Croatia, July 20-26

I like Croatia, as I might have said in a previous post. The people are, for the most part, fairly friendly and helpful, the air is clear and the weather is fantastic. We flew from Amsterdam to Split, a much easier way to get here than our previous ideas (some of which involved two to four hops). Our plane was supposed to leave at 6:40, but as per EasyJet (and the massive storm system over London) that was a joke. We ended up sitting in the waiting area for two hours longer than we expected, just sat there, staring at the board. We even had to get food while we were there, expensive airport McDonalds. The burger was eh (there was something I can only describe as bacon-flavored mayonnaise/thousand island weird sauce on it) but the fries were hot and delicious, and I got a coke with (gasp!) ice in it. *Ice*. Like heaven in a cup. So we waited and waited and waited, and finally we got to our gate and then we waited some more. The flight was about two hours, and I mostly slept for that time, but the lady next to me ordered a coffee, and Air was listening to music on the other side of me, so it might have been more of a "don't talk to me, I'm not happy right now" thing than sleeping...
We got in at 11pm, and we tried to figure out if there was a late bus headed out to the place we needed to go. First though, was the Croatian passport control. Now, for the most part (unless you're France, see the France post) this takes a little patience, but it goes pretty quick. This went quick as well, but it was kind of scary to be stared down by a very large Croatian woman in uniform. I shudder to think of what a Croatian jail would be like if they all looked as intimidating as that one woman. Anywho, Air and I were happy to get more passport stamps (which you only get by flying nowadays, they don't even check your passport on pan-EU trains) and we hauled butt to get our bags and find a bus. It turns out that there's only one bus that runs at that hour from the airport to Split proper, and from there only one bus that passes through Split headed in the right direction. The first bus had us in Split by 12, and the next one wasn't until 1:30, so we killed time staring at the harbor and plotting out some more of the trip. When the bus came by, it was a real hassle trying to figure it out. The bus was headed (fairly non-stop) to Dubrovnik or somewhere, and we had to pay a little extra to have it stop in the pipqueak place we needed, but it was well worth the 25 kuna to not pay for a taxi ride out. Interestingly, there are generally two operators on the bus: the driver and the ticket guy. Now, it was 1:30 am and the ticket guy took our money and bid the driver goodnight, while we were moving. Then he took off his shoes and disappeared. Turns out there's a tiny berth under the seats for long hauls like that, and they take turns getting sleep while they drive through. That was entertaining though, trying to figure out where the tiny man had stashed himself. The driver was nice, though, and made sure we got off in the right place, even got our bags out for us. By then it was 2:30ish and we had to find our hostel in this tiny place in the dark. The most amazing sky was overhead, though, you could even see the milky way it was so dark and clear out that night.
We ended up finding the place, but (as seems to be the trend here) there wasn't any type of reception, and we were unsure as to where to find someone to let us in. The doors to the floors of rooms were open, and the kitchen was too (the kitchen was on the bottom floor, and there were two stories of rooms) but no sign of anyone to greet us. Just as we were resigning ourselves to a night in the yard, the woman came out and greeted us, and showed us the facilities and told us to check in properly in the morning. So, exhausted by then, we fell into the king-size bed in our private room (a huge, wonderful bonus) and slept like the dead until 11. Then we checked in and went to the beach! We stayed there for hours, soaking up the sun and swimming until we felt ready to collapse from exhaustion. The beaches here are rocky, not sandy, but the water is clear and there were fewer people in Lokva Rogoznica than there were on the beaches of Split. The next day we went to Split to use the interwebs to book flights and hostels and such, and we wandered around Diocletian's palace- a place that is now mostly little shops and a few museum bits. We didn't take any tours or pay to see the museum bits, but we did look around and wander through the winding nooks and crannies. We bought masks and a snorkel for the beach, and then spent the rest of the evening reading and relaxing by the beach. We spent the next two days doing much the same, and it was just an absolutely gorgeous, wonderful time.
The trip to Dubrovnik, however, sucked. I woke up sick (Air had done the same two days before that) and was all sorts of not happy to be stuck on buses for 5 hours. Thankfully it was mostly just a headache by that point and the rest of me was fine, but it made for snappish times trying to find our hostel. The directions to it were bad, and when we got here we were not too impressed. Mattresses on the floor and a single bathroom for the lot of us, but there's a pool and the beach is just a few minutes walk away. It rained something fierce last night (apparently; I slept straight through, after the long day of being sick on the bus) and it's kinda cloudy and chilly today, but we're headed to Old Town and whatnot in a bit.

There's still some catching up to do, but I think that I've gotten you caught up for the most part ;)