The long layover
When I booked my outbound flight, I knew I had a long layover at Helsinki. Rather than spend 7 hours at the airport, I had made plans to take the 30-minute train that goes from the airport into central Helsinki. For me, walking and staying active is the best way to fight off jet lag. Unfortunately, the weather did not cooperate with my plan. The weather in Helsinki on my arrival day was rain, with the wind at 20 to 30 mph. On our approach to Helsinki airport, the captain described the weather as a typical Finnish autumn day. That was not going to be much fun in those conditions. Instead of spending the day in Helsinki as I planned, I spent a long time in the Finnair lounge at the airport, trying to stay awake. Not the most fun part of the trip, but I survived, and eventually boarded my flight to Split.
Arrival in Croatia
I arrived at the Split airport on a Wednesday evening, two days before the group tour started. I liked the idea of having a couple of days on my own to recover from jet lag a bit before starting the hectic pace of a group tour. Although my tour started in Split, I noticed a town called Trogir was much closer to the airport than the city of Split. Trogir seemed like a good choice to work off my jet lag. I stayed at a family owned and managed hotel right in the center of the old town in a pedestrian-only zone. The owner met me at the airport with my name on a sign at the arrivals hall. He drove me to the edge of the old town, where his wife was waiting at the curb and escorted me on the two-minute walk to the hotel. Amazingly, the charge for this service was only €20.
Trogir was fascinating. The old town is basically an island of less than one square mile. There is a labyrinth of narrow pedestrian-only passageways. The entire island is a UNESCO heritage site. The town is full of restaurants, hotels, shops, museums, coffee bars, old fortresses and at least 10 churches. The locals were all very friendly and spoke English reasonably well. The city has ancient Greek roots, but mostly flourished during Venetian rule starting in the mid-1400s. My hotel was a few steps away from St. Lawrence’s Cathedral, built over several centuries and finished in the 1600s. I had an interesting walk up the bell tower of the church (not ADA compliant!) and was rewarded with some tremendous views.
On Friday morning, I checked out of my hotel at 10:45 and walked five minutes to the Trogir bus station. A bus departs every 20 minutes for Split. I took the 11:00am bus. The fare was only €2. The bus station I arrived at in Split was an easy 7-minute walk to the hotel in Split where I would be for two nights for the start of the group tour.
Leave a Reply