The next morning mere and I were up pretty early, but unfortunately not early enough to catch the sun :( it was overcast and suppose to rain, of course. We had some breakfast out on the veranda and got dressed with hopes of hitting the beach later.. When we got to the bus station, we decided it would be cheaper to rent a scooter to explore brac than to simply take a bus to the other side, and besides, we'd prolly be headin over there the next day so we didn't haveta go back to split to catch another ferry. So we dropped the bus idea, inquired about a scooter, and after convincing by the people that we shouldn't take on a scooter with 3 people the first time in the rain, we ended up renting a car... The only automatic car they had was this little squished almost van like car, and to prove the damage that was already there we just took pictures with our camera.. Duh! I couldve managed he manual, but we voted the €10 upgrade due to the weather and the crazy Croatian circumstances we might encounter.. Better just keep it simple. And so we took off in our car.. Mere drove 2 blocks and then I took over.. Our "auto" van was a tip-tronic that didn't shif gears at all, the tirs were flat and we realized the "almost" full tank we started with was actually barely halfway full. So After 10 Minsk of rental, we brouht the car back and told them we didn't want anything more to do with the crazy car and they said, ok! And gave us a full refund. Sweet! But now we would haveta wait over an hour for the next bus or hang out in supetar all day.. So we looked at a map and guesstimated the closest next town we could get to by foot.. Splitska, with the roman ancient ruins. Sounds like a peffect day activity. So down the road we went, we walked for almost two hours on the shoulderless road stopping to look at the gorgeous water, pick random fruit, and wander down little paths and around crazy piles of stones and stone walls. Large raindrops occasionally fell from the sky, but nothing to threatening to our day. O! And we stopped at a Kozums .. The Croatian word for supermarket.. Less than exciting I know, but we've seen signs eveywhere for it so it was cool to find one in the middle of nowhere brac. Finally we made it to splitska.. Where crazy machines were tearing up the road to the ruins, and so we gathered that they were closed, and couldn't find another road up the hill. The town was so incredibly dead, it's hard to believe there's anyone even there in the high season. So we stopped for a swim/pee.. There wasn't a single place open to visit, so I'm glad we had packed some lunch eat and enjoy watching all the little fishes swimming around. We got back in an hour or so, and then headed on a wild goose hunt to find the hostel so we could get a hold of some Internet! We hung out fir a bit with the few other lone soldiers in lively supetar.. There wasn't really anywhere to go in the rain. During that time I booked a flight home.. O gosh. I'm really coming home! A month sooner than hoped, but my wallet and empty bank account will thank me later :) I'll be back nov 10! After our crazy hunt to get to the hostel around winding staircases and building ruins and random open fields that you couldn't get across, we figured out we were very close to zeldas... And so we got back and cooked up some more of the food we had.. It was pretty good for a haphazard stirfry. Night came quickly, and so did Zelda and her wine.. If it was possible hers was worse than our 11 kuna bottle (just over 2 bucks) maybe it was the refridgerated red wine in the oversized plastic bottle.. I dunno.. O but all her tourists love her wine so we smiled and had a little glass with her. More stories of her crazy life and life on the little island of brac came out as we, well mere and I, fell sleepy and headed to bed.
The next morning we packed up our bags that had managed to sprawl over our three room apartment pretty darn well over 2 nights and caught that bus at 10:20 to Bol.. Apparently where it's at on brac. It was a much more beautiful day, although pretty windy, and hence we thought we'd wait out the wind on the beach in bol over catching the morning ferry to split, and then Another to a different island. Bol turned out to be a great move, zlatni rat is kinda a bit amazing.
