juicy. They also had fresh olives from their olive trees and yummy potatoes they cooked over the fire. It was a real feast!
After lunch, the owner, his brother and his father sang traditional Croatian songs and played this mandolin type instrument that was over 400 years old and the strings were made from horse hair! After that we played bocce on their own bocce court. The whole day was so fun!
After we got back on the ship we relaxed and did some laundry then got ready for dinner. We went to the Polo Grill and had a great dinner. We’ve found the dinners in the specialty restaurants are really good.
It was a late dinner so we just listened to the piano
Player and pulled the last of the slots. This is the last night the casino will be open since they can’t stay open while in an Italian port (some weird local law) and we’ll be in Venice both Thurs and Fri. Happy Hump Day to all!
PS: I’ll post some pictures tomorrow while we have better wifi in the port of Venice.
The Wandering Italian 