Searching for the perfect summer destination on the Mediterranean coast, I stumbled upon thepictures of Split – one of the many pearls of Croatian part of Adriatic. The mighty church tower rising above the ancient Diocletian’s palace makes the very heart of this marvellous city.
I didn’t hesitate for a moment. I knew my girlfriend would love this mix of history and vivid city life by the sea. I booked the tickets and couple of weeks later here we were – landing on the Split Airport. I planned all sorts of fun activities and sightseeing tours, but first we needed to find a taxi to get us to the centre. We used Taxi Split Airport service and we didn’t regret it. The 20-minute drive to the centre passed rapidly while we were looking at the scenery around us with our jaws dropped. A Dalmatian mountain range follows the coastline from the bottom to the top of Croatia. Here, it surrounds the city of Split and its small neighbours in a way that seems like they will be crushed either by the mountain or by the sea. The mountains (Kozjak and Mosor) are seemingly gently pushing the houses towards the sea. Or is it the other way around? We shared our amazement with our driver who just smiled in his omniscient way and commented shortly: “This is only one of the reasons why it is the greatest city in the world.” We shared our plan with our driver and he decided to give us some tips on how to behave and what to beware about in the interaction with locals. Finally, we arrived at the centre – on Riva - and I knew it would be a great vacation. The city was like from the pictures. As a goodbye, I decided to ask our driver for one final advice, ‘How to get the best experience from our visit?’
The conversation with the driver gave me an idea. Why should I spend every vacation slowly strolling around the city? I’ve talked to my girlfriend and we decided to postpone our walking tour and instead of it, the next day, we went at a beach. By the recommendation from our driver we booked the tour the day before. The idea was to see the whole gulf from the sea. The fastest and most exciting way that we could imagine to do so was to rent a Jet Ski Split. Since neither one of us knew how to drive a Jet Ski, we booked Jet Ski Safari Split – a tour where the skipper drives you. You only need to enjoy the thrill and the view.
We started from the beach and went all the way to the other side of the gulf, to the island of Čiovo. This small island is connected to the historical city of Trogir by a small bridge, which we saw from afar. We drove for about 30 minutes across the gulf and I was mesmerized by the landscape: blue sea, a line of houses, a line of forest and at the top nothing but barren land. Once we reached Čiovo, we had just enough time to dive in the sea. This completed the sensation I’ve felt after landing here. By the wind on my face, the sun drying my wet skin, mountains watching on us while riding back to Split and the feeling of pleasure I already knew Split was a good choice.