Day 262 Hvar Croatia

I had arrived on the Dalmatian coast and I had to head over to one of the main attractions, the island of Hvar. I opted for the cheaper and slower (two hour) car ferry for 6 euro to the opposite side of the island and then took a 15 minute bus to the city of Hvar. This little port city was once of great strategic importance with its protected harbor and guardian castle perched above. Now its smooth stone streets and filled with cafés and restaurants and gift shops and boat tour operators and of course, tourists. The bottle green water was very clear and it was difficult to resist. But I did. Hvar is not known for its beaches, just its rugged shorelines and plentiful natural beauty. I hiked up the hill to the castle, paid the equivalent of $3 USD, and saw the same as most castles: thick stone walls and a really good view. It had a small dungeon that was interesting at least. Being an inmate in a castle prison would not have been a good thing.

Even with sun block and my hat, I had gotten more than enough sun for the day. I headed back on the ferry and for the first time in nine months I had the traditional backpacker meal; pasta with a jar of pre-made sauce. I threw in some tasty olives and it was great (and cheap).

Day 261 Split Croatia

The only bus out of Sarajevo to the Croatian coastal city of Split left at 9pm and took seven hours. I figured I could sleep on the bus (I was really tired) long enough to hold me through the next day. That way I could save a little money by not needing a room for the night. The theory was good anyway.

The tram from the hostel to the bus station was crowded and with my backpack it would have been hard to make my way to the little ticket punching machine. I wasn’t going far so I wasn’t worried about the ticket check guys. Oops. Guess who was making their way through the crowd. They were very nice and very insistent that I had to pay a fine for not punching my ticket. The fine was 26.60 BAM ($18 USD) and I only had 12 BAM ($8 USD) and change. They said it was enough and took my snack money for the bus ride. So much for saving money.

The problem with the bus was that it stopped too frequently for breaks. Every two hours everyone got off to pee and smoke. And then there was the the loud thump from the engine, at which point the driver let the engine idle as we coasted down the mountain to a restaurant parking lot. I am not sure why there were three guys working on the bus, two drivers and a ticket taker, but they all pulled open the panels to the engine, in the aisle between the seats, filling the bus with noxious engine fumes, and proceeded to work on the engine. After 10 minutes they fixed whatever it was and we were on our way again. I was the last person still on the bus when we rolled into Split at 3:30am.

I walked to the tourist waterfront and waited for the sun to come up. First came lots of drunk and singing Italians that were making their way back from the bars. Then came street cleaning crews. And finally, the sun. Split has a pretty little old town that has streets that are more than a little similar to Venice. Venice is just much bigger and more maze-like. I liberated some wireless bandwidth from a local hotel and found a nearby hostel. Well actually, it was a lot of work to find it, because its tiny sign was on the door, which was standing wide open and out of view. The sign that was in view was for a hair salon. I went around and around and determined that that had to be it. The hostel was once again just a large apartment that was only barely converted. I can’t complain. He had no vacancy but found a mattress for me to sleep on, wedged in a corner. The place was overcrowded, but with free wi-fi, that was very fine.

Day 256 Zagreb, Croatia...zzzzz....Ouch!

The train to Croatia started badly. First we had to wait an extra hour to get on the train, and then, after about ten minutes of moving the train stopped for a long time. Someone had thrown themselves in front of the train ahead of us, committing suicide. It took a little over two hours to start moving again. I borrowed Chad’s book, the Alchemist, and read the whole thing while we waited. The book is about a guy that gives up everything to live his dream of travel ( and search for treasure). It was a great book and perfectly applicable to my life. It was one of those times when something comes into your life at exactly the right time. When we finally got to the Croatian border we had to unexpectedly get off the train and transfer to buses because of track work. It was not the direct route we had planned. We ended up getting into Zagreb late and couldn’t see any of the city.

When we did get out the next day, we were unimpressed. It has a nice produce market with a billion lovely strawberries, which is nice. It has a big cathedral, which is nice. There is a decent café culture (drinks only, no food?), which is nice. Other than that…not much. I did manage to twist my ankle stepping off a step onto uneven stones. It swelled up like a baseball and hurt like hell. I applied generous quantities of beer (internally) to help with the pain. Actually I held the cold bottles to my ankle when I wasn’t drinking them. Patrícia demanded to talk to Chad when we were talking on Skype and she asked him to go find some ice for me, which he did—thanks Chad. She still manages to take care of me from thousands of miles away.

The Dalmation coast of Croatia is supposed to be very nice so I will stop over there after I go to a few other countries. The country is stretched out and it will be easier this way.