lickety – split
As mentioned before, we weren't that impressed with Zadar so we wanted to make our way to Split. We made it to the bus station two minutes before the bus was supposed to leave. We put our bags on the bus and go to pay the bus driver. He wanted 98kn per person, which is 40kn more than what the information center told us the ticket should cost. We thought the driver was trying to screw us over, so we grabbed bags and went to the ticket office.
Turns out that all the tickets cost more than what we expected. Not only did we miss that bus to Split, but we had to pay even more for the next bus. Crap. We had time to kill so we sat at a cafe and ordered two beers. We were taking our time when Gadi decided to look at the clock. OMG! I don't know where the time went but our bus was leaving in two minutes! We chugged our beers and ran to catch the bus. Yes, we made it in time.
Driving to Split along the coast, we saw quaint little towns and beautiful beaches but when we reached Split, it was quite disappointing...it looked really ugly. Don't let the first impression disuade you. We made it to the city center and it was really lovely with historical buildings, cafes lining the port and so many people!
Split from Above
We stayed at a great hostel called Pletkovic Hostel. It is alking distance from the bus stationa and port. It is brand new and all the staff is super friendly and nice. The owner even offered us his cell number and told us to call if we get lost or need more instructions. I totally recommend this place if you are ever in Split.
We spent most of our time wandering around the old town, taking in the sights and history. Diocletian's Palace is a must see! We also hiked up to an area called Marjam where we accidentaly came upon a Jewish cemetary dating back as early as the 16th century! We keep visiting Jewish cemetaries for some reason...I think this is the fourth since we started traveling.
Hrvatska
So far I am strangely managing with the Croatian language - it's almost like Russian transliterated into English. More strangely is that I am communicating is Yiddish, that's right, Yiddish! The older generation speaks in German, so for us to negotiate anything, I have to pull out remnants of my Yiddish skills from the fifth grade..."gib a kook"!
A few hours train ride from Hungary brought us to Zagreb, Croatia. We were greeted by our couchsurfing host, Domagoj. But it's not like he came by car to pick us up, he came by tram to bring us back to his place. His sister, Eva, and twin brother, Mislav, are also so nice.
Eva and Dom gave us a great tour of Zagreb. We were walking up to the old city when all of a sudden there was a large boom! I thought it was a bomb and I was ready to duck...apparently it was a canon that goes off every day at 12 noon. At night Mislav and Dom took us to a restaurant to eat Pljeskavica, Serbian "meat balls"...so good.
Our next stop was Plitvice National Park. I have never seen such natural beauty in all my life! There are lakes, waterfalls and greenery everywhere. There are a total of 16 turquoise colored lakes with varying elevations. The water cascades from from one lake to another forming the most picturesque waterfalls.
Here we met Uwe, a Canadian, German, American, Nicaraguan airplane pilot that lives in Bahrain. Also, he could be a double for Dan Akroyd! It was great to spend time with him. Thanks for the great stories, jokes and bottle of wine.
The second day we wanted to go into the park again. We didn't know if our ticket was still valid and we didn't want to pay again. Along the highway, we found a pathway into the park so we were in. The park was just as amazing the second day as the first. Also along the highway, we found wild mini strawberries that were smaller than my pinky nail and sweeter than sugar.
From here we made our way to Zadar, a coastal town. Honestly, we kind of regret coming here. The beaches are not so nice and are located right by the marinas. The old city center is interesting but there is not much to do for more than a day. The cool thing about the old town was the water organ which uses under water currents to create "music". As I understood, water enters pipes with different diameters which then displace air creating sounds, kind of like blowing over the top of a bottle.
We are now on a bus to Split and I hope it will be as amazing as everyone says it is.