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.