Sept 16: We woke up early, and Viktor had coffee and grappa (yuck) ready for us in the morning. Grappa is a strong wine liquor… not something we are used to in the morning! Then we caught the city bus to the long distance bus station. We got on our bus (with no bathroom) as I was wondering how I was going to make it 4 hours with out peeing! Our bus had an exhaust leek that made for a noisy ride! Anyway, I later found out that the bus stopped every 1 to 2 hours for small breaks (yea!). We needed these because the bus sucked! Eric was a little hung over and a little sick. Dylan gave him some antacid that helped. Then the bus started getting really hot and crowded! It sucked and I don’t think we would recommend taking a long distance bus again! We were so happy, and sweaty, when we arrived in Split! Our apartment was nice and was decorated like a boat with ropes as the railing along the stairways. The apartment was small, but three levels high and located just outside of the Old Town. We were ready for something real to eat after the bus ride so we found a place to eat that was recommended both by our book as well as the lady who booked our apartment. It was a bare bones place but a cool mostly locals place and the food was good and predictable…when you ordered chicken that’s exactly what you got and not a whole lot more. After dinner Leslie and I took it pretty easy, Leslie took a nap and I sat in the massage chair (a nice addition to our apartment) and Dylan went for a quick walk around the Old Town. After reconvening Dylan guided us to a cool café area near Old Town where we enjoyed a couple of cappuccinos (he tried to order a double but just got two) and Les and I had Oranginas. I’m not totally sure but we probably got gelato on the way home too.
Sept 17: Recharged today we were ready to check out this city that was built around Diocletian’s 4th century palace (He was a Roman Emperor). We headed out for a walking tour around Old Town where we rubbed the toe of Bishop Gregory of Nin (statue) for good luck; saw several of the original 13 black sphinxes that Diocletian had originally brought here from Egypt. Peristyle Square was the centerpiece of the palace where residents would often meet and discuss matters of the times. We shopped our way through the end of the walking tour in the recently (during the past century) rediscovered basement of the palace. We bought a ticket to tour the cellars, and an area that was used for sewage during the middle ages. Later in the evening we all went out to dinner at our favorite Split restaurant (the only one we ate at the whole time we were there)… it’s called Buffet Fife and it was right around the corner from our apartment. Dylan’s treat… even better…. What a nice guy!
Sept 18: We caught a high-speed catamaran ride to one of the islands off the coast of Split this morning, called Hvar. We checked out Hvar town and some castle ruins on top of the hill. The hike to the ruins was well worth the view! We could see many of the islands off the coast, but it was a very windy day so we didn’t stay too long. We had to catch a bus to the other side of the island (town called Stari Grad) to catch our ferry home. Our ferry ride home was very nice with amazing views! We met a man out on the back of the ship (where we were sitting drinking our beers) from Ireland. He owns a boat and cottage there in Hvar and was returning back home. He recommended that we go to Lake Bled while we are in Slovenia. He was bringing his boat from Ireland to Hvar Island and regrets not stopping there for a few nights. The boys talked about racing and we were back to Split before we knew it.
Once again we had dinner at Buffet Fife, where I had the best calamari I have ever had! The seafood was so fresh, and the price was right, so it wasn’t worth going anywhere else! We hung out a little while but turned in early since E and I had to get up early to catch a 7:30 am train to Zagreb then on to Slovenia.
Sept 19: Today was such an early day! We said our goodbyes to Dylan, and walked to the train station where our train waited. Our train was very short containing only about 3-4 wagons. We had first class ticket reservations that included a coffee and sandwich. The train ride was very beautiful. We passed some rivers that were a brilliant aquamarine blue! This color is from the calcium carbonate (a mineral deposit from the limestone) and causes such high calcium deposits ever changing the landscape (especially around water falls). We arrived in Zagreb on time, but we had a 4-hour layover. We took this opportunity to walk around Zagreb (the capital of Croatia). The city was very nice, clean and quaint. We were happy that we had the opportunity to check this place out for a few hours. Later this evening we arrived into Ljubljana pretty late. So we walked to our hotel to get some shuteye.
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