Ok, we could live here

Via Marisa:

Had to take a pic at the giant hook

Today couldn't possibly be any worse than yesterday, we told ourselves when we awoke beneath the itchy brown blankets of Hotel Icko. It should be mentioned that the phenomenon of two single beds pushed together, each with their own little comforter, had before seemed like a European oddity, but one with which we quickly became obsessed and now missed in our current room. We have dubbed the little separate covers as "the cocoon," because you can wrap yourself up in it like a little sleeping bag, and we were pissed that Staringrad didn't deliver! Rather, we had to share a bed and both of us yanked the covers back and forth all night long. And poor Jenn's feet hung over the edge a little bit.

House in Trogir

Anyway. We accidentally slept through our hotel's complimentary breakfast-but given the Nazi-like reception staff and the local habit of drinking one's dinner, we figured we weren't missing much.

We packed up as quickly as we could and hopped in the car to head south toward Split, the jumping off point to the many islands in the area. The scenery was beautiful, with the highway jutting through rocky cliffs framed by pine trees and brilliant blue water off in the distance. The sun, even at 10:30 am, was surprisingly strong. Fair-skinned as I am, I had to put on sunscreen as I was starting to burn just sitting in the passenger seat. Of course, Jenn continued to get tanner-no fair!

We stopped in two cute little beach towns along the way to Split, the first being Primosten, a tiny hillside village with narrow cobblestone streets. We wandered a bit and stopped at the town square for an espresso, where there were tons of young men outside drinking (it was about five after noon, after all), in addition to a muttering old man carrying a large wheel of cheese in a plastic bag. He walked by our table continuously and held the bag up in front of us, hoping we were interested. We weren't.  Next we stopped in Trogir, a much larger but equally charming town with some old Roman ruins still standing next to the sea. We decided then and there that we both need to move to Croatia and buy a little flat where we will live. I will write my first book (which will pay for our yacht), while Jenn will tame a herd of local dogs and lead them around the area and do good deeds and such. Kind of like the Pied Piper, but with a better tan. If anyone would like to contribute money toward our vision, please do let us know.

Marisa in Trogir

When we arrived in Split, we were thrilled to discover that our hotel a) was really cute, unlike Hotel Icko, and b) had the twin bed/cocoon arrangement. We dropped off our stuff and drove the two km into Split, the second largest city in Croatia, which has a long seaside promenade lined with palm trees and cafes, and an old Roman castle/town to wander through (though mostly filled with touristy shops and places to drink one's dinner). It actually reminds us a lot of Italy, minus the chest hair and the catcalls. Though we have witnessed a bit of both regardless.

While sitting down to lunch, we saw the first of many kittens dash by our table. For those who know me, I am about as obsessed with cats as Jenn is with dogs. These kittens, however, were a bit dodgy. Upon closer inspection, they were really scrawny, and only some of them actually had two eyeballs. There were many more running around along the waterfront-mostly clustering around dumpsters. It made me sad, so Jenn generously agreed that her herd of wild dogs would use some of its power to help the local cats.

Roman ruins in Trogir

After lunch, we had our first gelato of the day-it was scrumptious. I'm in love with the chocolate-hazelnut flavor. We explored the ruins and took plenty of photos, and then decided we would follow Lonely Planet's "directions" to a "trail" leading to nearby "hills" overlooking the water and which was supposedly lined with little chapels. I use quotation marks because, after many turns, consultations of our map, and the climbing of different stairways, we found ourselves in sprawling residential neighborhood filled with locals who glared at us like we'd robbed a bank or something. It was below a set of hills of sorts, but there was no way we were going to get to the top unless we had some climbing gear. Damn you, Lonely Planet! So we walked back to the waterfront and sat on the second floor balcony of a bar to watch the sun set, and people-watched for a while, trying to guess the nationalities of the passersby. Then we had our second gelato of the day, even better than the first-I had dark chocolate, and Jenn had Snickers. As we walked back to the car, we noted that no one sitting at the cafes was eating, only drinking. We could, of course, get used to this whole gelato/alcohol combo, but only if we have a substantial meal earlier in the day.

Split Coastline

Now we're back at our hotel, drinking a little vino and preparing to get up early to jump on a ferry to the island of Hvar in the morning. Hopefully we'll have some good tales to tell!