It continued to rain heavily throughout the night but thankfully it had stopped by morning. Teresa cooked herself brekki and we each braved the tiny shower before heading out for the day. The cafe that Irene told us would be open at 9am for our included “breakfast” of coffee and a croissant was closed still at 9:30 so we skipped that part and went wandering around some more of the palace grounds. The contrast of old ruins among newer buildings makes for interesting scenery, although there are obviously constant restorations underway.  

   
 
  

  

  

  
Irene had organised for us to have a free “Split Card” (for anyone if they spend 3 or more nights in Split) which gave us either free or discounted access into a variety of museums and historical buildings. 

  
  
  
We used this to access the palace Mausoleum and then the “basement” which is the underground part of the palace, full of different rooms and hallways made of stone, quite complex and amazing. 

   
 There are markets in the middle of the basement, the part that is free for all people to access. These are selling various trinkets, plants and pottery. We have also noticed that there are several cats that just wander the paths of the palace who don’t seem to belong to anyone but appear healthy, well-fed and are relaxed and friendly. 

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
Irene had recommended that we take a day trip out to one of the islands so we went and enquired at the ferry terminal and found that the only island we could access today was Brač. We bought two tickets for 56HRK and boarded the enormous ferry…probably the largest boat either of us has ever been on. As the ferry made its way across to the island the scenery of the mountains was quite spectacular.

  
  
  
  
 There are many villages dotted along the coastline. The ride across took about an hour and was smooth and comfortable, made even more so by the fact that we could purchase coffee and beer on the boat. The town that we berthed at was called Supetar which is a lovely little seaside village that is obviously a very popular tourist spot in Summer, judging by the amount of bars, restaurants and beachside activities ….all now closed for the winter.

   
 
   
  

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

There were quite a few cats just hanging around this island too. A handful of places were open and we found a cute little restaurant for lunch. We were one of two tables in the entire place which gave off an authentic family restaurant atmosphere. Teresa ordered a risotto with prawns and Michele had spaghetti bolognaise. 

  
  
  
  
Both meals were hot, fresh and delicious! Even the extra Parmesan cheese was served as a wedge with a grater. 

  
The service by a friendly male waiter was fantastic, needless to say we really enjoyed our lunch here! We just forgot to take a picture of the name of the restaurant 😦

  
  
We had been told when purchasing our ferry tickets that the boats back to the mainland would leave at 3, 6 and 8pm so we had another walk around and then went to board the awaiting ferry at about 2:20pm… early just to be on the safe side! When we gave the man our tickets he informed us that they were just the receipt part of our one-way tickets and we would have to purchase another ticket to go back to the mainland. Lucky we had tried to board early! We walked the 250metres back to the ticket office and bought our tickets, having a little laugh with the lady about our mistake, and then started walking back to the ferry only to see the boat pulling away from the wharf! Aghhh! There really wasn’t enough to do on the island to laud away another 3 hours (except of course, drink)! 

 

 
  

We walked back to the ticket office and thankfully the lady assured us that we had been misinformed and the next boat would be in an hour, at 3:30pm …phew! So we found a cafe with wifi…Cafe Barbara took our fancy for some reason… and had a coffee and a beer while waiting for the next ferry, which we made in time! We chose the opposite side to what we came over on and were treated to even more beautiful scenery of the mountains.   

 

 

We regrouped back at our apartment to add a blog post and have a small break before dinner. Finding a suitable place to eat proved a little challenging, there were lots of caffe/bars available but very few restaurants open.   

There are a lot of pizza and fast food places to cater for the afternoon shoppers (shops seem to stay open later here) but we wanted something a little more cosy, with table service. We ended up back at Mazzgoon…. not reluctantly though. We were greeted with recognition and waves from the chefs in the open kitchen and Teresa was happy that she could order the mussels that she envied so much last night. Michele ordered beef cheeks and wild mushrooms in puff pastry….this once again did not disappoint! 

 
 
    
Very artistically presented and delicious! 

A FaceTime with Scott completed our day and then it was time for bed. Tomorrow we have our final hair appointments for the holiday, followed by some souvenir shopping at the markets. Until then, dobra noč!