City of Split just a stopover? no way!

Split is my hometown and it might seem to you that it’s only natural for my first article to be about it, but actually that is not the true. The true reason was that today I run across an article in New York Times by Alex Trevar. Now, I also need to admit that I’ve deliberately chosen my title to make you think that Alex is claiming that Split is only a stopover (and that I disagree) but that is not the case here. In fact, I agree with Alex 100% who seems to have discovered Split as a great place to visit (and to stay!) despite its reputation of a stopover!

But Alex makes it very clear at the first page: “Irrefutably, the numbers bear out the image of Split as a stopover. According to the Split Tourism Board, about 188,000 visitors stayed overnight in Split last year, but about 4.5 million passed through town. Split’s reputation, however, seems certain to change…”

The numbers speak for themselves but numbers will also get you nowhere. You must already know that “numbers” and “reputation” lie sometimes and in this case it is going to be revealed if you just ask “why is it like that?”. Because there is nothing to see and do in Split? No way (there it goes into my headline)! I’ll give you 2 reasons: 1) there is not enough hotels in Split and that lowers number of overnight stays, 2) Split is Dalmatia’s largest city and the “Transportation hub” of Dalmatia which pumps up the numbers of passes through.

So, the truth, as Alex too has discovered: “…But the thought of the city as merely a way station seems silly when you walk through the Old Town with the sun throwing golden morning light across the white stone streets…“.
“…It wasn’t until last May that I decided to explore Split - loaded with night life, historical and cultural sites, and around nine miles of beaches with crystal clear water - and started to see how shortsighted I’d been…”

Split: the truth

City of Split is about 1700 years old. It started with the 7-acre palace that Roman Emperor Diocletian built for himself. Palace had walls 18-22 meters high and about 2 meters thick. It had 16 towers and 4 gates. Today, a lot of that can still be seen but that palace now is the center (”old town”) of city with population of about 250.000. It is the center of Dalmatia and the second largest city in Croatia.

The most interesting fact here is that Diocletian’s palace was always inhabited because after Diocletian died and Avars sacked the town in 615., inhabitants built a new town within the palace. Even today, about 3000 inhabitants live inside the walls of the old town-palace - a UNESCO World Heritage Site. You can find buildings and embellishments of medieval, Renaissance, Baroque, as well as Roman architecture, all in one place. You can drink coffee in small cafes with walls that are actually old 2 meters thick palace walls (Cafe “Teak”, Cafe “Puls 2″) or right there in the middle of old palace - central piazza known as Peristil - on steps in front of the Cathedral of Saint Domnius (Sv. Duje), surrounded by columns on three sides (Cafe “Luxor”). You can see children playing football in small squares in front of their picturesque little stone houses; laundry hanging outside windows; noisy fish market within the city walls… life!

When you’re tired of walking around, sightseeing and shopping (there are lot of stores in the old town) I suggest you stop and eat something right there. My personal favorite is the small tavern Sperun (tel: (385) 21-346-999) that Alex from New York Times also recommends. Buffet Fife (tel: (385) 21-345-223) is also good but I recommend it for younger people searching for a great food, just as home made, for lower price.

Night life in Split has a lot to offer, especially during the summer. I suggest disco Tribu - a giant dance floor and spacious terrace, but please double-check if you’re reading this in a year or two because popularity top-list changes in Split very often. For those who like it, there’s also a couple of Go-Go bars but I’m not going to recommend any (double-check and triple-check prices in those places before you order, prices are shameless). I’m not even going to try to count all those bars, on the beach, in the old town and outside of it, let’s just say you have a lot of choice there.

But my plan was not to make this article just another Split guide, let’s move on…

Hotels: the change

There are only about 2000 hotel beds in town currently (2006)! Ah, now those numbers of overnight stays make sense, don’t they? Let’s start with “why?”… Split had more hotels before the fall of Yugoslavia but during the war some of those became home for refugees from other parts of Croatia. Split was almost untouched by the war (occupied territories of Croatia were far away) but economic damage to those hotels (buildings and companies) was devastating. So after the war, Split started to rebuild old capacities and add some new. I’ll mention only a few but I think that will be enough to realize the change that is happening here.

Hotel Marjan is being rebuilt into new 5 star hotel in Park Plaza chain. New owner wants it to be among 10 most luxurious and most beautiful hotels in Europe. It will have over 250 rooms and 20 apartments on total of 34.000 square meters. Design is being done by Jerko Rosin, a famous local architect. Estimated time of opening is summer 2008.

Hotel Lav is being rebuilt into new 5 star hotel in Le Méridien chain: “Le Méridien Lav“. No expense is being spared (interior decoration design is being done by the internationally acclaimed Italian Interior Decorator, Lorenzo Bellini). First guest are to arrive in December 2006. There are 382 guest rooms and apartments.

Ad if you think only large 5 star complexes are being built, here is a good example of small charming hotel, opened this year, inside the city walls - Hotel Peristil. It is located only meters away from eastern town gate and Saint Domnius Cathedral. It has 12 rooms and 21 bed.

Spend a couple of days in Split

… and you will not regret it! I promise! If you do, you can find me there to tell me about it and I’ll even buy you a drink, or a meal in Sperun to hear your story

Resources:

• New York Times article
• Directory:Split

This entry was posted on Tuesday, October 17th, 2006 at 10:45 am and is filed under Weekly Comment, guides & stories. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.