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Grumbling about my decision to book a 6:00am ferry, I left the keys in the attic door to check out and hobbled down the steep stairs of my Korcula apartment. Of course, when I reached the bottom the front door could only be opened from the inside with a key. (Why is this so common in Europe? Major fire hazard) So I had to hobble back up to the attic again, keeping my weight on the ball of my foot to avoid the painful area near my heel. Thankfully the dock was only a few minutes away, and the boat had already arrived. I attempted to sleep, and was mildly successful until the crying babies and people playing videos on their phones all boarded in Hvar.
Split was still waking up too. I walked 20 minutes from the dock, through the quiet main promenade, and to the Hostel Dvor. It was a nice hostel, about $40 a night, and one of the best places I stayed on the trip. Clean bathrooms, free breakfast, a nice common area and patio, a desktop computer, only 3 beds in my room. Amazingly, my room was ready, so I got to unpack and take a shower right away. It brightened my spirit after the morning journey. Also there to greet me was my Cupertino friend Mark, a digital nomad who had been traveling south from Germany. Originally I was hoping we could overlap in several cities, but in the end, we converged only in Split. It was nice to see a familiar face and have a travel companion, even if we only had 1.5 days together. Mark was traveling even lighter than me, with a single large backpack. Throughout the day, I witnessed this expert traveler and intrepid navigator in action. Casual but inquisitive, he would ask interesting questions to guides and vendors we met (the mysterious barrel was full of sauerkraut). When he was in his hiking stride, I struggled to keep up with my irregular walking, but it was nice to be along for the ride for a change. Over meals, we caught up on our respective travels, reflecting on life at home and life on the road. He seemed like a natural rolling stone, enjoying the journey without tiring or gathering any moss. We started with a walking tour of the city, given by our guide Tomislav - apparently a common name in Croatia, as this was the name of their first king. He was very knowledgeable about the city's history, and delivered 2 hours of content with entertaining jokes. Though his humor was deadpan, we could tell he was relishing the delivery. The core of the city was originally Diocletian's Palace, a Roman Emperor who abdicated and built a fortified retirement home. Later, refugees moved into the ruins of the city, keeping many elements but modifying others. In the Venetian era, a larger set of walls were constructed, adding a shell around the Old Town with its own character. Architecturally, it was fascinating to see these layers of history being written and re-written on top of each other. Streets that suddenly became narrow, arches eclipsing arches, each wall a quilt of different materials. It's sad to think that the high cost of housing (due to tourism demand) is threatening its key legacy of continuous habitation. But as Tomislav mused, perhaps it's just the city's next chapter of adaptation and repurposing. For lunch, Mark and I checked out a casual seafood restaurant that was recommended on the tour. We got a ton of seafood for a good price, including calamari, anchovies, smelt, and prawns. But the amount of fried food was a bit overwhelming! We went back to the hostel so that Mark could work for a bit, which conveniently gave me some time for my own trip planning. For dinner, we headed to a small Italian restaurant called Villa Spiza that caught my attention with its great reviews and handwritten menus. We were lucky to get a table inside, with line of sight to the open kitchen. The veggie pasta was insanely good. Probably the best single dish of the entire trip. A glass of Croatian red wine and a tiramisu with a fresh coffee flavor rounded out the experience. The next morning, Mark checked out of Hostel Dvor and carried his colorful Cotopaxi backpack around the whole day. We visited a liquor tasting store to try "teranino," a Croatian spiced wine that's best described as "liquid Christmas." We meandered through Diocletian's Palace, encountering more charming alleyways and architectural Easter eggs. A delightful and sprawling fruit market kept us busy for an hour. We snacked on some green figs and plums, watching amateur fisherman by the harbor. Later we took a ferry from Split to the tiny town of Trogir, another old city with a Venetian atmosphere. Unfortunately, Mark only had an hour to walk the perimeter before catching a bus to the nearby airport (part of the premise for choosing Trogir). I stayed another hour, entering the beautiful cathedral of St. Lawrence and viewing the city from its iconic tower. But due to the ferry schedule, I couldn't linger either. Back in Split, I embarked on a quest for 7 items. I was successful in procuring tickets and groceries for my Krka day trip, extra cash from the ATM, more band aids, a bottle of teranino, and a filling "cevapcici" (regional dish with minced meat sticks served between two pieces of bread). I was not able to find a replacement drawstring bag, despite visiting several stores in several parts of town. As fate would have it, I found one the next day at a tiny souvenir shop in the tiny town of Skradin. Who would have guessed? Sometimes things work themselves out! Krka National Park was my next destination. It was cheaper to go on an organized tour, even though it was theoretically possible to get there using public transportation. Furthermore, I benefitted from the shoulder season discount; the price I was charged was lower than advertised in the hostel. We met at the booking agency in the Old Town, then turned around and rapidly walked to a bus that ended up being close to my hostel (sorry foot). From there, we drove an hour to the port of Skradin. Along the way, I had a nice chat with an Asian-German woman sitting next to me. We had some down time in Skradin, so I snacked on figs and admired beautiful swans in the harbor. Finally, we boarded a boat and went upstream through a marsh-lined valley of green to reach the park. The park is quite large, and we only visited the most famous set of waterfalls. At our own pace, we walked a loop trail that hugged the river banks, crossing it twice. The first crossing was a treacherous selfie corridor with scarce elbow room. I let the bolus of tourists disperse ahead of me. The waterfalls were impressive not in their height or majesty, but in their width, their gentle curvature, and the vibrant land plants and aquatic mosses framing them. Along the trail was an exhibit about the local hydropower station, the second in the world to be built (just days after Niagara Falls). Fun fact, Nikola Tesla was born in Croatia, so he was also woven into the exhibit. But the wildlife was the real highlight of the hike. Enormous schools of fish loitered in the clear water, tantalizingly close, as if you could reach out and grab one. Dragonflies buzzed, and nonchalant herons poked around the falls. Sadly, pink wildflowers were trampled by disrespectful tourists going off the trail. Our upbeat guide corraled the group back into the bus, and we stopped back in Skradin for a lunch break. I had some lukewarm charcuterie on the river beach - a slightly sad meal. Afterwards, part of group (myself included) went on a side trip for some wine tasting at Sladic Winery. The flight included four wines: a white Marastina, a rose, a red Plavina, and a dessert Prosec. The first and last were pretty good, but the middle two were bad. Our group made small talk but the overall dynamic was a bit muted. I'm still glad I went, as wine tasting in Croatia was an experience I wanted to try. Back in Split, I tried to settle into a casual night, but my new roommate was an extremely chatty German. After multitasking through my essential packing, I capitulated to the conversation. We went down to the common area and I shared some teranino, later finishing the bottle to lighten my pack for the next adventure.
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