What to do when your teenage nephew tells you he is coming on holiday to Split with two mates and you can’t be there?
As my three nephews will gladly tell you, I am a pretty crap uncle. It is not that I planned it that way, but life, distance etc. But we always have a great time when we do meet here in Croatia or back in the UK. But it is not as often as it should be, largely my fault.
The last time young Adam came to stay was in the summer of 2006 as a sprightly 7-year-old. He was a big fan of the apple ice cream at The Office in Jelsa, and so my cool uncle stock rose briefly. And I was very excited when he said he was coming to Split this summer with two friends for a week. Of course we would host him on Hvar, but I also wanted to spend some time showing his Split. Sadly, apart from a quick drink while waiting for the ferry, our time was restricted to his visit to the island. So how could I make up for all those year of crapness without being there?
And then I had an idea. A few weeks ago, I went to check out Split nightlife. As a 49-year-old, my view is going to be different to that of a 19-year-old, but after my night at the ShotGun Shooters Bar at the back of Diocletian’s Palace, I thought this might be just the place. I got in touch with Mia, who runs the bar, and asked if she could look after the three young warriors, and I would pay the bill the next day.
This is my nephew’s account of what happened next…
I came to Split with no real expectation as to what nightlife would be like. It was on the recommendation of my uncle that we ended up in that part of Croatia and I decided to trust him. After floating around for a couple of days experiencing sun, culture and clubs I met up with said uncle for a drink where he gave me an offer. He would send me and my two mates to a bar, where all our drinks would be paid for, by him. As a university student when I’m not studying hard, I can often be found in one of the local clubs or bars, drinking becomes a bit of a way of life. So naturally I was eager to get a cheap night out. We all said yes.
The day of our appointment arrived, and we navigated the streets of Diocletian’s Palace to find a man who could point us in the right direction. Daniel was an American tourist working at Shotgun Shooters while he was traveling Europe. He gave us a flyer for a free shot and led the way. Being quite honest it was the smuggest I’ve felt in a while when I realised I didn’t need it. We walked into what I would describe as a cosy bar. Not big by any means, but that is one of the many strengths of Shooters, it’s very personal. I spoke to one of the owners Mia, working behind the bar, and introduced myself. That’s when one of the best nights of my life began.
One thing that I can’t emphasise enough about our experience was how friendly everybody was. Mia explained a few things about how the bar worked, most importantly, the wheel which was to become one of our best friends for the rest of the night. See Mia told us that with the wide range of shots they serve, it would become tiring having to recommend a drink to everyone that was unsure, so they let a wheel do the talking. All of them have names that would make my mother blush. We span the wheel to decide our first shot of the night and it landed on Dracula’s dick. We checked the list next to the wheel which indicates how strong each shot is and found ourselves starting somewhere in the middle. While I can’t remember what was in the shot, I do remember drinking out of a shot glass made of Ice. We were told we needed to get it down quickly. With our introductions out of the way, Mia fixed us all a weaker drink and we moved out onto the street.
The start of a very long night with our host
I read a couple of the reviews for Shooters before we arrived. There was not a bad word to be said, in fact every review is glowing, but there was one comment that stuck with me “shooters is all about encouraging fun and not pushing the sale”. Given how long we were likely to be spending in there and how much money we might be spending, we were never encouraged to buy more, it was always at our pace. That’s not to say we didn’t make the most of our time there.
A couple more shots later to get us warmed up again, we participated in another of shooters fun filled activities. Known as the glory hole, one of the bartenders will pick a spirit and pour it down a tube for you to drink, all while you are unaware of what it is you are drinking. Some of us I will admit handled it better than others, I myself couldn’t stop coughing as I tried to drink what turned out to be multiple shots all in one go. I was given water as my next drink.
The Glory Hole in action
Given the size of the bar it was impossible not to start chatting with the other people there, we became fast friends with an Australian girl, two Dutchmen and a group of English tourists. Encouraging everyone to take part in the games or suggesting a shot to try. I’ve spent the past year budgeting and buying the cheapest alcohol I could to get me through several nights. In my student experience shots generally aren’t nice. The night for me was a bit of an eyeopener, I tried a few things I didn’t like as to be expected, nobody likes everything. The vast majority of my drinks were honestly far better than I’d hoped, and I’d happily sip on them elsewhere. Sadly, I will likely never see some of them again until I return to Split with a number of shots mixed from local herbs. The Leg Spreader was my personal favourite. Up next for us all was a shot lit on fire, turns out if you do it right you can lift it up with the palm of your hand, no prizes if you guessed that I screwed it up.
The best game of the night was one that is normally quite high stakes, thankfully Mia let us play for fun. One person tosses 6 rings at a penis strapped to his friend’s forehead, get enough on and you win a round of shots for everyone in the bar, lose and you have to buy everyone a round. Since we were playing for fun we had lots of people come up to us and ask to try and get one of the rings on my head, some were better than others, but as had been the case all night, we made more friends.
As you can see I was having the time of my life playing
The number of people in the bar ebbed and flowed throughout the night, but even when there were only a couple of people there, the bar staff were always up for a chat. Daniel returned, and we began to have a few drinks with him and another girl behind the bar Ivana. The night wore on but at no point did we plan on leaving, we were having the time of our lives in Shooters and making fast friends with Daniel, Ivana and Mia. Several Bye Bye Brains and a message written on the wall later though, we got to closing time and while the walk home is somewhat fuzzy, I knew we had to return.
We came back three more times to Shooters. The first to nurse our hangovers with one of the excellent custom smoothies they serve during the day. The second time was to say thank you for such a wonderful experience. The third time we were ready for round two. Sadly, this time we were paying for our own drinks, no more tab being covered for us. Did that stop us having a great time? Absolutely not, in fact we started buying shots for our new friends behind the bar, the 6 of us had a great night, so good in fact that me and my mates asked Daniel (who had spent the previous day exploring the city with us) and Ivana if they wanted to go clubbing. Fast forward to 5am and we were saying goodbye to friends for life.
Our Attempt to get a group picture in the sea before we went into the club
So, would I recommend shooters? With my whole heart yes. For the rest of our time in Split we were telling anyone that would listen that they just had to check out Shotgun Shooters. I’ve been to many clubs and bars in my time. I’ve visited upmarket clubs in West London and spent far too much time in the dives of my own hometown, but never have I been anywhere like Shooters. Even if you disregarded the wide range of drinks and activities, the staff alone make it well worth the visit, they’ll make you feel unbelievably welcome and it’s the perfect place to meet new friends. I am yet to read a bad review anywhere, and I doubt I ever will. Thank you again to Mia, Daniel and Ivana for giving us a night that I won’t ever be able to forget.
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