As every student of Croatian history worth their salt will know, the old town of Split sits within the walls of 4th Century Roman emperor Diocletian’s reign. But don’t worry if you were smoking behind the bike sheds when that lesson was going on, for the city’s colourful past is writ large on the walls of the Goli & Bosi hostel so you can catch up in no time.
In fact while the exterior of the building is pleasingly classical, the hostel interior, complete with crib notes, is anything but old-fashioned. The owners have created, they say, a cross between a Japanese capsule hotel and a commercial department store, and the result is something we can certainly buy into. An escalator beats lugging your bags up the stairs all day long.
It won’t have escaped the keen-eyed among you that the colour scheme is very yellow, and this is again a nod to the past; Split was once famous for its sulphurous baths. But this hostel is not all bananas in pyjamas, as the ultra-modern black and white dining area attests to. Hope someone on the payroll knows how to change a lightbulb.
