Last days in Split Croatia

05.05.2012

After quick goodbyes we all went our separate ways, 2 couples from the boat were staying the night in Split so I followed them to the Old Town Hostel, where I got a bed in an 8 bed dorm, first real experience in a hostel situation.

The room was super small for 8 people, but it was comfy enough and only cost 110 kunas.

Spent the day going to the laundrette and chilling out trying to get over my cold, also tried to organize my life for the next few weeks and figure out where I am heading next. Do I go North and around the coast to Venice, or do I catch the ferry over to Ancona? In the end I just went with the ferry as it was t easiest option, however it will be like a long haul flight of 12 hours in a plane seat, but at least I can walk around the ferry and go outside etc.

Looked for accommodation etc in Ancona but don’t think it’s a very big place with much going on so I then figured I’d go to either Naples or Rome via train, decided that I’d just to straight to Rome, then travel down the coast to Naples & Pompeii.

So I have booked into a hostel that was the cheapest but the highest rated, however on their ad it says ‘If you think loud is the new black then this is the hostel for you’, its called Yellow Hostel and it’s in an awesome location, so with cheap, clean and location all good then I think I can deal with loud. Booked in for 3 nights so far then will see how I get on from there as to if I will stay any longer, also need to look into getting an Italy rail pass so save a bit of money.

Have also decided that after Italy I’m going to head to Spain to do some Wwoofing, have joined the Spain website and have emailed a couple of farms so far that sound amazing so hopefully will hear back from them soon.

Had a real quiet evening at the hostel, we watched Sherlock Holmes and I went to bed, tomorrow I will be having a relaxed day in Split, will head to a beach and work on my Italian.

06.05.2012

My last day in Split was very cruisy, went on a mission with Daniel a guy I met at the hostel from Auckland, we went up the big hill behind the town then headed towards the beach to meet up with the others from the hostel who took the easy way to get there.

On the way down, the road was taking us ages so we found a track with old stone steps that seemed to lead us downhill a lot faster so we checked that path out. It led us to a little church, and by little I mean probably about 5m x 4m, it had graffiti on the side of it and looked like it hadn’t been used for years from the outside.

Against the big wooden doors at the front were vases with flowers in them so we had a look through the windows and saw that it had an altar with only 2 wooden stands for kneeling and placing your bible on like you would at church. I stuck my camera underneath the grate on the open window and took a photo so we could see more clearly what was inside cause it was pretty dark.

We kept on heading down the hill and eventually came to the beach and met up with the others, they all went for a swim while I looked after everyones stuff, the water looked a bit dirty for my liking, not sure I wanted to swim with rubbish after having a week of swimming in beautiful water. So I just sat in the sun and read my Lonely Planet to get some ideas of what to do and when, the guys that I was with helped me out heaps. 3 of them were from the US and there was Dan from NZ, they also inspired me to drive across the states on my way to Canada and told me the best way to do it. Really awesome guys, all of them are just taking it as it comes with their traveling, not really making too many plans in advance. 2 of them are traveling together, John & Chris, then the other John is on his own and Dan is on his own.

Headed back to the hostel to watch another movie while waiting for my boat, I met a girl yesterday called Kendall from San Diego, we went and got some food and snacks for the ferry cause she was also heading to Ancona.

Once on the ferry we went to grab a beer and it was a wake up call to how cheap Croatia is, but we managed to talk the bar staff into giving us 2 beers for the price of 1, legends.

Kendall got a cabin and I only got a seat which I wasn’t so much looking forward to, but after we set sail we went and checked it out and the other bed in her cabin wasn’t taken, so I brought my stuff down there and hoped that no one would walk in at some stage.

It was dark outside and not much to do on the ferry that wouldn’t cost money so we just went to the cabin and read for a bit before going to sleep, just after getting comfy though there was a really loud noise that came through the wall, kind of like a whooshing sound like an airplane toilet but went on for about 10 seconds and scared the crap out of us both.

About 15mins later it happened again and we were really concerned that this was going to happen throughout the night….and it did, it got progressively further apart in timing but each time it woke us both up completely. Most people know about my sleep talking and antics, not sure what it was but a mixture of paranoia that I was going to get in trouble for sneaking into a cabin and this crazy noise that kept going off really messed with me and I some really crazy dreams.

I kept thinking that the noise was an alarm set off by my weight on the bed and they could tell that there was someone sleeping there without paying for it, so about 3 times I got my blanket and folded it us the way it was when I first got to the cabin in an attempt to then say to the officials that I didn’t use the linen so what’s the problem haha, yes I possibly am a bit insane.

Then I had a dream that officials actually did come in and tell me off and told me to leave, but I fell asleep again waking up paranoid that they were going to come back.

Anyway, so I didn’t have the greatest sleep in the world but at least I was horizontal in a dark room and not sitting upright in the airplane seating.