Life in the Cheese Drawer

day 4

on tuesday, we had scheduled an adventure way back when we first booked the trip. it’s nice to have someone tell you about an area you know nothing about and to see things that you might not see otherwise. we were off to one of croatia’s national parks (krka), a stop at a little town with a river excursion, and finishing up the day with a wine and cheese tasting.

the tour left later morning, so we up-and-at-em’ed and out the door to walk to the tour office with enough sleep in our systems. lori, liz, and i left a little earlier to check out a bit more of old town and also make sure our firday excursion was booked.

we packed onto a bus with several other people of different background but with a shared language of english (we probably could’ve also managed with spanish, but that tour wasn’t offered), and we were off.

we stopped at the small town first, and lori and checked out the town and climbed to the top of a fort lookout where the view was spectacular. we only had about an hour there, so we headed back down to the beach, i got a bottle of olive oil, and then we boarded a boat to cruise into krka national park.

it was a SMALL national park, and the big draw was the waterfalls. there were so many people visiting (i can’t imagine what it’s like in the summertime), so it was just packed. it was interesting doing the walking loop around the park – so many things in croatia are just, here, if you die you die – there was a wooden plank boardwalk to follow that had no handrails or anything to prevent you from yeeting off the side. i can just see someone in the US falling over and suing NPS. also, accessibility is definitely not a thing!

at the end of the boardwalk, i dropped into the small gift shop and got a magnet to add to my national park collection (i have no stipulations on WHAT nation), then we all sat at a restaurant and had some drinks while we awaited our departure time.

back to the bus (after waiting for one guy who missed the place where we were supposed to depart) and off to a small vineyard for wine tasting. the wine was okay (i’m not a big wine fan) but the cheese and bread were delicious!!! i bought a chunk of cheese.

the ride home was quiet and sleepy, and i once again got separated from everyone else (as jane yelled “sorry kate” unconvincingly) and snoozed against the window as we drove a little over an hour back to split.

before we left split proper, we got more gelato and stopped at a bakery to pick up some baked goods because omg, no GMO-wheat is delicious. no railings and no FDA regulations. living life on the wild side in europe.

day 5

we had to base so much of our time on the weather because there was rain and some cooler weather and some warmer weather, which was ok; that meant that jane’s typical down day was a day that we had to do something, though. on wednesday, we cruised over to hvar.

we debated whether or not to go after i realized that each ferry trip was 25euro and not a round trip, but we decided to bite the bullet. and we were glad we did!

when we got off the ferry in hvar, there was a stone sidewalk lined with palm trees that led the eye up to a hill with a fort atop. so we went to the fort after having brunch. after climbing stairs up through a narrow passage through town, the path switchbacked up the final hill for quite the view of the harbor and the adriatic.

we thought we’d had enough of stairs at that point, but joke was on us! we wanted to go to a beach, and the way to the beach had an unbelievable number of stairs. no one counted, but it was a lot. then maps told us “yay you’re at the beach!” but turns out now you have to go down a harrowing journey over rocks and more rocks back DOWN the elevation you just went up. thank goodness there was a bar and a beach at the bottom. we spent a couple hours there swimming, lounging, having strong drinks. then took an uber back to hvar proper.

lori and i scoped out a place to eat while the others had a break, and it was delightful weaving through the small stone corridors and seeing all the little eateries. it was a bit odd eating earlier than 8 p.m., but by 6 we were starving and found a place with good oysters, good mussels, good gnocchi, and grilled scampi that liz nearly had a meltdown over. (apparently, scampi at olive garden is pasta??? at red lobster, it’s buttery garlic shrimp only, so i’m not sure where the disconnect was. either way, she was horrified when heads-on prawn came to her placement.)

gelato time, and we watched as the fort atop the hill lit up in the darkening evening. on the last ferry, we were able to grab a table for all of us, and we got to split about 9 p.m. and glad we sprung for the ferry rides.

i hate not blogging while traveling. it’s a great way to document what happens each day while i remember what happens each day so i can go back and relive the experience. and even though i’m already on day 5 or 6 of this current adventure, it’ll still be more fresh in my brain than next week!

day 1 – travel day

ugh, talk about a long weird day. friday, i went to work in the morning because i needed to see my worker pal who had been gone for two weeks so i could tell her what was up, along with followup and finish a few other things. i got out of there at 11:30 and headed to the shuttle, which is the best thing i discovered for when i’m traveling alone.

shuttle, uneventful, but i got to the airport almost four hours before takeoff (the alternative was and hour and a half before takeoff, which, scary). after the longest time i’ve ever spent in MSP security, i got through and met up with the croatia crew!!! yeah!! croatia here we come!

the first plane leg was 8 hours long but took 15 hours of our time with the time change. we landed in amsterdam for an hour and change layover and a long line through customs, and loaded our second leg plane (which had an egg sandwich for its in-flight snack!). then off to croatia!

after getting to the airbnb after some uber and taxi finagling, the first order of business was a brief nap. brief so that we slept that night, otherwise we’d never acclimate to the time. the second order of business was to find a place to eat and a grocery store, and we accomplished both! the food already was phenomenal.

sunday we had no plans yet, so we checked out the beach. one thing that i expected but didn’t realized how much was the amount of walking we’d be doing. which is ok. we’re eating a lot of good stuff. from our airbnb, it’s about a mile to the start of anything decent and two to get to the ferry and past all the good stuff. then we have to walk back. so we’ve been walking 8 miles a day.

day 3 – monday

BEACH DAY! monday was supposed to be the sunniest and warmest day, so time to pack our bags for the beach. first, we had to scope out which beach we wanted to be at, so we went the opposite way of the other beach, found a way to the water, and found a nice (probably ancient) walkway on the coast that wound all the way around to a beach with a road that popped out a half a block from our road. well.

it was windy but sunny and warm and the pebbles on the beach were white and the water was azure and the water was salty and boats sailed or chugged past and some ladies were topless and people were drinking on the beach and smoking and how very mediterranean. (and there were no railings or accessible anything to get there and crumbly rocks and so old and how very un-USA.)

i went in up to my waist and couldn’t do it, but the others dipped in. i lay on the beach and read a book. the sun is warm here, but it’s september sun on the same latitude as MN and at sea level, so it’s not a strong sun. i have stopped putting on sunscreen.

wind and water and sun take it out of you, so we got back after a couple hours and took a siesta. after that, it was time to get gussied up and we headed into old town, which is a fort, basically, that was split back in the day (the day being a millennia ago). it’s full of narrow streets and corridors and small rooms which have been turned into shops and restaurants. on the way there, we stopped at a bar facing the yachts in the harbor, then found some street food! the BEST gyro i’ve ever had in my life (unsurprisingly).

on the way back, we realized that we’ve been missing out on the gelato life, so we got some gelato and vowed to get some every day til we left. it was dark when we left old town, and the ferry was lighted up, and you could see the towns along the other coasts, then the moon was shining on the water and was reminiscent of moonlight on snow (but that’s getting ahead of ourselves).

we ended the day was a handsome streetcat, which is a blog post in itself, but a teaser for you.

more later. i have to go do stuff!