Sail away

It was raining and a bit chilly as we waited in a nearby cafe to board our cruise boat. A bit disappointing as we were hoping for a swim in the Adriatic. After booking on and going through the formalities and being shown to our cabin, we were served lunch. Breakfast and lunch are included. Lunch was delicious - broccoli soup, chicken, rice and mushrooms with a sauce and cherry strudel and ice cream. We were sated!! We were on a table with a group of Aussies, a couple from Melbourne and a couple from Adelaide, a young American man (who had lived in Australia for 12 months) and a German woman. We had a lot of laughs. After lunch we motored on to Makarska which we reached just after 5. We stayed quite close to the coast all the way and it was calm seas. Once we docked we left the boat to look around. It is yet another gorgeous town. We walked along the coast to the point where we saw the most beautiful sunset. The mountains were swathed in cloud and the sky was red and yellow and reflecting off the low cloud. We found the rest of the table group at a wine bar, had a drink and then dinner at one of the recommended restaurants. It was delicious. It is quite exciting being on a cruise, and we are hoping for a sunny day tomorrow. After all we have trimmed our koala ears ready for togs!! 

Our spacious cabin

The dining room

A town along the way

Another town along the way

Me pretending to be soaking up the sun. You can see all the other passengers on the top deck doing the same!!

Coming into Makarska

Makarska

Makarska

A statue of St Peter

Us and St. Peter getting a little wind blown

The water is crystal clear

And a gorgeous colour

And the sunset!!!!

Our boat is second from the right

Saw this on the way home. Wondered if the dog was trained???

Doing the Split(s)

What a great day we've had exploring Split. We actually got out of the apartment at a decent time this morning and had breakfast at one of the many cafes around us.  We don't seem to be making good choices with restaurants as the food so far in Croatia has not been great.  There have been some very weird taste combinations! Anyway, mustn't complain too much as we are not having to cook!! 

After breakfast we made our way to the Diocletian Place to explore.  Part of it is full of little shops - Claudia bought herself a beautiful dry point etching - I sound like I know what I'm talking about don't I?! Anyway it's lovely and will look fantastic framed.  Although I thought it might be nice to buy some earrings, I got a bit overwhelmed with choice and didn't buy a thing! This is a good thing actually because while I've been away my Visa card has been skimmed somewhere (I've only used it twice) and some lovely person has taken $3500 out of the account fraudulently. I've had numerous phone calls with the bank and had to find a print shop in Rome to fill in a request for investigation form etc! The bank knows it was fraudulent and cancelled my card straight away, but the transaction still went through and now I have to wait some time before I can recoup my money.  My understanding is that once the investigation is complete, I'll get my money back, and the people I've spoken to on the phone have been great and fast tracked the investigation for me as I've told them that this constitutes my holiday savings - it's just a pain in the neck that my hard earned money has been taken by someone else! 

Anyway... On a more positive note, we then walked into a different area of the castle and saw signs to the bell tower.  For three euros, we were able to purchase tickets to climb to the top.  As I didn't climb Notre Dame, I thought I should give this a go! Claudia and I both got to a certain point (where the stairs changed from the original stone stairs to steel stairs) so as to be able to get to the very top.  These were only attached to one side wall of the tower - this freaked Claudia out big time as she has a fear of heights so she decided to stay put while I finished the climb.  She was almost a blubbering wreck and jammed herself into a corner until she could climb down again! The views over the city and the Adriatic Sea were fantastic. While we were climbing, the midday bell rang.  Thankfully I'm a bit deaf so it didn't bother me that much, but I noticed everyone else had their fingers in their ears!! 

After I returned to the ground, we wandered into a different part of the palace, listened to a group of male singers who were busking and then we went into the museum.  I'm not sure how to feel about this, but the guy behind the counter asked if we were seniors and Claudia said yes! We got a bit of a discount on the entry price but my confidence was shattered!! 

We had lunch back in our apartment and a bit of a rest before we set off again to explore the harbour.  We found where our boat leaves from tomorrow which is handy! We sat and had a glass of wine at the waterfront and watched the world go by which was a lovely relaxing thing to do. 

Not much more to report really except that Split is gorgeous and we're really glad that we included it in our itinerary. We have been having fun with the currency - I feel as if I've only just become used to using euros and now we have Kunas (we call them kahunas!) 100 euros is approx 600 Kunas. It's really hard getting your head around the huge numbers!! 

Did I mention that we also had a gelati at some point? 

This is around the comer from our apartment

Our breakfast spot

The supermarket is built into the arches of the palace

The bell tower

I think these guys are just actors

The scary stairs

Diocletian emperor

The palace was a convent for the Poor Clares in the Middle Ages and they built a chapel in what was originally one of the bedrooms in the palace.  This is quite ironic as the emperor used to torture Christians in the dungeons of the palace! 

A bedroom in the museum that replicates a bedroom in the late 19th century

Claudia looking resplendent

The waterfront 

We are in Split!!

Arrived here at around 8.30 after a day's travel. Well not really a whole day but it was rainy and awful in Rome and by the time we got to the station where we were going to leave our bags while we looked around, we had lost time and enthusiasm for it!! It was pretty wet so when it was time to get the shuttle bus I negotiated a price for a poncho, not for me as I had an umbrella, but for my suitcase. All went well till the poncho got caught in the wheel. As I was squatting down fixing it a man passed by wheeling a case which he wheeled into me as he passed and knocked me on my arse!! Helen had crossed the road already and when she looked back I was once again on the pavement!! This time without bruising. The plane (a Propellored Dash 8) was late leaving Rome but we arrived finally and went for dinner and a short look around. We are in the old roman walled town which was built by the roman emperor Diocletian in the 4th century. Can't wait to look further tomorrow. It is awesome. So is the apartment which is very spacious and comfortable. 

The old town 

Soooo spacious