calling from some city...

Today can only be described by one word: challenging. Or frustrating. Or irritanting. Take your pick. Scott and I faced a number of challenges today that we weren’t prepared for, because you really couldn’t expect to have a day like we had today. I guess we were due for a long, stressful day because the trip has largely been not been stressful. Sure, there have been stressful moments, but never full days. We have been lucky to travel relatively easily; we haven’t gotten significantly lost or missed a train or plane, or spent unnecessary time getting from one place to the other. Only a few days could really be called “travel” days; mostly we traveled in the morning and arrived at our destination with time to sightsee in the afternoon. Today was supposed to be one of those days. It ended up very differently.

Our tale begins with a 5:30 am alarm, and Scott and I quickly got ready and left. We had to be at the ferry office by 6 and we hoped to get on the 6:30 am fast ferry to Split. That would put us in Split at 7:30 am and once we got to the car, we had a 4 hour drive to Dubrovnik. We would get there at lunchtime and have the whole afternoon!

Wrong.

We were able to purchase the ferry tickets no problem. We considered that a good omen for the rest of the day. Little did we know it was all about to go downhill from there. In the meantime, we got a pastry each for breakfast and then sat by the dock. Luckily, we had entertainment. Right on the marina is a very popular bar in Hvar called Carpe Diem. The bar has to close at 1:30 am, so at that time, they start putting people on water taxis and taking them to nearby islands, where they host a party with DJs that lasts until 6 am. So Scott and I were at the marina to see the last partiers stumble back from the island. It was hilarious watching them all try to stand straight and attempt to walk back to their hostels or hotels.

We got on the ferry and sat down. The ferry had 2 floors of seats, designed like in an airplane. I didn’t really enjoy the ride; it was pretty bumpy and because it was a fast ferry, I could feel the movements of the ocean a lot more. I also didn’t like that we were all sitting in rows and couldn’t move around; there also was no outdoor seating. Luckily, it was only an hour long and we arrived in Split at 7:30. There, we ran into problems. Scott could not find the car keys in his daypack. We sat down on a bench as he went through his stuff, not recalling where it was. I remembered seeing the keys on his bed the first night in Hvar; I was sitting on his bed using his computer and mentioned the keys were sitting there, which he acknowledged. He thought he had put the keys in his daypack with a bunch of other miscellaneous stuff the next morning when we switched hostels. But after going through his entire bag, and mine, we did not have the keys, and he couldn’t remember the last time he saw them. We figured the keys were somewhere back in Hvar.

We called the villa we stayed at the first night to ask if any keys had been turned in (pay attention to that particular question we asked). We decided to walk back to the car, get the rental car number off the front of the car (where it is plastered on), and start making phone calls. Of course, it was only 8 am, and most offices in Europe are not open at this time. We found out the Split Smartcar office opened at 10. We could not get anybody on the phone from the car rental company, so we headed to the tourist office to get the address and directions to the office in Split. At this point, I became extremely frustrated because the line in the tourist office was very long, and there was only one person working. That seemed ludicrous to me- only one person there to answer the millions of questions about ferries, buses, accommodations, etc? This office was located right on the marina- so the busiest part of Split. And no one to actually assist those who need help. Then, a couple in front of us literally took 20 minutes as the guy tried to find them accommodations in another island. I literally wanted to scream because they actually could find a place to stay themselves if they looked online for 2 seconds. But after 45 minutes of waiting, we asked for the address (since online did not provide one). The guy had no clue what we were talking about. He made a phone call, and luckily that person knew what we were looking for. He drew the route for us on the map, and we headed out.

We found the square that the office was supposed to be, no problem. But we could not find the office anywhere. We sat down with our stuff and Scott was finally able to get in touch with someone at the office in Zagreb we rented the car from. We were distressed to learn it would cost 200 euro to replace the key, and they would have to send us another key from Zagreb to Split. That bus ride was 6 hours. So the key wouldn’t arrive until late afternoon, depending on the unpredictable bus timetable. At that point, Scott’s phone died. He plugged it last night to charge, but for some reason it didn’t charge. At that point, we knew we needed a phone to be able to do anything, so we set off to try somewhere to charge the phone. Luckily, an extremely nice woman at the internet café let us charge the phone.

At this point, Scott and I were convinced it was left behind at the hostel. I figured it was likely the key had fallen off of Scott’s bed at the first night in Hvar, and it was somewhere there. Remember, when we called the first time, we only asked if the key had been turned in. So Scott called the owner back and asked if the area around the beds could be searched. She said she would call back in a half hour. When she did 20 minutes later, Scott and I were thrilled- they found the key. We asked if she could put it on the next ferry to Split, which she was happy to do. The key would be on the 1:45 ferry, arriving to us at 2:45.

