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                     Europe 2010                        

Tuesday 6th. July 2010
This morning was another early start getting up at 6:00am to catch the bus at 7:15am. The day was again hot and sunny with the estimated maximum being in the low 30's, but still humid. We caught the 8:30am ferry to the island of Hvar. It was a two hour journey arriving at Stari Grad at exactly 10:30am. From here we drove to the township of Jelsa, another one of those picturesque seaside villages that seemed to have nothing to offer except places to eat. All at reasonable prices, and packed with holiday makers. We climbed up to the church at the top of the hill, took some photos and then descended into the town and took some more photos.
 

 We then walked about 2kms along a path that overlooked a number of small beaches until we came to the town of Vrboska, took some more photos before getting into the bus again and driving to Hvar town for lunch.
 

In Hvar town, we had a very nice tuna salad and 500ml of local beer to quench the thirst in the heat. We took some more photos of the boats in the harbour and of the narrow streets with their beautiful stone walls.
 

We then got back into the bus and were driven along the "Old Road" to Brusje  passing the thousands of piles of stones and the fields of lavender. It is very harsh countryside being both hot and dry.
 

We once again descended from the hills down to sea level to the township of Stari Grad. Had a quick look at the town, including a dear old fellow aged 92 who was mending a fishing net, had an even quicker swim, before catching the 5:30pm ferry for the two hour ride back to Split. On the way back, the birds float above the ferry in the air currents it created making it an ideal photo shooting opportunity.
 

Wednesday 7th. July 2010
The day began quite controversially when we discovered that all the luggage wouldn't fit in the bus. So with the bus crammed with luggage and suitcases in the aisle we set off to Trogir, some 30 minutes from Split. Trogir was the location of a recent film as it was one of the few places the producers thought looked like ancient Venice. It was beautiful  like all the other towns along the coast. We had a tour of the local cathedral and gave 5 kuna to a local folk singer who was busking. We bought a couple of small paintings from one of the local artists for about A$70 (350 Kuna).
 

After about an hour we took the bus back to Split, for a guided tour of Diocletien's palace, with our local tour guide Anna who grew up in Canada. Apparently Diocletien was the only Roman emperor not to be assassinated. He did this by declaring in 295 AD that he would secede from power in 10 years time. Between 295 - 305 AD he built this palace at Split as his retirement place. Since that time developments have filled in the spacious grounds with more buildings, temples etc until the palace area looks became much like the rest of the old city with narrow paved alleys, small squares, restaurants and coffee shops. We spent time in the basement of the palace as this is the best preserved part. It is the best preserved because all the waste and excrement from those living above was just thrown down below and it solidified. It has only been in the last few years that archeologists have unearthed these vaulted rooms. We went back up to street level and listened to an accapella group singing traditional Croatian folk songs in a circular walled part the palace with excellent acoustics. We bought their CD for about A$20 (100 kunas).
 

At about 2:30pm we boarded a much larger and luxurious bus and drove south for about the next 4 hours. We had a short stop in Bosnia before crossing back into Croatia. We passed shell fish farms and passed through numerous villages.
 

We stopped and had dinner at a little village called Zamaslina, then caught the ferry across to the island of Mljet. We arrived at the Hotel Odisej in Pomena at about 10:00pm and went to bed.