Trip to Europe-Day 2

A Day of Firsts:

Ordering at Restaurants, Learning the Lingo, Our Driver,
Experiencing Split

Got up this morning around 7:30am and made coffee. The sun was just starting to come up over the sea--so beautiful reflecting off the water.

It felt so good to shower after traveling over two days. The shower in the villa is less a shower and more a big tub with a hand held shower. With no curtain or door. Or covering on the window to the outside. So like any good modest American, I sat in the tub and took my shower. Never mind that the darn thing got away from me like a wild fire hose and sprayed my clean clothes and the toilet paper. It was all part of the experience, right?

Suni called a taxi service and hired a driver for the day. He arrived to pick us up around 9am, but we didn't go down until around 9:30. We were surprised to see him sitting on the terrace with Eckhardt and Suzi having coffee and patiently waiting on these American women.



His name was Goran and he became the best tour guide, educating us about the culture and language of his country. He seemed to truly enjoy practicing his English with us, as well as teaching us how to say words in Croatian.

He drove us to Trogir (Tro-geer), which is a walled harbor village just across the bridge from the island we stayed on, Ciovo (Chee-ow-vo). There were sailboats all along the harbor and outdoor cafés outside the city walls just beckoning us as we got out of the cab. We stopped at each café and discovered that they all only served coffee (or beer---hey, it's 5:00 somewhere, right?) except for one and they are all called "bars".




After sitting down, I looked around and was in awe of the beauty of this place. I would come to have that same feeling time after time during our stay in Europe. Each time I would think, "now this is the most beautiful place I have ever been to".


We both ordered coffee; mine with milk, Suni's without. What the "bar man" brought us was espresso for Suni and latte for me. Perfect!



Our breakfast choices were several types of "omlets" (that's how they spelled it, which was good because I knew what that meant) and something just called "breakfast". That's what the menu line was: "Breakfast...........................................40.00" (about $7.50). So I asked what it was, and in broken English he told me it was 2 fried eggs, meat, cheese, bread, butter, and marmalade. I thought that sounded heavenly, and Suni ordered a mushroom omelet.


We both thoroughly enjoyed our first meal out, and even learned our first Croatian words: "Va-la", which means "thank you".

The bridge going from Trogir to Ciovo island:


After walking around Trogir a bit, we decided to call our driver and head to Split, which is about 20 kilometers away (a little over 12 miles). The drive there seemed quite harrowing with Goran looking back at us more than watching the road! And keeping his hands on the wheel seemed to be an issue as well! He asked us so many questions about our countries and what we do. He told us that driving is not what he does for a living. He is now, how you say, "unemployered" due to the economy. He used to sell trucks. But he has been a driver now since tourist season started in May. He doesn't know how much longer it will be busy enough for him to drive.

On the way to Split, he told us about Croatia, the towns we passed through along the way, that his family runs greenhouses--growing cucumbers, tomatoes, and, how you say, paprika (peppers). When I told him that I said to my kids I was going to Split, like a banana split, he laughed. He said that when he was growing up, he thought the ice cream dessert was named after the city of Split!

One of the main sites to see in Split is Diocletian's Palace . Goran explained that it is pronounced "Dee-oh-clet-see-ohn", not "Di-oh-clee-shun". As we walked around the ancient palace and the ruins of the archways and walks, I felt so small. Everything is so massive, so ancient, that it gives you the feeling that you are just a tiny part of this world, but yet created to enjoy every aspect of it.

My first purchase was in this boutique, which was a mens shop--a tie for Sam:


After shopping and strolling the tile and cobblestone streets, we met Eckhardt and Suzi for lunch at Nostromos Restaurante, which was recommended to them by their tennis instructor in Split for the best "grilled fish", the specialty food of Croatia. The waiter brought us a tray of fish (fresh from the market across the sidewalk) to choose from. We chose sea bass and a white fish that had no translation to English (I think it was bukva). The fish was brought to us grilled with the heads still on and the bar man filleted them tableside. Our sides we chose were rice, spinach with potatoes, and grilled mushrooms. Eckhardt ordered a Croatian white wine. Everything was delicious! The bill came to 886.00 kunas ($167)! This was a splurge, but worth every penny---I mean lipa (the kuna penny)!

We said goodbye to our German friends and went to explore the palace. So incredible to think how old the walls and steps are. Inside the palace and the walls of the city were vendor after vendor; some selling souvenir trinkets, some selling beautiful works of art.


We came upon pencil drawings of Split and Trogir being sold by an old woman who spoke little English. She told us in broke English that her husband did all the drawings. She was very proud of his work. I decided that this was the perfect souvenir for our home. I chose a drawing of the Split harbor with sailboats in it. She told me that they are normally 30 euros, but she would sell it for 25.





After I paid her, she pointed at the address on the back of the drawing, then showed me pictures that had been mailed to her husband. I realized that she was asking me to take a picture of the drawing hanging in my home and mail it to her. She was so happy when I understood and told her I would do that.


We bought a SIM card to use in Suni's cell phone that would allow us to make calls home from a local number. It was prepaid, so it worked great and we didn't have a huge bill to pay when we got home. I was able to call Sam and even talked to Jessica once. The time difference (6 hours ahead) made it difficult to connect during awake hours, but we found late afternoon and evening were best for calling the U.S.

Suni found a cute pair of leather shoes, and I purchased some beautiful jewelry made from the coral from this island region.

We learned how to say "hello/good day": "Doh-bar don". So each time we walked into a store they greeted us and we were able to respond. When we left, we said "va la".

Finally we had to take a break and rest our feet. We picked up a few pastries at a local bakery
and found a café, again ordering coffee and getting lattes. Perfect.



It was beginning to get dark when we were finished, so we decided to head to the harbor and call Goran to pick us up. As we left the café, Suni said, "It's this way" and we began to walk. It's hard to get your bearings because you are between buildings and walking narrow, winding streets. You cannot see any landmarks, such as water or mountains, so it's hard to tell what direction you are going, especially when it's almost dark. So we walked a ways, realizing there were less and less people around, no shops, and only residences with no one outside. I suggested going back, but Suni insisted we just had to turn left and head to the water. The problem is, the streets aren't straight, they wind around.

So it seemed to get darker and more deserted as we went along, and we finally realized we were very lost and not a soul around. Eventually a young man walked past and we stopped him to ask directions to the harbor. He just pointed and we followed along the road. He then motioned for us to follow him...down an alley. I immediately felt something was wrong and prayed God would show us the way to go. Just then another young man came by and I asked him. He pointed down the street where I could see more people walking and it seemed the safer route. The man heading toward the alley seemed very disgusted when we did not go his way, but I am thinking God was watching over us as we followed the other young man, who made sure we got where we were going-back to the harbor. Phew!

We called our driver, popped into a "pizza cut" shop (they sell pizza by the slice), and made it back to the villa in Ciovo by 8pm. We were exhausted, but very happy with our first experiences.