19 hours - home at last!

After leaving the hotel at 10 pm Chicago time on Thursday, I got home today (Friday) at 5 pm. I'm kinda tired. :-)

But all of the flights went well, no delays or anything. When I got my boarding pass in Frankfurt for the flight to Chicago, I asked for a not middle seat, or at least one in a short row. The agent said she only had 3 seats left (!) but after some typing, said she put me in a short row middle seat - in Economy Plus, which hs more leg room. And boy, did I appreciate it! The flight seemed sooo long.

So now I'm home with a very happy kitty -- and lots of unpacking!

General Stuff

There are quite a few Americans here. Not tons, but I´ve heard American accents quite a bit, more than I expected. There were about 8 too many on the ferry today - a group of very loud 50-something Texan women were doing a great job at reinforcing the Ugly American image.

There seems to be a few nationalities that are present in larger numbers: Italians, Germans and Brits. In Hvar, there were a lot of Australians; not sure why that is.

Most people here seem to speak English at least a little. My landlady in Hvar probably spoke the least English, but she spoke German so that was cool. The guy at the delicatessen this morning (where I bought wayyy too much food!) mixed German and Enlgish, which worked.

Croatia is not incredibly cheap - it´s definitely not as pricey as London, and some things are inexpensive - some rooms, all beer, baked goods. Other things can be expensive - some rooms, wine, restaurants.

It is, however, incredibly beautiful, and I wish I could have seen much more. I guess I´ll just have to come back. :-)

Hvar part 2

Lunch was quite tasty. From Konoba Menego, I got stuffed bread - don´t know what it was stuffed with, olives and more things, but it was excellent. Then I went to another table and all I wanted was the cheese and olives, but he dished everything onto a plate - and so I ate octopus salad. I really did! It was actually very good, as long as I avoided thinking about what it was. And I skipped the big, tentacle-y pieces.

After lunch, I went to a rocky beach and managed to get pink again. The water was not too cold, but I was not nearly brave enough to go under, like other people did - I only went in up to my hips.




The ferry ride from Stari Grad to Split was quicker than expected - only 2 hours instead of 3 - so I caught the landlord for tonight off guard by arriving early. And dishevelled from the beach and sitting on the open deck of a ferry, which I only mention because the landlord is incredibly good looking.

So, tomorrow I get to get up nice and early for the 5:30 am bus to the airport. Luckily I have 3 flights to snooze on!!!

Hvar

Got to Hvar around 3:15 pm yesterday. The landlord du jure met me at the dock, and I ended up in a huge 3 person room becuase that's what they had cleaned and the other people weren't going to make it!

Hvar is a very cute little town, very chilled out vibe. I walked around just soaking it up. There's a fort on the top of a hill, so I walked up there to get a little exercise.

I went to dinner at Konoba Menego - traditional Dalmatian food. Oh my god was it good. The wine was homemade and absolutely wonderful. I had a Dalmatian platter of prsut (like prosciutto), a sausage (like salami), olives, sheep cheese cured in olive oil, and smoked cheese. It was AWESOME. I thought I died and went to food heaven!!! I spent 2+ hours there, reading and nibbling away.


Back at the hotel, I had a glass of brandy and wrote in my diary. The landlady, Ivana, came out and found out I speak German, so she told me all about a saint's festival today. There are all kinds of homemade food tables in the square, and a procession which sounded beautiful but is unfortunately after I leave.

The food tables are out already, though, so I'm off to buy some....!

Cats in Croatia

I tend to take pictures of cats when I travel. This time, it occurred to me to make a mini-album of cats I encountered, in part becuase there are so many wandering around. And they're just so cute in the midst of the gorgeous, historical scenery! So here it is:

Cats in Croatia

On the Road Again

It was up early this morning so that Ivan, my landlord, could give me a ride to the bus station. We barely made it for the earliest bus - he talked to the bus driver so I had time to go buy the ticket and hop on. And away we went, back north to Split.

So now I'm in Split, waiting for the 2 pm boat to Hvar Town. Not really sure how I'm getting back here tomorrow but I'm sure it'll be fine!

I'd post pictures, but once again I'm at an internet cafe that doesn't have the capability for that... sorry!

Rise and Shine!

