As we were taking photos of this odd-placed structure, a couple of German tourists tried to use it and got a bit of a surprise.
Split, and it’s Riva especially, are the site for many tourist photos, selfies and memorable videos and the Tourist Board of Split, in the attempt to improve the availability of the useful tourist information, decided Riva would be a great location for an info stand, a structure we noticed on March 24, 2016.
While it is very commendable that the Tourist Board is stepping up its game to make visitors even more welcome, but a little more thought could have gone into the actual location of this contraption and its functionality. At the moment, this interactive info point is in the middle of the square where an old Bajamonti fountain used to be, the one a lot of locals would still like to see refurbished to its former glory because it would make an already postcard-worthy location even more attractive.
Instead of that, a big screen info point emerged there, and significant part of it is used as a billboard. It raises questions for the city authorities because one cannot understand how is it possible to ruin such an attractive site by placing an object that, as far as design is concerned, does not belong there.
As we were taking photos this morning, two tourists from Frankfurt, Germany, actually tried to use the touch screen, and then the real fun began. They were staring at the first screen for quite a time and we realized it is not functional. We tried the second screen, and low and behold, it showed signs of life but a Tic Tac Toe game appeared on the screen and to get to the part where you can select the language in which you would like the information to be shown, our new friends from Frankfurt had to play the game all the way to the end.
His play ended in a draw vs. the computer, and finally, he was able to enter the German section and got some info. As we talked to them, they said that it looks quite odd and inappropriate, but as they pointed out, they are already used to it since they’ve used it a few times since they arrived in Split.
