Dubrovnik Split Cruise

Thursday, July 28th, 2011, on the ferry between Mljet and Korcula
Last night as we were on our way to dinner, we stopped and chatted with our host, Marko and his helper Luka as we passed their little office down the street from our room. Marko has 6 properties with rooms and apartments that he rents so it’s a full-time job (and probably a pretty good living). He said he was having a relaxing day because all his tenants were good and there were no problems.
The day before we had heard him coming up the stairs in our building with a Japanese woman following. We could hear her whining, “Oh Marko, not more stairs” (we were on the 3rd storey). When she saw that 3 rooms shared one bathroom, she said, “Oh Marko, this just won’t do”. We’ve been mocking her ever since. Actually, this will probably be the only 4 nights of our 6 week trip that we don’t have an ensuite bathroom. Anyway, not every day is relaxing for Marko.
When we told him that we were going back to Mea Culpa (which Luka had recommended) to celebrate my 60th birthday, they congratulated me and then he said “Wait right here, I have something for you,” and he went into the office and brought out a bottle of wine as a gift. A nice gesture that is very typical of the friendly Croatian people. You’ll always run into one or two people anywhere who are a pain, but in general our impression of Slovenians and Croatians is very favourable, They’re very polite and considerate even when they’re not selling you something. If we ask anyone on the street for directions or anything else, they always try their best to help and make sure that we know what we’re doing. With the number of tourists they see, that must require quite a bit of patience, more than a lot of us have by the end of a summer in Combermere.
We had another great meal at Mea Culpa: one plate of pasta with cream and walnut sauce and one dish of cheese and mushroom lasagna. With beer, wine and tip it cost 158 kuna, or a little less than $32. Even in the old walled town, if you know where to go you don’t have to pay a fortune for a really good meal.
Our room was great except for the street noise at night. We had air conditioning but it was really loud and to run it you have to open the window and set the end of the flexible plastic duct outside, which is a bit of a contradiction in terms of energy use. So, with or without AC you still need the window open. Just when the people walking back from the bars slows down the clatter of the suitcases over the cobblestones starts. People have to get early flights or boats.
We got up before 5 to catch the local bus at the Pile Gate just after 6 to get in line at the Jadrolinja ferry ticket office which opened at 7 to get on the ferry that left at 8:30. We had breakfast in our room (oranges and yogurt with muesli and bananas). Access to a fridge is always handy and we carry light plastic containers, spoons and my Swiss army knife. Anita always has something good for us to eat so we’re never caught going into some overpriced restaurant or eating fast food because we’re starving.
We caught the correct bus with no problem and found the correct ticket office within a few minutes of arrival at the pier. We exchanged our receipt bought in Split for 2 tickets and boarded the ferry just after 7. At 8:30 all the cars and deck passengers were loaded and we set sail for Mljet. We got there about 10, unloaded and reloaded and now we’re on our way to Korcula. The scenery is very beautiful. We just went through some relatively open sea but now we’re getting closer to Korcula so it’s time to look at the scenery and take some pictures.
Friday, July 29th, 2011, Split
Korcula town and island were both very beautiful as were Hvar Town and island. However, all of the islands look very much like the mainland coast except that the water is all the way around instead of just on one side. It’s all very steep, rocky and rugged. There are lots of islands of all sizes.
We were on a Jadrolinja ferry called the Liburnija. An American woman originally from Croatia told us that she had cried on this very same ship when she and her husband left Yugoslavia in 1969. They took this ship from Zadar to Ancona, Italy and then went on to New York. They lived there for 20 years before they saw home again, partly because after 8 years they got their US citizenship and then still waited for the Yugoslavian authorities to forget about them. Her husband said he couldn’t go back before that because he wasn’t sure if they’d throw him in jail or not.
Now the ship, built in 1964, is only used as a coastal ferry because it doesn’t meet international safety standards anymore. Good to know halfway through the trip. The ship is about to be retired in 2 months. However old it is, it seemed perfectly adequate and there were no problems.
We arrived in Split about 6:45 and we waited for the first crush to get down the steps before we went down. We’d seen a lot of fantastic coastline but 12 hours on the boat is just about long enough. We walked back to the reception office for the hostel group we’d used before. We already had a reservation. This time they escorted us to a 2 bedroom apartment in the old town which we have all to ourselves - 3 beds, kitchen and full bathroom - about 5 minutes from Diocletian’s Palace. They gave us this for the same price ($100 Cdn per night) because the room we had before was “occupated”.
We had a quick shower and tried a different restaurant but unfortunately only one of the dishes was good. Oh, well.
This morning it’s raining so we’ve gone shopping for supplies, had breakfast in our apartment and will soon go out for a coffee and to post this at the reception office. Our umbrellas are very handy.
Tomorrow it’s off to Plitvice Lakes National Park and the Hotel Plitvice on the 8:30 bus.