Got up bright and early this morning, becuase the sun is up at 5:30 a.m. Yes, that's right. I made futile attempts to sleep longer and gave up at 6:30 a.m. As I started down to Stari Grad, I ran into my landlord (host?) and he gave me a ride, saving me one walk today.

So the picture at the top is the goodies I bought at the market: figs (yum), candied orange peel (yum), and homemade brandy (yum). I've had two small glasses of the brandy so far and have not died or gone blind, which is a good sign....!

Okay, so the beer here. Thankfully it is "pivo" in Croatian so asking for it is like second nature to me! Here's a piccie of my lunch of burek and a beer. The beer is very similar to light Czech or Polish beers, and tasty enough that I've had some every day.



I spent a lot of the day at the beach and am now a nice shade of pink. Pink is apparently very attractive to the men here, as I have been hit on by two natives and one Romanian! (And let me tell you, Romanians look odd - they stuck out like a sore thumb....)

I spent a lovely hour at another concert tonight, two guitarists this time. Surprisingly, there were only 5 people present - all Americans! Which was too bad for the musicians, but lovely for us - it was like a private concert and really amazing.

Love at first sight!

This has been a long day - I got up at 7 am to get stuff done in Split before I left, then got on the bus to Dubrovnik at 10:30 am. What a bus ride! I lost track of how many times I said, "Holy f@cking shit!" either because of the view, the drop off the side, or both! Our rest stop was in Bosnia - how cool is that? I had someone take my picture in front of the bus, but it's highly unflattering and not going here.

My landlord du jure met me at the bus station and drove me to the house. It is very very nice, I only wish I were spending more time there - a shared kitchen, a nice terrace off my room. He was very informative about how to get to the Old Town and where to eat, and anything else I needed.

After settling in I went to the Old Town (Stari Grad) and THAT is when I fell in love. This is truly a wonderful place! I walked around, then walked the city walls and took a bazillion pictures. Here's one:




Oh what the heck, here's another:



Then I had an awesome dinner of mussels, bread, and wine. The mussels were fantastic - see for yourself:



After dinner, I went to a classical concert by a quartet in a church. It was a condlelight concert and absolutely beautiful. They played a variety of music, and one piece was so sad and beautiful I was moved to tears. What a lovely end to the day: gorgeous music in a gorgeous setting.

Off to bed now (well after a 20 minute walk!) so I can lavish my love on the city tomorrow!

My Day in Split

After some much needed sleep, I woke up ready to see the city. There is a great "green market" (what we would call a farmers market) here, and I bought some tasty cherries and what may be the best roasted almonds I have ever had in my life.










And then...I walked. Allll over. Up to the Marjan, which is a park, and through pretty little streets about 6 feet wide. I stopped for a tasty lunch of tomato salad and cod stew (sorry guys, no way to load the pics from this internet cafe - but I will later). Then I walked some more, out to an art museum (sculptures of Ivan Mestrovic) and a beach (where I saw a dude take of his speedo and change into shorts - right on the beach! ).

If you haven't guessed from the above, the weather is very nice today, sunny and warm.

I was bummed to find out today that I misread the ferry schedule online or something, and I won't be able to take the ferry back from Dubrovnik. Oh well. I'll take the bus back, and then a shorter ferry ride to Hvar.

Off to Dubrovnik tomorrow!

Just a Face in the Crowd

Ugh, I never want to travel without elite status again! Even though I selected a seat 24 hours ahead of the flight, I apparently got booted out of it as a non-status, award ticket traveller, and had the pleasure of jamming myself into the middle seat of a 5-seat row. With no leg room. Or any other kind of room. Well, maybe some above-the-head-room. I am sooo committed to keping my status on American after this!!! I like my comfy seats.

I can't say I'm crazy about the United transatlantic experience overall. The seats felt very small and cramped - getting my bag out from under the seat required serious body contortions. The food was bleah; the tortellini for dinner was flour lumps in some kind of glue sauce, and breakfast was a wee little yogurt and a roll (which, I gotta give them props,was warm!).

So now I'm at Heathrow waiting for the next flight. I've made the rounds of the stores and bought some Tylenol for the headache I developed on the plane, as well as some Walkers crisps because I love 'em! and water because we didn't get watered much on the plane.