Although still no sand beaches, the clear sky, clear water, and white pebbled small peninsula beaches were quite the sight to see and enjoy. We walked around the little town of bol for a bit, and sat on a tiny beach for a while sifting through rocks and pieces of roof tile and sea glass. After a bit of sunbaking just sitting there, we went to go find this magical beach of the other side of brac.. And for a seven dollar bus ride it better be worth it! Well, like I said, it totally was, and finding the less windly eastern? Shore meant great sun to catch up on soMe rest on :)
beautiful! Wonderful! And the naked ppl weren't even crowding the place because they had their own beach next door. We left a little earlier than we wanted to because the info lady who we stored our backpacks with scared us into believing that the katamaran might not come today cuz of the wind... How small was this boat? Had she seen the swells in Thailand they took us out in!? But the new lady at the desk convinced everything was ok,so we chilled with another 5 kuna ice cream cone and waited for our boat playing all the time wasting games we could think of for the hour. (the ticket sales were also 15 mins before the boat, not 50 like we were told.. Not to mention, they were actually just on the boat and not in the little box at all) but anywho, the boat came, we decided to get on it and headed to jelsa on the island of hvar. 11 kuna and 20 mins later, we found ourselves in the next paradise lined with little white stoned buildings and red clay roofs. Jelsa was less than happening as slightly expected, so we looked around for the bus to hvar town, the place to be on Croatia, next to dubrovinik. Well the buses stopped at noon, so we could with the little man taggin at our shorts to sleep at his apparment for 150 kuna, or we could risk our chances with the 250 cab ride.. We dwindled around long enough for the locals to get in a bicker, and this girl offered us a place for 80 kuna a person and a 100 kuna cab ride... Well the bus the next day for all of us wouldve ended up costing even more, and we decided it was best to get where we wanted to go, so we took her offer and little antonio stomped away in a fury before we really even fully turned him down. So the angry cab man took us for 100 instead of 250.. Clearly not happy, but I guess his friend, the lady we were goin to stay with, would pay him the rest. So we took the pretty coastal drive to hvar town and watched to sunset over the Adriatic sea between the islands. Our little room was special.. Def not as spacious as zeldas for nearly twice the price, and mine and Merediths bed was two matresses squeezed together with this cover balancing on one box spring. We headed down our 97 steps, or was it 99 or 98? Well never get a consensus.. We stopped at the supermarket to load up the food bag.. The food in it def goes faster for 3 ppl than just myself.. Then we cooked up some spaghetti and veggies before headin back down to the square to see what all the commotion that was beginning to stir was all about. We came across some traditional Croatian dancing, we think.. We found out that it was st stephens day, and as the protector of hvar island, it was like a big local holiday. We walked around the marina, nothing too big or exciting, but the little old town, still mostly within the old stone wall, was so so cute. And the town had a special vibe that night.. I'm really glad we chose to go into town. I think we more or less met the whole town, well at least observed them all. There was the town drunk, the town cop keepin him in line, the few families, the young teenagers, the preteens, the local band, maybe they're big in all of Croatia? One dude was from chile.. It was a big deal. So after the traditional dance on stage all set up in the town center, and the one hour bob marley intermission, the band came on and every single person in the town started to crowd the square, singing every word to every song... Dancin and just havin a great time. It really didn't matter if you were 7, 17 or 67... If you were there, you were singin.. We kinda joined in.. Makin up our own chorus words that sounded about right in the screaming crowd, and moved and grooved with the Congo line of kids and the old people bobbin along to the almost reggae, happy uplifting tunes.
After an hour an a half of dancin, this crazy old dude got on stage, and started talkin to the crowd, cigarette in hand of course... Havin to stop mid sentence for a quick puff. We decided he was the mayor, until he started singin with the band, and then the band changed, and he kept singin... Both bands were quite the collection of age ranges and styles.. Guess that's what makes a band in Croatia. More ppl crowded in for the second band, with more young singin and yellin voices.. The crazy drunk dancin his life away in the corner had been taken away by now tho. O gosh. They went all night. Mere and I headed to bed around midnight in the deserted end of town near the church.. A whole 20 meters from the square.
The next morning the bells went off for wake up call, get ready to leave the house, and church is starting right now.. Some of the loudest bells ever.. And they def didn't miss a 30 min marker. We kinda wanted to go, but the mass was 2 hours, and the one we walked by the night before sounded like the ppl were getting yelled at... In Croatian... A tad bit intimidating. After mere went for her usual run, we ate breakfast outside together and waited for Andrew to get up. I keep thinking I'll run tomorrow, I'm due for my once a month run now. We got dressed for the beach and headed on a journey to the fortress at the top of the hill.. It's what we usually do in every town. A few wrong turns up the narrow steps and tiny streets were exciting.. None of it really seems real in a way.. It's kinda like Disneyland or something.. Except these walls and buildings are actually old.. Some of the oldest bricks dating back to the first century b.c. Crazy. We got to the top with the locked door.. Bummer guess they don't want us in.. So even though the view was amazingly spectacular, we weren't satisfied until we had to turn the fortress entrance down instead of letting it turn us down for entry. So we hiked a bit more, I slipped up the slope a bit more, definitely not one of my best days.. I was starting to get sick and I haven't had my standard haphazard day in a while. But we made it just fine, and after negotiations with the entrance man, we got a 3 for 2 deal and decided it was finally time to enter a castle.. Or fortress.. The big walled establishment on the hill. All the same! So we went and enjoyed the beautiful beautiful clear day in which the sea sparkled and shined brillant blues between the green pine tree dotted islands in the bay. Kinda just another castle to me.. Although the top area would be the best place ever to have a party.. The couple on their honeymoon agreed. We went and visited the prision on the way out.. Well I slid down the whole prison staircase actually.. Just to add to the day.. It was so tiny, but those prisioners had the best view ever!
We scoped out a good beach from the top of the fortress and headed to it for a nice long relaxing afternoon on the beach :) all the beaches are a bit rocky unfortunately, but once you get used to it, you can barely even feel them until you try to get up! The water was amazing still, so crystal clear to the bottom for ages.. it probably can't be that nice with sand actually, which is a bummer.. If you know where that beach is.. Please let me know! So we got some nice tans, Andrew a little burn bonus.. And just took in the nice scenery.. I couldn't be bothered typing my blog like intended, but at least this last 24 hour excursion has got me back on track! Its obvious how this place is off the hook in the high season, but it was perfect and a little more authentic just for relaxing in october.. And to think at home everyone is starting to bundle up! Hahaha :) sorry!
