June 29, 2019
I was sad to wake up this morning and leave my cabin. It was such an amazing cruise that I did not want it to end. Katarina Cruise Line definitely knows how to island hop along the Dalmatian Coast and I will continue to send my clients here for their vacations. I will most likely send more because this trip taught me more about Katarina that I didn’t know before, like their 60 different ships and they are definitely each for a different kind of traveler and budget. Thank you Katarina Line for this wonderful experience!
Off to spend the day in Split, my flight is at 7:40pm so I booked a culinary tour this morning!
Off to the fish market to choose what we will be eating for our lunch today.
We took a whole bunch of these “scampi” as they call them here. Just like large head on shrimp but with a harder shell more like a crawfish and a bit bigger.
There was so much to choose from, and so many new things that I don’t see in the markets at home. It was very exciting to learn about some of the local seafood and how they prepare it. I also loved how a lot of the seafood is prepared with lots of garlic, olive oil and parsley!!
I chose a nice plump and bright red Scorpionfish, excited to try it, a popular choice among locals here.
This lady was so sweet, she packs all of those jars of anchovies herself. She showed us how she salts them and then how she uses special oil, etc. She let us try them first, nothing like the anchovies you buy in a can that are too salty! These had flavor and meatiness to them, I bought a few jars. I am sure my son Rowan will love these, he started eating anchovies at 2 years old-so an extra jar for him.
The stories about the locals were just as much fun as learning about the fish! This guy has been here every day for 30 something years, the only English he knows is, “the fish is very very fresh” and he was very proud to proclaim it about his offerings.
It took a while but I finally got this gruff monger to smile for the picture.
One of my choices is the local tuna, she is filleting the fish I chose. I had the local tuna sashimi style in Dubrovnik and it was amazing, so I’ll try it grilled with garlic, olive oil and parsley.
Back to the kitchen to drop off our fish choices and then to the green market.
We had some time in between so slowly made it to the market as we stopped along the way to appreciate the beauty of Split.
I love the Austrian influence of this building that was from the Hapsburg rule that occurred after the Venetian rule ended when Venice fell to Napoleon. You feel like you are in Vienna here.
The outer edges of Diocletian’s Palace and one of the four gates that allow entry into the city.
Made it to the green market, another shopping adventure.
We dropped off our vegetables and told them what time we wanted to enjoy lunch. Then off for more exploring.
We ventured out of Diocletian’s Palace to an area higher up with beautiful views of Split and the perfect cafe for a well needed iced coffee.
We worked up a hunger going up all those steps and incline in the heat. Looking forward to lunch and a glass of wine!
Split is a beautiful place.
I found a mini-Stanley in a shop in town. He was so adorable!
The Game of Thrones and Harry Potter Store.
Lunchtime!! Diocletian’s Wine House is a beautiful restaurant right in the palace walls. There’s inside seating with air conditioning and outside seating. Since it was in the nineties today, we opted for inside!
Here is one page of their menu, but we had a custom menu made for us!
Scorpionfish with lemon and seasonal vegetables wrapped in a flaky phyllo packet was probably the best fish dish I’ve ever had in a restaurant!
The grilled local tuna and vegetables was really tasty.
Buzara is a very popular Croatian dish served along the coast. It’s the scampi shrimp I described above with mussels and baby clams. They are cooked in a lot of garlic, wine, olive oil and parsley. There is also a little tomato and fresh breadcrumbs that thicken the sauce. Dipping the fresh made crunchy loaf of bread into the bowl was heaven.
The sad part of the trip, heading to the airport to leave this area of the world that I absolutely adored! So I checked the weather at my next destination…..
Looks chilly to me! 😬
The airport in Split is very small and they are in dire need of an upgrade and expansion. It was crowded and hot and once you went through security, no bar, no seats available and no plugs to charge anything! I did find two plugs that worked but there was a line if people for each! So I sat on the floor and hoped that my three hours would go quickly.
Off to Moscow with a terrible airplane meal, thankfully I was so exhausted I slept most of the almost 4 hours.