Marjan Forest Park Part I

I can imagine that there will be a number of posts with photos of the Marjan Forest Park as these were just the first photos that I took of many.  Nikola - who we rented the studio from - told us on our first day that the park was mostly used by locals rather than tourists and we were surprised to find that it was true. Especially as if you look on a map at Split - the park takes up the whole of the west side of the Peninsula! In fact it was one of the main reasons that we wanted to go.

A lot of tourists in Split are missing out on an amazing place to visit don't you think?

Location:  Marjan Forest Park, Split, Croatia
Camera: Refurbished LC-A
Film: Agfa Vista 200

Around our studio apartment...

Although we researched where we were going to stay fairly well, we were still surprised by how great the location we had for our studio* was. Located between the Old Town and the Marjan Forest Park, we wound around the tiny streets of Split every day and I loved all the little details we saw.

I particularly loved the fish mural, the terracotta roofs and I may have quite a few more photos of palm trees still to share too - I didn't quite get over the novelty of those haha.

Camera: Refurbished LC-A
Film: Agfa Vista 200
Location: Split, Croatia

*We stayed here in Studio Apartment 1 if you're interested - Thomas and I would both recommend it if you're considering Split as a destination and Nikola - our host was amazing and very friendly.

The first Split photos...

I'm so excited about having photos to share already. Split was beautiful and along with our Berwick holiday earlier this year, it was easily the most inspired I've felt for taking photos in a long time.

Again, I didn't know where to start with posting them, so I've started with the first roll of film I took and although these aren't the first photos, they are of one of my favourite parts of Split - Diocletian's Palace.

I was expecting to be blown away by the palace - its not very often you walk around a place where the walls are 1700 (give or take) years old and I have never seen Roman ruins outside of the UK. The palace is also the world's most complete remains of a Roman palace as well - it was going to be amazing and it was. We walked around the palace a lot, we had drinks in there, we ate food in there, we bought souvenirs in there - it definitely did not disappoint.

p.s. The statue is Gregory of Nin by Ivan Mestrovic and we now have a minature version of him on our souvernir shelf (you can see it here) I love it! 

Camera: Refurb LC-A
Film: Agfa Vista 200
Location: Split, Croatia

Hello, Hello!

I'm back from my half planned, half unplanned blog break. The first part was very unplanned, but the last week, Thomas and I spent in Split, Croatia so that was definitely planned. Overall though, I'm glad I took some time away from here and the internet last week too, I feel refreshed! 

I can't wait to share everything about our week away and I am picking my film photos up later today though... I'm so excited about that!!  First, like I did with Paris, I want to put together a little list of things I don't want to forget about Split, so here goes...

1. All the public toilets had cute little keys in the doors rather than the ugly plastic locks we have here now.
   
2. Cats! There were so many cats around, even in the Roman palace basement, it was fun to see where they would pop up next.
   
3. The bugs in Split are noisy! I had no clue so I originally thought they were birds, but I did a bit of research when we got back and they were cicadas (and they sound like this).
4. All the windows had shutters on them. They looked great and I particularly liked opening the ones in our studio every morning. 
5. There was a massive storm one night. I love storms! The lightning flashed throughout the rooms and the thunder kept me up, it was perfect.
   
6. My first impressions of Split that it was so light and colourful. Everything in the UK seems mostly green and grey, but Croatia is shades of oranges, reds, creams and yellow. I loved it. In fact, I didn't even use the black and white film I took with me as I wanted to capture all the colours I could.
   
7. I will never get bored of Roman or Egyptian artefacts! There was a sphinx in the palace square, a real sphinx (there were more but they got vandalised, so only one is fully intact now)
   
8. Croatian beer is tasty and for £2 a pint, a bargain.
   
9. You could also get dalmatian ham! It's not dog meat, don't worry. Split is in an area of Croatia called Dalmatia and it is a dry cured ham like Prosciutto but saltier and it was delicious. I ate it whenever I could (which was a lot)
10. Also, as we're talking food - the pastries, oh my! I have a huge weakness for pastry and we had baklava, meat pastries, cheese pastries... and they were all so good.  Also, the cevapi, the local olives and cheese were so good. We ate so well that week!
    
11. I loved that the city was surrounded by mountains - even across the sea you could see the islands which weren't flat either, so there was always an amazing view which ever way you looked.
    
12. Croatian art is beautiful, I was particularly taken with the work of Ivan Meštrović, who made the massive sculpture near the palace, and I absolutely loved his gallery and adjoining church.
    
13. The sunshine seemed so much brighter and more intense in Croatia - in a good way, like you could soak up more energy, more light, more everything from it. I miss that already. 
14. Froggyland. This has to be seen to be believed I think, so I'll definitely write a post about it - but I will say it was the most bizarre and yet fascinating exhibition I've seen.
    
15. The sea. It was so blue, so clear, so sparkly and warm too. Perfect.