Split

They have an interesting approach to punctuality in Croatia. By that I mean they don't seem to have one. Our bus from Novalja to Split was 45 minutes late arriving, and when it did turn up it took five and a half hours to reach its destination rather than the scheduled three. No apology was offered for this.

It wasn't that we were caught in traffic or anything. The main cause of the delay seemed to be that this long distance coach journey was doubling up as a local bus service - stopping in every single town imaginable between Novalja and Split, picking people up and dropping people off at places that weren't even bus stops. The scenery was amazing, but we would have all rather been in Split sampling the views there rather than staring out of a coach window.

Probably the most amusing part of the journey was the perverted ticket inspector. Sat on the seats in front of Rosh and myself was an admittedly extremely attractive young woman, sporting what I have heard others describe as 'a decent pair'. The inspector wasted no plausible opportunity to keep approaching this girl - checking tickets, searching for 'lost property' under her seat and so on. Eventually he just gave up with the excuses and sat down next to her and started chatting her up. Funnily enough, she didn't seem up for it, but he'd probably stored up enough in his head to make what he was obviously going to do when he got off the bus worthwhile...

We got to Split at around 8pm, which was a real shame as we were only staying one night and I wanted us to experience much more of this corking city. Split reminds me very much of Barcelona. It is a port with gritty outskirts and a wonderful old town. A lot of people just pass through here en route from the airport to the islands, but it is well worth stopping for a while.

After dumping our stuff we headed to a restaurant in the old town serving traditional Dalmatian grub. The food, the wine and the surroundings were simply outstanding. I do not posses the vocabulary to do it justice. Truly wonderful.

We had a couple of drinks outside a lively bar, but by now Rosh and I in particular were feeling pretty tired so we decided to call it a night and head back to our apartment. When we got back, Matt decided he wanted to go for 'a walk'. I asked him to buy me some water and retired to bed not thinking much more about it.

He came home five hours later. What started as a walk turned into a bar crawl. And he didn't buy my bloody water.

We nearly missed the 10.30am boat to Hvar, but made it on board just in time. Rosh humiliated me at Connect 4 on my iPad. When it got to 7-3 I snatched it off him, put in my bag and went to the bar and ordered a beer.