Oh hey, from the Dalmatian Coast! Here’s my favorite photo of the day; I edited it whilst riding on the back steps of a bus that was too full to pick up any more passengers but they legally had to pick us up because we pre-bought at ticket. Thank you,Rebecca Jones, for warning us not to ever count on normal transportation protocol in this country. We literally were on the back entrance steps, with our heads (and butt cracks, regrettably) in peoples feet for 90 minutes and if you accidentally touched the door it kind of opened which was really scary. And of course there were no windows because we were on the floor. I think the Port-a-Potty was on our left, but no one ever opened it so we don’t know.
Krka was cool; there were way too many people and I got angry in the hiking trails but swimming was awesome and we somewhat beat the crowds and also had an entire yacht basically to ourselves on the boat ride back to Skradin, which included $1.50 local 16 oz beers that rival my previous obsession for cheap Puerto Rican Medallas. Those were $3.00 so obviously Krlovačkos are better. We opted for Krka National Park after realizing that Plitvice was just too far out of our route to be able to get to and from economically and on schedule. Krka really is beautiful, but you need to divide that beauty with the fact that if you’re there in high season, there will be masses of crowds competing with you to take in that beauty and blocking virtually every nice view you scout out after a Split second (pun intended). This being said, the swimming hole and waterfall that we jumped in at the end of the park walk were fantastic, crowds and all; the water was amazing and felt cleaner than it should have given all the people, and speaking of people, the people watching was A+. I recommend, as long as you’re prepared for the people. And I mean a lot of them. In all kinds of globally representative swimwear.
Our favorite character of the trip so far is the nice man who worked the luggage storage kiosk in Split where we paid $3 each to store all of our personal items for the entire day; not many people inspire my immediate trust but this guy had it hello – nothing says “sure, give me all of your belongings including your expensive electronics and passport (I know…rookie ass move on my part…I’m not proud just lazy) and they are going to be fine!!” than a gruff middle aged man who plays “The Final Countdown,” has what we are pretty sure was three (tasteful) neck tattoos, and blushes/giggles and says “oh, haha, thank you ladies!” When you tell him he’s playing some major classic American jams.
All in all Croatia has started out on a good note for us. Split has been pleasant as a home base but not too exciting in the grand scheme of things, and we’re excited to make our way to the next port tomorrow. More from Party City Hvar soon.