Day 5 of the Croatia trip. After indulging in cevapi for dinner and bureks for breakfast it's time for some exercise. A bit of biking and swimming on the island of Čiovo it is for today! 
Cycling the narrow roads of Čiovo..
Goal of the bike ride: this beautiful church on the cliffs above the water, which I would have completely missed out on if not for a great tip I got yesterday from a knowledgeable local. Absolutely stunning, peaceful location.
What a great view.. and not another soul around.
Let's dive in and open this year's swimming season!
Cycling back to Trogir - with a pit stop for coffee and some much needed water.
Some more Trogir impressions.
There are many other areas of Croatia worth visiting too but this one definitely has been great.
Split is of course always worth a visit as well. I have only been once before here, passing through on a big Balkan road trip w friends on a 2nd hand Zastava GT55 (a 'stojka') bought for 400 euro in Bulgaria. Cheaper than a rental and endlessly more fun! Fond memories.
Split is of course best known for Diocletian's Palace, built in the 4th Century for Roman Emperor Diocletian. A palace might not be the best term as it was more of a fortress, of which half was used as personal palace and the rest as military barracks plus other functions.
Best about Split is not the area of Diocletian's Palace, nor the touristy palm-fringed seaside boulevard, but its backstreets. Colourful, full of local life, and with some great restaurants and bars.
Food and wine in Croatia van be as good as in Italy. Pizzeria Portas makes excellent pizzas, and for the best ice cream in Split go to Ela's Icecream & more (the orange and ginger flavour is fantastic). Bonus pics: two local cats. Unfortunately not as many here as in Dubrovnik.
Time to slowly head home. First by taking the IC train to Zagreb. Split's small station is located right next to the harbour with frequent passsenger ferry departures to the islands - as well as Italy I believe.
The two-car carriage looks fine from up front, but wait.. what happened to the rear part where my assigned seat is? An ugly ad pasted over the windows ruining the view!! The railway executives who signed off on this really deserve a special place in hell.
Departing Split. Right after leaving the station the train runs through a tunnel under the city centre.
At first the train runs parallel to the sea, but soon climbs up higher and goes inland proper.
Having moved to the other carriage, at least I'm able to enjoy the fantastic views. As you can see, there are plenty of rock formations where the line runs right through.
One great advantage of this route is that the (single) track is built high up the hillside for most of the line, which means sweeping views over the green countryside.
Arriving at Perković, where a branch line to Šibenik joins the main Zagreb to Split railway.
This really is a scenic line well-worth travelling on. Many Croatians take buses as they are more frequent and faster due to excellent motorways, but you would miss out on most of this. And even when the views are similar, it's just not the same feeling from a bus window.
Approaching Knin, famous for its hilltop castle and nearby waterfalls. There is now only one daily IC service due to trackworks, otherwise you could take the morning train here, look a bit around, and move on with the afternoon train. It saw heavy fighting in the war of '91-'95.
Scenery between Knin and Gracac.
At Gračac the train stops for 10 minutes. It being the Balkans, half the passengers go out to smoke.
After Gračac the scenery changes a bit as the mountains grow taller and the environs more wild, less verdant.
And after the highlands we follow the course of the River Mrežnica to Karlovac - the last stop before Zagreb.
Along the river. FWIW both sides of the train have good views depending on the exact part of the line but if you can opt for left-hand side seat going Split to Zagreb as 65% of the best views are from there (this is one of the exceptions where not, the part right after Knin too)
One thing Croatian Railways does well is having proper seat maps, showing direction of travel and allowing you to select your exact spot when you book online.
Approaching our final stop: Zagreb.
Zagreb Glavni Kolodvor. This night, I'm stretching my budget a bit (partially thanks to Hotels.com great book 10 nights get a night free loyalty programme) by staying in the most historic hotel in town - just a three minute walk away from the station.
Built in 1925 to provide accommodation for passengers of the Orient Express, the Esplanade has tons of history and a great Art Deco interior - a style which I absolutely love (together w Art Nouveau). Even the lift oozes class!
And quite fitting to these days of train travel, my room overlooks the gorgeous railway palace where HŽ, the Croatian Railways, re headquartered.
So let's explore Zagreb a bit more. A great place for coffee is a hiddden bar one floor up in a building overlooking the central square of Trg Ban Jelačić. The sign at the door reads 'club privé' but it's no sex club, but a legit, normally priced bar!
Dolac is the market place where each morning to early afternoon there is a big farmer's market. Empty by the time I arrived with cleaners tidying up some lettuce.leaves on the floor and workers disassembling market stalls.
And on to the upper town where many of the Croatian government buildings are housed.
One of my favourite museums in Europe is the Museum of Broken Relationships as it's so bittersweet. This time the exhibits are rather more on the bitter than on the sweet or funny side, however. Also lots of stories about the recent Balkan wars.
Some more exhibits..
As a point of comparison, the last time I visited they had more of such hilarious items on show with brilliant descriptions.
Evening stroll, passing by some old favourite watering holes (Tolkien's House, Harat's). For good local craft beer, try the brews of 'The Garden'.
Back in the hotel, with a complimentary bottle of red which I somehow got as an extra perk through my lowly silver status on hotels dot com (and a very fine wine that is too!). Signing off for now, one-and-a-half days of train travel back home to follow tmrw morning. Goodnight!
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