Long time no post. Update... we left Istanbul 5 days ago and flew to Split, Croatia. Croatia is one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen. Think Santa Monica Blvd meets a small village with all teracotta roofs and tons of yachts! We spent an evening in Split at a sweet bed and breakfast who had a little dog, named Roxy! I mention this because I finally got some puppy kisses and filled my tank a little from missing Zeta so much.
From Split, we took a ferry across the Adriatic to Hvar Town, Croatia where we spent 2 full days. Dave King found the best rooms with air conditioning, big beds and shower heads you didn't have to hold- it's the little things! Hvar Town is absolutely wonderous. Boats of all sorts line the harbor big and small, along with palm trees and a great path you can walk all around. The first day we split up and the Haases and Murphys found a local resort you could pay to get into with cozy chairs that overlooked the ocean. We spent the day sipping cocktails and relaxing. The Kings, Houghtons and Chris rented scooters (like we did in Santorini) and cruised around town. We then met back up for a little 4th of July pizza along the shore! Sort of wierd without fireworks!
While walking around the main strip, the wierdest thing yet happened- all of a sudden we hear someone yell down from a hotel room above us "Are you guys from Menlo Park?" How random is that?? Tim Murphy had an Oasis Bar and Grill t-shirt on and the guy noticed it immediately- turns out he was from Portola Valley right next door- what a small world!!
The next day we rented two little boats- and I mean little dingys. We cruised over to some nearby islands and found a fantastic cove to swim in and have a picnic lunch. We snorkeled and enjoyed the scenery. Upon heading back to Hvar, we found another small island complete with full on bar, hammocks, couches, pool, etc... Clearly we stationed there for about four hours- talking, napping and reading. There is nothing better than staring out at the ocean from a comfy couch while reading a book and not having a job!! My life is so hard right now... Dad, the best part is one the way back we divided girl and guy boats and I drove the boat! See my years of water navigation paid off (until I completely freaked out upon entering the harbor filled with big boats and swimmers- DK jumped on to take over!) Don't think power steering, think propeller with a handle and pull start!
Hvar town was truly wonderful and a place I would recommend everyone getting back to at some point in their lives. The only interesting downside to Croatia is that the people are actually not friendly at all! Kind of baffling since there life seems perfect and surrounded by calm beauty all the time. We rented cars in Croatia to drive to Slovenia (more on that next) and the rental lady was horrible! National Rent a Car Croatian style charges the full amount of the car to your credit card until you return it unharmed!! So, DK and Stephen have $10k each sitting on their cards right now and worst part is one of the cars has a mysterious dent- wish us luck. The key part of the story is that when we asked the lady about the charges, more so argued with the lady, etc... her response was "Welcome to Croatia..." Geez... all in all though the people weren't getting us down.
Moral of the story- Croatia should be added to your top places to visit before you die and if you have the funds- do it yacht style!
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