I remember playing with LEGO as a kid.  A lot.  I loved to create planes and spaceships because then you could run around the house waving them in the air as they ‘flew’.  And given how many towers I made, I doubt it was a surprise that I eventually studied both engineering and architecture.  I am captivated by how things are built: bridges, buildings, planes, ships. You know, the big things you can see and touch, like real life LEGO.

Here in Split, we had an opportunity to see the inner workings of the biggest shipyard in Croatia.  So I jumped at the chance! (Well, for those who read the post about the islands, you know that I had a boot on my foot, so don’t take the ‘jump’ part literally.)

Here are 7 reasons to take the tour:

1. You get to see every step behind the scenes of how raw sheets of steel become a sophisticated floating machine.
2. You get to wear a hard hat.
3. You get to watch huge magnets, mobile platforms, and lots of cranes –  like your sandbox come to life.
4. You get to see, in action, a massive steel bending machine (and I mean it fills a warehouse!) that was built by the Germans, and arrived as part of World War II reparations. 
5. You get to see, hear, and smell the welding of steel (which signals for me that something big is coming together!  And makes me yearn for more time on construction sites again.)
6. You might get a chance to tour the inside of a high-end yacht or charter sailboat, and imagine your own Below Deck Mediterranean episode.
7. You might get access to their full collection of incredibly detailed models of the ships they’ve built, and admire the range of oil tankers, orange juice tankers, navy ships, ice breakers, ferries, and sailboats – and wonder if those model-makers ever had to unglue their fingers.

The name of the shipyard is Brodosplit.  They’ve had a storied history, back to when a few local ship repair shops consolidated around 1922.  Yes, we visited an industry about to celebrate 100 years in service!  That covers a world war, various dramatic political changes and conflicts in the region, and lots of recent business competition from China.  Becoming familiar with a century of ship building in Split was a fascinating way to reinforce my understanding of the history of Split itself.  They are both continually adapting, with a lot of pride in what they’ve accomplished. 

Recently LEGO figured out how to make the Star Wars Millennium Falcon spaceship, with 7,541 pieces for family and friends to build together. Brodosplit has figured out how to make award-winning ships with many thousands of steel pieces, from the largest outer plates to the smallest stiffeners, all perfectly cut and individually labeled. I imagine both, the LEGO ship and the steel ship, inspire the same joyful grins with the thrill of the maiden launch!