Split & Ancona

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So the next morning I was moving to Split (also on the coast of Croatia) for a few days. I got up in plenty of time and walked to the bus station ticket in hand. Trains don’t run along the coast in Croatia so bus is pretty much the only option. The bus station doesn’t have any boards for which bus stops where or at what time, so I asked around the large group of people if this was the bus to Split that leaves at 11:30, and they said yes.



The heat was already sweltering, and of course the bus arrived late. I showed my ticket to the driver and he put my luggage in the hold with everyone else’s, but was charging everyone 7 Kuna for their luggage. I explained that I had already bought my ticket which included a suitcase or equivalent, but he just shrugged and said that was the fee. 7 Kuna is about 85p, so I didn’t bother arguing and just paid him so I could get on the bus. That should’ve been enough of a sign to tell me something was wrong, but of course you never listen to these things! The driver started driving when everyone had boarded, then about 15 minutes later, stopped the bus in a layby and started to check everyone’s tickets. When he checked mine, he shook his head and said “wrong company, not this bus”. The driver spoke very little English but luckily there was girl in front of me who translated me saying “but you already checked my ticket before I got on the bus and took my luggage!”. The driver apparently said that his company had cut staff and he didn’t have time to look at the tickets before we left the station, he said that he could only take me to Split if I bought a ticket with their company. It turns out there were two buses running to Split at the same time, and I had caught the wrong one. Well of-bloody-course I had.



It would be at least a 20 minute walk back to the station if I got off, and MY bus would have already left by the time I got back. I just had to suck it up and pay the extra ticket. It was only about £12, but bloody annoying all the same! The bus was also not a direct one, so stopped at every possible place along the way. I going to have to look at the silver lining here and say at least I got to briefly see a bit more of Croatia, but it also meant that I arrived about 2 hours later than I had planned and at the hottest part of the day.



I knew I shouldn’t have said I was finding the transport easy in my other blog! I jinxed myself and now it’s all gone tits up!



I paid another 50 Kuna for a taxi ride to the hostel, which was about a half hour walk away. I just couldn’t face walking in the heat again. I am learning to just close my eyes when taking any form of transport in central Europe. They are crazy! On pedestrian crossings, cars literally wait until your leg is about an inch past their bumper before they hit the gas and speed off past you. This taxi journey was no different.



After the afternoon heat had passed and I had settled into my hostel, I went for a walk around Split. It has a medieval castle in the middle of it, and loads of tiny streets around the castle and within the old ruin walls, which are full of boutique shops. The coast at the front of the town leads directly onto the harbour so has lots of boats passing in and out, and just around the corner is the market place, bus station, and ferry port.



After wandering around the town, I headed back to the hostel, but on the way I saw a band performing on one of the squares. It was a Beatles tribute band, and they were very good! They sang with English accents even though they spoke in Croatian, and they were being filmed to be streamed onto the internet (I think). Croatian people don’t need to be told to sing and dance, they love it! I saw this at the festival in Zadar, and the same here in Split. One of them was dancing, and if anyone remembers the Carlton dance from Fresh Prince of Bel Air – it was WAY more extravagant than that! It was hilarious!



The next day, I had a beach day at a couple of spots along the coast. The coastline here has more bays than a rolling beach, and all of the coastline is rocky rather than sand. I had a few swims in the sea, but the water is a lot more choppy here – maybe it was more windy or the ferries round the bay churn up the water. It just means that there’s a lot more sea crap in the water- you know like reeds and algae etc. I love the sea, but I hate when seaweed and stuff catches your legs in the water! I had to do the stupid kick your legs and swim in circles thing while shouting “Gedidoff gedidoff gedidoff!!” repeatedly.



I’m going to explain now why that day ended with me having trip in the back of a Croatian police car….but it really wasn’t anything to do with me!!!



On my way back to the hostel, I saw a tiny kitten lying down on a grass bank. I thought it was dead! But it did move when I touched it. It was such a hot day and it was so small it looked like it shouldn’t even be away from it’s mum. It didn’t have any food or water, sooooooo I couldn’t help it – I went to a shop and bought it creamed tuna and cheese and gave it some water. The little thing wolfed it! Yes, I’M AN OLD CRAZY CAT WOMAN! There, I said it! Now stop judging me! The only thing is, while I was feeding the little cat, something large and furry jumped on to my knee. I nearly had a heart attack! It was a little sandy coloured dog! The dog wasn’t going for the cat or anything, he just decided to jump on my knee and sit there! I looked around for an owner, and sat there or ten minutes, cat on one side and dog on the other, waiting for someone to collect these animals off me! Absolutely no-one arrived.



