How to kill time in Split

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Arrived this morning on time despite the hour + delay. Everyone in chairs slept miserably, shifting from one uncomfortable position to the next. Although people were relieved to arrive as scheduled I was a bit disappointed.
Completely unfamiliar with the country, language, exchange rate, location of my arrival in relation to the port I need to be at in a few hours. So I sat at the Port cafe and oriented myself according to logic and observation. The coffee sharpened my thoughts and the brioche gave me the boost to get on and explore. With a canvas military style duffel bag and my backpack both weighing on me I walked at a slow snail pace. Admired and took in the architecture, it is port like, duh, and mixed with old and new buildings. I walked through the fresh food market at the early hour of 7 am. The vendors freshly set everything up and the first customers made their selections from the primary offerings. Peppers here are a light translucent yellow green, like celery. The meat has a rotted stink smell and didn’t look well preserved, but maybe that’s how they like it here in Croatia. The bread and pastry shops were tempting but weary to buy anything and carrying a heavy load, I passed them all by. There are sea stone arches in the historic district and the moon was hanging above a church tower in the bright light blue sky. The sidewalks are made of white and grey marble. Side streets filled with a variety of shops were tiny, narrow alleys for small unassuming people and empty for wandering souls like me to take in. I found the fish market, fresh fish with wide eyes and the sea breeze lifted the scent of sea water and marine life up my nose and circulated it around the square. I stopped in a beautiful hotel reception area to ask directions to the port ACI Marina. It had colorful stained glass windows with Chagall like designs. After a fifteen, or twenty minute leisurely walk to the port along the rocky seaside, I rested on a white bench facing sailboats.
The charter authority didn’t come until 8:30 and she told me I would have to wait until 3 pm to board the ship. I left my duffel bag with her and walked all the way back to the central area from before. Determined to finish my boat errands before eating again, I backtracked through side streets and shops to find what I needed. Around 11, exhausted of pointless and unsuccessful shopping I bought a hat from the first store I visited. Found a ‘pizzeria’ without a pizza oven and decided to park myself there for a while.
At the restaurant I had a small bottle of white wine, called Malvazija, water and a bowl of fish soup to start. The clear broth with parsley, rice, and white fish was unpretentious, clean, and refreshing. I followed that with a mixed salad of lettuce, cucumbers, cabbage, and tomatoes. Also arrived a basket of sliced bread to mop up my soup and dressing. I ate it audibly, enjoying the soup enormously. After I finished I ordered a walnut waffle; more like a crepe with creme, walnuts, and chocolate. Everything tasted great. Better yet, it was early lunch time and I had the restaurant to myself with excellent service from the owner, all while sitting on the patio facing the palm tree lined harbor. It cost me 92 kuna, a translation of 13 euro, which included a 22% gratuity- its nice to be the boss. Everything was local, fresh, and delightful. In the end I had only burned away around two hours, and had at least three hours of waiting left for David.
I slept in a park for an hour, fatigued in the heat. The brown grass, agave cacti, hot mediterranean air all made me deliriously bored with my heavy backpack and aching swollen teeth and jaw. I sat at the dock for another hour and half, the annoyingly cute girl behind the counter told me how tired I looked. Then she broke the bad news to me that my hosts wouldn’t be coming until after 4 pm. I sulked burning more and more in the sun. Around 3 I finally boarded the Julius Caesar. A catamaran more wide and long than I’ve ever been on, it is a Nautitech 47 (47 feet long...) with cabins for 12 people. I dropped my things in the lounge and found a bed to pass out on. Blue and white striped bed, my legs hanging off the wooden bunk; I opened all the windows and let the breeze clear the hot air out. I slept a half hour before I heard someone board. Thinking it was David I jumped up. Instead I found Bruno, our capitan/skipper. Disoriented from the fatigue and discombobulated from fresh sleep I gurgled a few incoherent words and went back to lay down. Another twenty minutes passed and I got up to look for David. I saw Barbara, Sara, and David with a breathtakingly tan Italian family. We loaded up the ship and the adventures and talking began.
The sunset as we pulled out of the harbor, with large transport vessels causing us to shake. It took some work putting the sail together. This was because Bruno and Joe (the cook) hadn’t ever worked together before.
We stopped in a small bay and had dinner. Listened to live music and all eight of us returned in the tiny dingy. Sara and I cuddled up on the trampoline and stared at the stars until we fell asleep under blankets and the stars.

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