First full day in Croatia, my first order of business was to go down to Paradiso and leave a key with Igor for one of the other reps that is coming to join me in the apartment. I ended up staying for a coffee and a chat for about an hour. We talked about why I didn't want to live in Australia, what had attracted me to Croatia and about what life is like here. It was so nice to make a friend on my first day here. I'd been working in Russia for nearly a year and a half and had really only made friends with Helen, our Kremlin guide and Valera and Costa which was really a one time thing and Nicholai of course, but no one I could really sit down and have a beer and a chat with.

I left Paradiso to go back to the apartment to wait for Grant, the company director who was arriving at 11am, there was only one spare key so I stayed to let him in. After Grant arrived I went out exploring, my first stop was Diocletian's palace. I paid forty kuna to go into the basement chambers and wandered around for about half an hour, I was intrigued by the Egyptian Sphinx and the beehive domes, borrowed straight from Mycenaean Greece and as always while walking through an ancient building I was reminded of what I perhaps should be doing instead of tour leading and that archaeology seems to be getting further and further away.

I resurfaced from the basement and went into the halls, which were just full of souvenir shops, coming out into the main square, which was full of cafes. The arches and bell tower were still never the less impressive and it was amazing to see some ruins after so long. I think what amazed me so much about the palace, is that people are still living in it! I'm not sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing that this building is still in use….I remember seeing Lycian tombs being used as a common wall in Turkey and thinking it was kind of cool, but yeah, Diocletian's place? Not sure about that one.

I left the palace with the intention of looking at the pier where the Med Experience boats will be docking, but realise I didn't know who the contact was, so I abandoned that project in favour of first getting an ice cream and then sitting in a café with a burger and chips with mayo and people watching.

I went back to the flat when it started raining in favour of getting a bit of work done, and then watching some TV. As the sun went down the bell in the Tower started ringing and as I looked over the red rooves outside my window, swallows flew in all directions scared by the noise. I sat in the window, looking at the truely magical scene which I can now almost take for granted.

At about 8pm I emerged from my room and Grant asked if I wanted to go to dinner to check out the new restaurant..which we would have to find first. I had already found it during the days scouting, so I led the way. The food was amazing, I had a Zagreb steak, which was crambed, fried and had ham and cheese in the middle, along with a side of fried mushrooms. After dinner Grant and I walked back to the flat, chatting about Egyptian Nile cruises and how they would suit Sail Croatia clients. When we got home, I went to bed and slipped, immediatedly into a massive food coma.