Whilst I know cats roam, and there are lots of strays in Croatia, this dog had two collars on but with no name or address – he definitely wasn’t a stray. I walked in the vicinity for another 15 minutes, carrying this bloody dog and asking people if they knew who he belonged to or what I should do with him. I was starting to have visions of me having to smuggle this dog into the hostel dorm while nobody was looking! Nobody knew who he belonged to, but a few people told me there was a police station a few streets away so I could try there. So off I walked, carrying this dog as I had no lead to walk him, and found the police station. I had to explain to a few police officers what had happened, and after a lot of them talking together with bold hand gestures, one of them told me that they would take the dog to the vet to see if he was microchipped. She then said, “so if you will carry the dog to the car we can take him to the vets”. I didn’t know this was going to involve me, but ok… fine! The police woman walked me past the cells in the basement and out to the parking lot and said – “please can you sit in the back of the car with the dog?”. Errrrrmmmmm ok I guess!



I was told not to worry about my seat belt when I reached for the strap, and the police woman drove the around for a little while mobile phone in hand, searching google maps for the nearest vets. Thankfully, we arrived, the vets found a microchip, and the vet called the owners for them to collect the dog. I sat in the waiting room holding this dog with the police officer speaking Croatian to all the other people sitting there. She explained after the owner had collected the dog, that the people in the waiting room said I must be a very nice lady, as most people in Croatia would not do that and would leave the dog to roam. She also said that it was lucky I arrived when she was on duty as she loves animals, but her colleagues don’t, and they were all just going to tell me to let the dog go and let it find its way back home. As if! There’s was no chance of me doing that – I’d be knocking on doors in every street first! The police officer, who I found out is called ‘Antonella’ (I probably misspelled that) drove me back to the station and we had a good chat about backpacking and how she would be too nervous to do it. Does that count as making a new friend? Anyway – good deed done for the day!



The next day I go up early to go on the excursion I booked for a tour of the Croatian islands by catamaran boat! The boat was clean and lovely with a massive deck space for everyone to sit, and also those nets at the front of the boat which hold you over the sea by bungee cords so you can lie over the water. The day was hot but with a perfect breeze as you cruised along, and I’d completely forgotten that the bar was included in the ticket. YES!!! They gave us breakfast sandwiches before our first stop which was to swim in a bay with amazingly clear and warm water. I even did a running jump from the deck into the water – and completely winded myself!! It must have been very inelegant. While we were there, the men on board were having competitions as to who could do the best back flips off the deck and into the water. They weren’t all from the same country and couldn’t always speak the same language, but you could tell they were taking the piss out of each other and getting on really well even so. They would all point and laugh when there was an obvious balls up and the man hit the water all arse about face. It was quite funny to see that the man doing these back flips the best must have been well into his seventies, and was absolutely ripping the other men for being so shit!



After our first swim, we visited the island of Hvar – which is apparently where all the famous people visit, and where Beyoncé found the name for her first child. We had a short walking tour around from a guide, and then just had enough free time to go to a few shops and try a lavender ice cream (It was a very strong flavour!) before getting back on the boat. We had dinner and a few more swim stops around the local islands, and then on the way back, it was announced that people were having their birthday on board and there would be free champagne and cake. After that a big dance party started up on board all the way back to Split. At one point in the day, they were playing some James Blunt with his lyrics about how life is brilliant, and I sat there after having a lovely swim and some lunch, beer in hand in the sun, and thought – at this moment in time, it bloody well is! It was a very nice day, and I finished it off on the shore buy buying myself a yummy steak at a restaurant.



The next day I was leaving Split to take the ferry over to Italy. It would take 9 hours to travel so I booked a hostel at the port in Ancona for an overnight stay. Ancona itself is a bit shitty – but I only booked it to sleep before heading to Florence the next morning. When I was walking to the hostel (on the pavement!), a 4x4 car hit a metal bollard a couple of foot away from me and sent it flying into the air, with a load of cement being sent all over the place and down my arm. The car beeped at another one, probably for cutting him up, seemed to ignore the bollard completely, and carried on driving away. I told you they were crazy! I’d booked this hostel at home, and obviously had not considered air conditioning at that point! D’oh!! The rooms were sweltering! So much so in fact, that I gave up on sleeping in the dorm and took my pillow and sheet up to the roof terrace and slept on the ceramic tiles underneath the stars. I was a little concerned about being eaten alive by insects and possibly hungry rats, but it was all worth it to be slightly cooler!



All for now!

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