Split

The cruise's second destination was Split in Croatia.

I rather liked Split. Its creamy, ancient limestone buildings are normally festooned with weeds growing in cracks and joints, but at this time of year those weeds show themselves to be wildflowers, and the buildings become peppered with snapdragons and daisies. At the same time, the limestone pavements have been worn over the centuries to a glossy shine. It looks like a fantasy world, which explains why Game of Thrones is filmed here.

I had coffee in a cafe which met my three criteria: it had wifi, it took credit cards, and it was happy to sell me a $3 cappuccino and then ignore me for an hour while I checked my messages, updated my Instagram, read the news and generally reconnected with the world.

Then, since it was Easter Sunday, I tried to visit the cathedral so that I could stop a moment to reflect on the Resurrection. However, Split was having none of that: the cathedral had a bouncer, who politely but firmly explained, to a fresh tourist every 20 seconds or so, that the cathedral was only open to locals today. I was disappointed but I appreciated their perspective - if you want to worship God on the holiest day on the Christian calendar, the last thing you need is having a party of Chinese tourists elbowing you out of the way so that they can take their selfies with the altar.

So instead, I climbed to the top of Marjan Hill, a huge public park just outside the Old Town. There were awesome views back over Split, out over the Adriatic, and off to the mountains.

After I walked back down into the city, Benny and I had a beer in a back alley expat bar, which eventually turned out to be a free beer when their credit card machine refused to work.

Hooray for Split!