Big catchup from Split-part one

Lotsa blogging to do tonight to catch up. So rambling commencing!

October 26th: Mljet-the ride on the Ferry had spectacular views of the rocky coastline of Croatia. White rocks and green trees. Mljet is an adventure. Beautiful and terryfying (if you have a heights issue). Spectacular views but vertigo inducing. Single land roads occasionally with huge serpentine curves and drop offs on one side & rock on the other. If you meet a car you back up to a place you can pull off & let them pass. We got lucky and mostly met people when we were at the pull offs. We're here off season so very few people are on the island (except the locals). The Island population is around 1200 (it's only 50 kilometers long and 5 kilometers wide). Most of the shops are closed up for winter. But we found a nice restaurant (Antika) for dinner where the nice young woman spoke flawless English. We quickly learned that's not so true on most of the Island. I thought I'd learned enough to get by, but you never really do...not in a few weeks!!! The town was Palace (Pah-lahch-ay) because of a large palace in ruins just as you leave the village.

So it looks like a full moon and last night a big storm blew through the Island and took the power & water out from the place we're staying. So we roughed it mostly the first night. The place is inside the national park...an island within the island (2 lakes internal to the island). We ended up killing 7 giant moths within the first half hour...13 before we slept. The last one was taunting me, hiding in the light fixture & peaking out.

October 27th Day two Mljet: We explored after Ahnka (our host along with her husband Nikola and son Ivan who we only saw the first night because Ahnka was ill) laughed at us crazy city people afraid of a few birds & butterflies (imagine playing charades to explain a large moth infestation). We drove to the end of the island (takes about an hour) and took pictures on the beach, no swimming this time of year but my God I've never seen such clear water!!! We had lunch at a pizza place-Riva Pizzaria, lotsa pizza places here-the few of the shops still open, only saw one McDonald's , no such thing as diet coke, just coke zero...if you're lucky. But who needs coke when the wine is so good!!! We visited a cemetery and mostly just drove, admired the views and thankfully Ralph likes to drive as I think I'd have trouble on the one way mountain roads.

The house is gorgeous the view is gorgeous. It was only the first night we had the moth issue. We decided it would be a good setting for a mothman movie, perhaps starring Ivan (since we haven't seen him since our arrival). :) Ahnka made an absolutely amazing meal for us on the 2nd night. I think our best meal in Croatia. 2 bottles of wine (Patti & I shared). Ahnka is working on her English and has one of the best laughs. Such fantastatic characters. 3 cats, Babic (Babich) one and Babic two and Carot. We had trouble understanding what she was saying until she said "you know, vegetable....ca-rote". He begged for food rather aggressively. I hit him in the eye with a piece of bread (by accident) but he was climbing Patti's leg for a piece of her fish. We finished our wine playing cards (Ralph & Pattie taught me 3-13...I lost rather supremely!) and were happy we killed no giant moths the second night.

Patti Memories: Walking the beautiful property, the ruins of an old stone house, being stalked by a black cat we later learned was either Babic 1 or 2. Patti rounded a corner and saw Nikola peeing by the house but quickly turned back around. Ahnka's laugh at her describing the moths (hiding in her hoddie and flapping her fingers to explain). What a laugh!!!

October 28th: Day 3 Mljet/Day 1 Trogir: This morning on the drive to the Ferry we passed an older woman walking down a hill with a donkey (picture postcard of old world Croatia). We didn't photograph her though as we didn't want to be rude. There was a gorgeous low hanging fog over the higher hills. The air is very still. I can totally see the enchantment of this island from early days (Greek and Roman settlements). While waiting for the Ferry we learn that Croatia has changed their clocks back...so we have an hour to wait. Could have used the extra hour of sleep. We stop in Ston to eat and have a fabulous (and LONG) lunch at Strogir (I think) where Renalto was very kind to us, and flirtatious. We have photos, upon his insistence...and I got my second sort of proposal.

We drive the gorgeous coast. The entire country is enchanting. The fog on the mountains/cliffs, white stone with the white houses & orange tile roofs. Like driving in a painting!

Sunset is spectacular! The water is calm, the mount covered in fog, the low hanging clouds part just enough to spread an orange glow over the still Adriatic.