As the sun went down, we headed for a new spot to wave the sun goodbye for the night.. I found a nice spot on a rock just off the main shoreline, no surprise with my luck from the day that the water decided to monsoon out of no where and almost drench me completely, while mere and Andrew laughed and stayed dry.. Sometimes I'm sure the world is out to get me... I don't know why. Our night was pretty uneventful with another pasta dinner in our tiny little room that curiously started to smell of barf and other nastiness. We went for a walk to steal some Internet from a hotel and that's about it. What a great day in paradise!
The following morning's adventures started bright and early because if you want to leave hvar on a Monday in low season, you get two options: 6:30 or 7:30 am .. I think you can guess which one we picked. But that really means you need to be at the ferry by 7:00 to figure out what the ticket method is and make sure you get on it before it leaves right at 7:30.. The boat def doesn't wait for tourists, but much like the bus, if you are in the right spot at the right time and know the secret flagdown, I'm sure it would stop to pick you up and deliver you to the front of your house. O croatia. The ferry was only an hour, and so we had lots of time to explore split before catching our bus to zadar at 14:30... I don't think there's too much to see in split other than diacletion's palace.. It's not really a palace but it used to be.. It's more of a tourist trap where they sell lots of cool coral jewelry, fish anything you can think of, and cool paintings, drawings, and the rest of the whole art shbang. I probably shouldve got this fish pressure relief pencil drawing that I kinda fell in love with, but I couldn't justify paying $70 to carry around a framed picture for over a month still.. O well, I'm sure there's more like it Greece or turkey, or I'll just haveta go back later! Instead I bargained with this lady at a bar to buy the fish off the wall where we went to use the bathroom. The palace ruins had tons of cute shops stuck in the little corners, aqua being a favorite with the cutest little starfish and fish branding on everything. There were also tons of market tents selling the Croatian soccer scarves and jerseys and all the crap they had in Bali and Thailand.. It just said Croatia and coated a bit more! Mere and I did a bit more shopping while Andrew geeked out on some ruins as he put it.. And then we enjoyed our train station sandwiches we made that morning on a bench watching the people go by. We also stopped by this square where split mustve been gettin ready for some type of celebration similar to hvars, with kids dressed up as little suns and in adorable outfits gettin ready for the balloon drop and their stage performances. We headed back to the train station where our bags were stored, and I started saying how funny it was that I haven't ran into anyone I know in a while. The second we get in the train station, I saw heather, the Canadian girl I met in dublin on my last day. She was trying to get to Greece.. O gosh I told her I already knew how crazy that journey was, hence our flight from Prague.. Little did I know thanour adventure was about to be as long as hers and we were only goin half the distance! So hopefully well meet again in Greece somewhere and maybe even head to turkey together. Mere and I said bye to catch our bus to zadar, where we planned to catch the morning bus to the plitzfer? National park with these amazing beautiful lakes.. Andrew was catching the same train as heather to go meet someone he met in the train a few days back in Slovenia.. Wow how that seems ages ago! So we bused to zadar.. Caught the city bus to the hostel after we didn't find the deal we hoped for with the bargaining apartmani men. We knew the hostel was nothing too spectacular in zadar.. But after a brief planning period and an agreement that the $40 buses to and from the national park in the morning were a bit out of control, we decided there wasn't much holding us in zadar, so we collected our bags, told the hostel man to pretend we weren't really there, and we bounced! To Zagreb? Hopefully we could get there and catch the morning train to Vienna to arrive a day early.. We even called a hostel and arranged for us to come a day earlier than expected. So we got to the bus station, and it was goin to be another $30 bucks... So we booked it over to the train station where we could ride for "free" on our eurails... The train left at 21:10 and got to Zagreb at 6:30 in the morning... Ok! We can sleep on the train and save the cost of the hostel and still make the 7:30 train to Vienna! All too perfect.. And we each had around $20 worth of kuna to blow before leaving Croatia.. So we hit up the supermarket and went crazy! Haha. What would you do with your 20 bucks that was supposed to be spent on a hostel? So we got a little junk food, a little practical food, and a little alcohol for the parties we hope to be a part of soon.. We've been pretty lame since Oktoberfest. So we gathered our bagsof food and headed to our one car train. Yep. Just one car. That was from the 70s and looked ready to breakdown at any moment And we laughed and said wouldn't it be great if the guy let us drive this?! Well weren't anything shy of the hottest commodity on the one car train.. And it only took the ticket man about a minute and a half after we started moving to invite us to the front row.. Seemed cool for 20 seconds and then when we were invited into the front of the train, we realized how creepy it was.. And we rushed back to our seats, put on all the clothes we could find without making a scene to cover our legs that the dude next to us kept staring at.. And stayed very alert for the next 2 hours on the sketchiest train in history. They're all very lucky I didn't haveta whip out my karate moves or someone mightve seriously got hurt :) haha. We made it to Knin in the middle of nowhere Croatia, clearly anything but a tourist destination, and hung out in the beat up broken down train station jammin to whatever shuffled on my iPod with an old Croatian couple waitin for our more legit train.. We hoped.
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