Our next stop carried on into the fringes of Eastern Europe, in Zagreb the capital of Croatia is where we made our first stop. The accomodation was very different compared to past hotels or hostels as we had a flat in a villa which was self contained, included all facilities and on first appearances it seemed great! Zagreb overall was probably the least exciting destination but saying that it was rather relaxing, we spent alot of time walking around much like in the other cities but found there to be less attractions, either that or we just couldn't find them! However, we did visit an art gallery of what I believe was contemporary art but having searched online I'm still not sure of the name. One place I am sure of the name is the Croatian Museum of Naive Art, a pleasant enough collection of art but a not so pleasant curator who criticized our lack of Croatian language skills! We also ventured into the Natural History Museum to wander down halls filled with taxidermy followed by a walk round the Botanical Gardens, encountering some kind of mysterious giant pale turtle barging around in the pond, but I think if properly planned a trip to Zagreb would be much more eventful than ours! During the time we spent in the villa itself, we watched much Murder She Wrote (with Croatian subtitles, the best way to watch it of course) and drank some kind of flavoured spirits with a series of own cooked meals. We did make a habit of walking around as much as we could, throughout both the old town and the new town, meandering around various streets and shops with a visit to a Croatian church too. When we did actually attempt to make use of public transport, we ended up being thrown off a tram due to ticket confusion! However, we still managed to make it outside the city centre to enjoy some sunbathing by a river on the outskirts. 
As we made our way to the city of Split, situated on the Dalmation coast, we enjoyed the Croatian landscape and at that point were very ready to be moving on. Since our hostel trouble or lack there of in Ljubljana, we learnt to book ahead and luckily ended up in a great little hostel right in the centre of the city, not only that but it was inside the Diocletian's Palace which is the oldest and most beautfiul architecture in Split. Chris and I shared a room and the girls had another down the hall, the hostel was small but well kept and as I said the location was brillant! Despite one day of heavy rain, we enjoyed some very high temperatures during our week long stay and walking along the coast in the afternoon always provided some very picturesque sights. We went for a swim on one occasion but I ripped my shorts in a very inconvenient place, so had to walk back through the town in a towel! Another dilemma took place on Marjan hill which is the densely wooded park that overlooks the city and it was here that I lost my wallet leading to me cancelling my cards, not ideal! Despite that, I really enjoyed our stay which included a visit to the slightly unstable church tower within the palace, a tour around the basements of the palace which features a market place, a day trip to the out of season town of Supetar on the nearby Brac Island and general wandering around the ideallic surroundings. There was also some kind of boat festival on at the time, which would have been great if we were interested in boats though it did bring even more life into the promenades!
Images by K.L.V.
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