Stipe and Mara (Patti's friend Zoran's parents, our hosts for the next 4 nights) are wonderful as well. They lived in America for 30 years but have returned home.

October 29th Day 2 Trogir: We took a drive up the coast highway to Krka National Park and stopped first to eat (another accidental long lunch) at Skradin then walked the path by Skradinski Buk waterfalls. The walk way was lined with people selling alcohol and cuts. Lots of vendors and only a few tourists, despite the gorgeous weather. After visiting such beauty we happened thru a small town that had one end of it bombed out and grafitti filled. Memorials beside the road, I think it was Dubrovice but I'm not sure. Patti checked with Zoran and he said that was about as far as the fighting came to the coast. Hard to comprehend that so close to beauty was such despair. We learned the park was quite damaged as well. But many new buildings are going up and life seems to be getting back to normal. It is disturbing to see a few nazi swastica's grafiti'd. I suppose that happens. We also need to look up Heroj Ante Gotovina, it looks like a general from the pictures. Grafiti has Ante everywhere too. Though it does seem to be a very common name.

We passed through Sibenik (Shee-bah-neek) which unlike many coastal towns was settled by Croat tribes not Illyrians or Romans.

We walked into the walled city of Trogir for dinner at a Pizzaria Stipe recommended (Merker?), I had a fantastic Rozotto with peas & ham, baked. MMMMM. Patti shared her olives (fresh here, lots of olive trees everywhere). Trogir (formerly Trau) and Trogurian in Roman times) was an Illyrian settlement the Croats took over in the 7th century. A large fortress built inthe 15th century used to connect to the walls. The old gazibo is now graffiti covered was built by Frenchman Marshal Marmont during the Napoleonic occupation. Nearby Makarsak was populated by Slavs in the 7th century and they set up a booming piracy business to disrupt Ventian shipping. Venetian warships were trounced there in 887 and hd to pay thereafter for the right to sail past the settlement. Under the Turks it became an important port for the salt trade from Bosnia and Hercegovina.

Mara greeted us 3 mornings with Polencinkas (poo-lahn-cheen-kaas) which are a kind of crepe or pancake with syrup or jam inside. Yummy (I'm writing a lot about food here aren't I?). Mara was also kind enough to do a couple loads of laundry for us...odd to walk home from dinner and see your jeans drying from a deck in Croatia!

One complaint about our accomodations...very close to a rooster who didn't just crow at dawn...but often...I swear he was hoarse he crowed so much! We plotted chicken dinners every morning. Ha.

We walked around day three at Salona (Solin), ruins from the 2nd century BC and thru to Diocletian's time and on to the middle ages. The ruins are amazing. The first Christian martyred by Diocletian is burried there (he persecuted the most of all Roman Emperors, according to a brochure). We visited an amphitheater where 18,000 would cheer on the torture of Christians. Nearby is the cemetery where they buried the martyrs. 119 BC Solin was mentioned as the center of the Illyrian tribe. The Romans seized the site in 78 BC. Under Augustus it became the administrative headquarters of the Roman Dalmatian province. The Slavs and the Avars levelled Solin in 614 and it was left to decay. The amphitheater was destroyed in the 17th centuryby the Venetians to prevent its use as a refuge by Turkish raiders. Diocletian was born in the area and began a 10 year construction in 295 to retire there. After his death the palace was used by other Roman rulers. When Salona was abandoned in the 7th century many of the romanized inhabitants fled to Split and barricaded themselves behind the high palace walls where their descendents live on to today.

Then yummy home made pasta at Kristian's at Trogir. A good local wine from Vis I think. The lunch was rucno izrudena tjestenina...if you were wondering.

October 31st our first and only total rain out day. We went into Split by the harbour and Diocletian's Palace and saw "Rendition". A bit disturbing to hear people cheer when a man says something like "beat your wife every morning, if you don't know why you do it, she does." Kind of odd to be surrounded by people who probably have a much different perspective of American politics, war and torture, and see this film. The travel books tell you the people don't want to talk about the war/troubles (12-15 years ago) so we can't exactly strike up a conversation casually about their thoughts. We are stopped by a man outside the theater who hears our American accents, and asks us for a job. Wish we could.