I wish I could say that our ferry ride was great, but to be perfectly honest, it was really bad. We were lied to about several things, which made Lonnie pretty upset. We were treated rudely. And, last but not least, we got no sleep at all. Apparently a Swiss couple and us and perhaps a young Japanese girl were the only non-locals on the ferry. The Swiss couple had booked a cabin, which the ferry receptionist tried to take away from them. The Swiss man pulled out all of their paperwork proving their claim. I think they were finally given a room, but I am not sure. When we got back to where we were supposed to be (but not really), the locals were pretty much using all of the seats as beds. We finally found a seat, but they were way less comfortable than economy class airplane seats. Not sure why.
But enough about the ferry. When we finally arrived in Croatia, the entire atmosphere changed. The Croatian people were very friendly and helpful. Most speak some English (or German), so we were able to somewhat communicate. Split turned out to be a really interesting city. I loved the old ruins mixed with the newer buildings. We went on a walking tour of the old town. It is where Diocletian built his summer home and his tomb. He had persecuted a lot of Christians there. Ironically, when he died, he was not buried there. The town's people took his mausoleum and turned it into a church honoring one of the Christians that he had killed. Then they took the Temple dedicated to Jupiter and turned it into a baptistry. It was all rather interesting. Lonnie kept saying, "What a neat city!"
While we were there, an acapella group sang in the "vestibule" of the palace. They were really good! Of course, we purchased their CD.
The palace had originally been right on the Adriatic Sea. Now it is up the hill a little ways, but the area is very beautiful.
We returned to discover that our car was still there (always a good thing), because we had not parked in a city lot. As we were leaving the ferry, we saw what we thought was public parking. It turned out to be the ferry worker's parking lot. One of the workers directed us to another area and said we could park there if we paid him. So, we did. It was a ferry loading area. And, guess what, they were loading cars onto a ferry when we got back. Everything was fine. We thanked the man who let us park there, then traveled on.
Our next stop was Krka National Park. We got there around six, and found a great room in the hotel at the park entrance. The price was very reasonable and included breakfast. Although they had a huge restaurant, there was no one there so we decided to try a little local place we had seen down the road.
The restaurant, though very small, with just a few outside tables, was very good. It seemed to be a place where a lot of the locals gathered. The young lady who waited on us got to practice her English. When the young man came to ask how our food was, Lonnie asked if he was the chef. His reply was, "I'm the brother and the boss, but not all of the time. " He was so excited that we were there and liked the food, that he offered us Schnapps. When we told him that we don't drink, he offered us something else (not sure what) but we politely declined. Then we went back to the hotel, where there was still no one in the restaurant.
No comments:
Post a Comment