Day 2. The road to Split: sea, stops and a bit of chaos

In the morning I left Dubrovnik for Split. This is where the real road trip began. The road along the coast kept making me stop: either there was a beautiful view of the sea ahead, or a small bay appeared, or I just wanted to get out of the car and stand outside for a few minutes.

Dubrovnik

I realized one simple thing pretty quickly: if you drive through Croatia in order to get to the next city as quickly as possible, you can miss half the fun. So I stopped rushing and started making unplanned stops.

The Adriatic

At some point, I saw a small area with a view of the Adriatic and decided to park. It was only after I got out of the car that I realized that there was practically no one around. I stood and looked at the sea and thought that it was worth taking the car for such moments.

On the way, I made several stops in small coastal places, had coffee and had lunch. And it turned out to be quite funny with lunch: I chose an institution almost at random, ordered a dish whose name I didn't quite understand, and then received a huge plate and spent some time trying to figure out how to eat it all. I love such moments when traveling, because for some reason they are the ones I remember best later.

By evening, I reached Split. After quiet little stops along the way, the city seemed much more noisy and lively to me.

Diocletian's Palace

The main point of the walk was Diocletian's Palace. However, it is quite difficult to call it just a palace, because the historical complex is actually integrated into modern urban life. People live, work, go to cafes, and you walk through the streets and realize that there are buildings around you that are centuries old.

Riva Embankment

In the evening, I took a long walk along the Riva embankment. After the road, it turned out to be exactly what you needed: the sea nearby, cafes around, palm trees, evening light and the feeling that today you finally don't have to plan.