Friday 20th August

 

20-08-04   Day 48 (on the big brother ferry)

Our waterfall quest seemed destined for failure when the anticipated train was not mererly late (as is to be generally expected in balkan countries), but completely failed to even exist.

Never fear though, $5:20 -two-bus-journey - dehydration - and - heat - stroke - later we were gussivig for a boat into the refreshingly green National Park.I had had about 4 hours sleep as I couldn't cool down properly until 2am and so the travelling became more stressful as it went on. The first thing that we learned was that Croatia does not have a queuing system - the bus station is small enough as it is and nobody could tell us which of the 4 stands our bus would leave from as everyone was milling around and as soon as a bus arrived everyone rushed to it and pushed and shared as if it was going to leave without them, until they realised it wasn't the right one and went back to milling again. The bus driver was a tad edgy and so I spent much of the 2 hour journey trying not to be sick. Then when the bus became full and people were having to stand, there was were sitting in the aisle seats with a free window seat next to them decide bother to move over. And so we concluded, also after being shoved out of the way in several (muched) oppressive, that the croatians are the rudest nation we have come accross so far.

We also discovered that some of them are quite thick. On trying to find the train station in Strinack, we stopped at 2 fruit + veg stalls, asked in 3 different languages for directions (granted not Croatian, not that it would have made any difference!) and made a thoroughly comprehendable "choo-choo" action but they didn't have a clue. However the guy at the train station spoke 3 words of English yet still managed to convey to us what times we could get back to Split. Yet another point of interest - I don't think any of our buses have been on time yet, nor the trains. Plus, they need to build their main train stations in the centre of towns which just leads to traffic congestion andas a result spending twice as long as necessary on the bus...and also a not very nice town. Ok, so we let Croatia off because they are not that long out of war and are a "young" country but there's some work to be done to drag it out of a 3rd world country status.

The countryside we passed through has been so dry with 'scratchy' grass and feeble trees. The roads are dusty and the heat makes it feel Arabian. The coastline is rocky but with exotic bright blue strips alongside and the water is so clear.

The queue for the ferry was a little tedious but we at least there was a queue and we busied ourselves with singing lesson no.2. We thought £6 for parking entry was a bit steep but we flashed our ISICards and got in for £4, cheaper than the kids, and about time too! We thought it would be nice and quiet but it seemed like whoeverwhilst fit onto a Croatian beach had come to sunbathe in the grass instead. The first bridge gave us great views of the waterfall and as we climbed up they got even better. We stopped for lunch with a perfect view of it (our best lunch spot yet). But soon enough the tourists who took it in turns to pose in front of it got on our nerves and we climbed down to go and lay in the grass in peace, with just the sound of the crashing water. A crazy Irish packet with a big beard was one of a few swimming in it until they got chucked out. So we followed the paths across the waterfall and in between the trees and over rivers which was really shady and relaxing. Definitely a good idea to get out of Split andrealise Croatia isn't all about the camping. We nearly fell asleep on the ferry ride back to the town, which we wandered around (not taking long) and where we bought my dinner (consisting of a packet of crisps and a yoghurt). We sat by the quay for a while and watched an amusing incident involving 2 sunbathing girls and a wet dog. The bus ride back was quicker and more expensive (yet more illogical like) which gave us ample time to get the train, which was rather warm, to somewhere where we changed and got another train to Split. I think I prefer Split by night as the lights are pretty and you can't see the skyscrapers when we arrived we were nearly asleep on our feet. Friday night in Split - it's been in twelve places eg Hriststanton. Groups hanging around on the street ominously stuck for things to do. I don't even remember trying to get to sleep...

It was a most beautiful waterfall, not ruined by the hordes of tourists, but the episode of the lunch spot does require comment. We had just finished eating (apple & cheese...mmmm...) when a group of German women (perhaps) started 'ooo'ing' and 'ahhh'ing at the three young guys enjoying the view from this sort of viewing platform pulpit thing that had been constructed by bedrock to encourage people to take photos. We looked on in interest as they succeeded in getting their attention and then reacted in horror as they made elaborate foreign hand gestures that conveyed their belief that there was a right X second time limit on the use of this pulpit and it was by right their turn.

I fumed like I have rarely fumed before