April 6th to May 6th 2016

We stayed in the very beautiful and extremely peaceful Kastel Stari, this area is made up of 7 little towns ;-

Kaštel Gomilica
Kaštel Kambelovac
Kaštel Lukšić
Kaštel Novi
Kaštel Stari
Kaštel Sućurac
Kaštel Štafilić

All of these are along a Crystal clear bay, North of Split and South of Trogir.

We were very much looking forward to a quiet time here and that is exactly what we got, our apartment was lovely, hosts very friendly and answered any question we had straight away.

The apartment had 3 bedrooms, always a huge bonus for us, it felt like home instantly.

The walk to the beach, restaurants and cafe’s took about 10 mins and the walk to the supermarket and bakery took about 5 mins.

We mainly ate in as this saves money but we did have a couple of meals in a restaurant called ‘Konoba Intrada‘ that was recommended to us by a very friendly German lady that we got chatting to..

The food in this restaurant was really good, Jacob said that he had one of the best Steaks yet there, plus the atmosphere was special, they had two Guitar players, it wasn’t too loud that you couldn’t hear yourselves speak it was just nice background music.

We had a few favourite cafe’s, one had a great area to just sit and watch out to sea..

Photos around Kastel

In either direction you walk from Kastel Stari you find little cafe’s, and peace and quiet…this whole area is perfect, you are pretty much only a 10 min walk to the next Kastela town.

Day trip to Split

We took the number 37 bus into Split, the journey took us about 30mins.

It was great being back in Split, we picked a lovely sunny day, what sort of surprised us was how quiet it was, the last time we were here it was in October and it was heaving with people, now in April so so quiet…weather still gorgeous, obviously just not tourist time.

We had a good stroll around the old town got to take in all the things we rushed passed last time…strolled along the promenade…stopped in a cafe on the front and had lunch.

There really is something about all that we have seen of Croatia so far that is really special, the old style Croatian buildings made of light sun bleached and age weathered stone with rustic wooden shutters, it all has a real medieval look, and the ocean so crystal clear that it sometimes looks like there is no water there…the pebble beaches, which I have come to love, are so pretty.

Day trip to Trogir

I had read up that Trogir is a must see…so being only 20 mins by bus we had to do a day trip or two.

Trogir is small beautiful medieval town that still retains lots of charm with it’s narrow streets, filled with little shops selling beauty products like home made soap, olive oils and tourist gifts, lots of places to stop for an ice cream or coffee and plenty of restaurants.

Trogir fills a small ‘island’ between the mainland and the island of Ciovo, separated from the mainland by a canal and from Ciovo by a narrow channel, both bridged of course. It’s clearly a mecca for Yachties and there are several Yacht chartering companies set up on the Ciovo side of the sea channel.

The walk along the river to the castle admiring all the yachts parked up on the way is gorgeous, we also walked the other side of the river so we could get photos looking back at all the churches and the castle..

The boys enjoyed playing football with the old forts cracked stone walls returning any wayward goal shots.

Around town and the main square there were people dressed up in medieval clothing, some doing magic tricks, others sold crafts and even had Archery set up. In the evening there was a fire-dancing show.  Not sure how often this all goes on we didn’t see any sign of it on our weekday visit so perhaps it’s only at weekends at least during the off season, glad we visited twice! I can imagine that Trogir get’s very busy in the summer.

Kaštel Gomilica

Kastel Gomilica was founded in 1529 by Benedictine nuns and is one of seven forts in the Kastela area.

We were very keen to take a walk to Kaštel Gomilica, where this middle ages fort had been used as a backdrop for episodes of the  “Game of Thrones” and that feature the city of ‘Bravos”.  This location has been used in the adventures of Arya Stark and her education as a faceless assassin.

We were certainly not disappointed after our 50 min long walk along the coast, what a stunning little town, we were totally out of season and there were only a few locals around so not sure whether this place is busy in summer, I’m sure it is, but it really was tranquil, we had this medieval village pretty much all to ourselves

On the way back we stopped in a restaurant ‘Baletna Skola‘ for dinner..on a table close by were some opera singers, actually singing…it was so beautiful…the food was really good and great value too and the views and setting were perfect..if you are staying close by then I would totally recommend this restaurant…..

Apartment

Airbnb Kaštel Stari – This apartment was really modern, it had 3 bedrooms, good size lounge, dining and kitchen, 1 bathroom.

It had a few balconies, the biggest coming off the lounge, and it had a table and chairs and room for your washing to dry..

Damir always answered E mails straight away, and Ana his sister in law was just up the road, she met us at the apartment, showed us around and was there if we needed, she was very sweet and friendly.  We loved this apartment, it felt like home straight away.

Cost $1231 NZD for 30 nights (Around £574.52 for a month)