So, after yesterdays trip to Rijeka I was a bit concerned that maybe Croatia wasn’t for me. I had found Rijeka a bit depressing and washed out

Today we arrived in Split. Well, clearly thinking Rijeka is indicative of the rest of Croatia is like people thinking Cleveland represents all the cities of the States ( sorry Anne Russell)

Split is beautiful. Vibrant, Historic and just plain striking . As we often do when we travel we try and book a private food tour with a local guide/chef who walks us around a city and we sample local specialties. We did that today and it was great ! Led by Lea we started our day at the local market. I love a market and this one was great

The market is open 6 days a week and it’s jammed packed with every kind of food vendor . Here, unlike so many places they want you to sample the goods and are downright insulted if you don’t.

So, I ended up snacking on fresh strawberries, fresh cherries, several cheeses , various sausages, homemade schnapps, sopranik, more cheese and even some anchovies.

Then of course there was gelato and pastry and it all ended with a wine tasting. Fun fact apparently the grape used to make Zinfandel came from Croatia ..they even have the DNA to prove it … you’ll have to read part two to hear that story .