Our impression of Split had been that of a small quaint city on the Adriatic. But, on entering the city by bus it became obvious that this is a very large, diverse city with industrial areas and lots of commercial activity. One thing that stands out is the large number of plain, grey apartment blocks that look very drab and unappealing. SE generously describes them as being ‘without variety’.
We arrived at the bus station on the waterfront (harbour) with several large cruise ships docked there and tourists milling around the outdoor shops.
Once we got our bearings we showed a taxi driver our Expedia printout, indicating the address where we were to stay. This started an energetic discussion with three cabbies at the end of which I asked, “How many kuna?” The driver said, “50 kuna.”
OK, so off we went, partly going back over the same route we just came in on with the bus, and then over to a residential district. When we came to a stop, he showed us a narrow street that we had to walk down to find #50. No cars were allowed on the street.
After quite a walk we we arrived at #50 and were presented with a stone building and steps leading up to a door. No markings whatsoever that would indicate we were at a ‘sobe’. The door was locked.
We waited, wondering what to do, when an older lady came by and noticed our Canadian flags on the backpacks. With her broken English she said she had a son in Canada (Toronto). During the talk we explained that we had booked a room here but that the door was locked and we didn’t know how to contact anyone to let us in. She said she knew the lady who owns the place and will telephone her.
Another half hour went by and we decided to walk the other way down the street from where we’d come because there seemed to be a lot of pedestrian traffic back and forth and people bringing bags of stuff with them. At the end of the street, about as far as we had walked from the other end, was the intersection next to the bus station! Turns out, we could easily have walked from the bus station, had we known where to go. It seems the cabbies had a good chuckle at our expense, taking us on a 50 kuna bus ride back almost to where we had started.
Hank walked over to a nearby outdoor cafe, ordered a Pivo Limun (a low-alcohol beer and lemonade mix), and engaged the waiter in conversation. When he explained our dilemma, the waiter offered to call the number on the Expedia booking sheet. He made contact with the lady who said she would be there in 15 minutes. When Hank got back to Stone House (Susan still sitting on the steps) he told her where he’d been and that the lady would be here in a few minutes. Susan said the neighbour lady across the street called the lady as well over a half hour ago and at that time she said she’d be there in 15 minutes.
After about 10 more minutes (one and a half hour wait in all) Martina showed up. The young lady apologized profusely and said she had left messages at our contact number (our home in Whitehorse, we expect). We explained we’d been on the bus from Dubrovnik and out of contact. Anyway, she unlocked the door and led us into a very small landing, then through a door to the left into a tiny room with just enough room for the bed and a small desk. The bathroom was so small that the toilet and sink were almost touching, and a tiny shower.
And the room was stifling hot, despite a new portable floor model air conditioner. The problem seemed to be that the air conditioner was vented (exhaust) with a plastic flex hose through the open window, but up against a pair of wooden louvered shutters. If you tried to move the air conditioner, to get to the desk for example, the hose would fall out of the window onto the floor. The end of the flex hose was pulled apart with much of the coil wire exposed in an obvious attempt to wire the hose to the locking hardware on the inside of the shutters, which we also tried to do. But this had the effect of pulling the shutters closed and rendering the air conditioner completely useless. We never managed to get the temperature in the room below 28 C during the night.
Anyway, we got settled in the room, showered (after we figured out where the switch was for the hot water heater) and headed off to see the attractions in Split. Things had to get better.
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