At this point, it was only 11:30, so we left Scott’s phone at the internet café to charge and put our bags in storage, and set off to walk around Split. I had wanted to see Split on this trip anyways, so we wanted to make the most of our unexpected time in Split. We spent about an hour and a half exploring. We saw many parts of Diocletian’s Palace, who was a Roman ruler who built a huge palace and square during his reign. When the modern city of Split was built, it literally built right on the old palace. So many of the ruins of the palace remain, and these coexist side by side with modern buildings. It was really cool to see, for example, normal buildings right next to the remains of an ancient tower. We also walked through the outdoor market, which is absolutely huge, and then did some poking around regular stores. We got stuff to make sandwiches from the supermarket, and today Scott was the sandwich maker (my usual job) and they were really good- very fresh meat and bread. After we just decided to hang out in a small park area to get out of the sun and relax.

At 2:30 Scot went to go get the key from the ferry while I stayed with the bags. I finished my book and just hung out. And then started to get worried when he hadn’t returned by 3:30- the ferry was due to arrive at 2:45. Since I don’t have a phone, I couldn’t get in touch with him so I just sat and waited. Finally, he arrived, with the key. The ferry had been 30 minutes late and then it took some time to track down the location of the key. But he had it, and we headed to the car.

Once we got there, we got the next unexpected surprise of the day. The battery was dead. We had no clue why- we didn’t leave the lights on or a door open, or anything. Scott went to talk to the parking attendant at the lot we were at to see if he had jumper cables. There was a mechanic located right next door- but he didn’t have any. What kind of mechanic doesn’t have jumper cables? But the attendant was able to locate some for us from down the street. We had a car to use to jump our car, but we could not put the car into neutral to back the car out. The jumper cables were not long enough to stretch from where our battery was (under the floorboard on the passenger side) to the other car. Luckily, the mechanic from down the street came down, attached a battery to our car, used it to put the car in neutral so it could be pushed out. We then successfully jumped the car, and we were off.

It was now 4:30. If we ran into no more problems the rest of the day (a big if, given how the day was going), we could be in Dubrovnik by 8:30. We started on the road, exhausted, but grateful to be heading to Dubrovnik and not having to pay for a new key. The parking attendant didn’t even charge us for the extra hours we spent in the lot. They were so nice and helpful. Anyways, we started for Dubrovnik, and once again everything was very well signed and easy to follow. The drive was very interesting, however. First we left Split behind us, and had to get to the highway. This involved driving through a mountain range to get to the other side, where the highway was. We were driving up to an enormous mountain towering over the car, and Scott just smiled and said: “We’re going up that!” It was a very windy and twisty ride, of course, with very narrow roads. Scott maneuvered the Smartcar perfectly, however. While we were at the top, we were rewarded with amazing views of both the mountain range, with deep plunging valleys, and the sea in the background. It was a stunning image, and Scott remembered this was the mountain he went to with his family a couple years ago when their ship docked in Split for the day. So that was cool- obviously, he never expected to be in that same spot again.

We made it to the highway, and I was relieved to have straight roads for a while. By then, another crisis was brewing: we were running low on gas. We still had about a 1/3 of a tank of gas, but we needed to get some before we entered Bosnia. The road to Dubrovnik runs through Bosnia for some time, before reentering Croatia. The rental agency told us it was fine to drive on this road, but not to go into Bosnia’s towns. Because of the war, they didn’t want anyone to see the “Croatia” license plates. While I didn’t really think we were in any danger, I know Scott was nervous about getting gas in time. The problem was the highway from Split to Dubrovnik is still being built (it isn’t finished yet) so there is not one gas station on the entire stretch of the highway.

I could see Scott getting very anxious next to me and tensing up at the wheel. I tried to make him feel better by serenading him with some Keith Urban, but he just told me to stop singing. Hmph. Anyways just when we were getting really nervous, the highway ended and we asked the lady collecting our toll where the next gas station was. She clearly was used to getting this question; we were relieved to hear it was only 8 km away. We made it there no problem and filled up.

The last 2 hours of the drive was a very windy road, up and down through mountains and cliffs, and along the water. We saw some absolutely beautiful views along the way, though. I was a little nervous about border control, but the Bosnian control just waved us through without even looking at our passports. The Croatian border control actually had us stop and looked at the passports, but there were no problems at all. We continued on the drive; again, we saw beautiful views along the way. I can’t really describe how stunning the scenery was. For being so close to sea level, it was very forested and green. The views of the villages perched on the cliffs down near the sea was beautiful, as usual. The sunset was gorgeous as well, with the sky a mixture of soft pinks and purples.

We finally arrived in Dubrovnik, and we were treated to an amazing nighttime view of the city as we drove in. I can already tell Dubrovnik is going to rival Santorini and Cinque Terre in terms of its beauty. The cliffs just straight down to the harbor, with the city literally built into them. Everything was lit up at night, which only made the picture more memorable. We found our hostel, and once we learned the supermarket was closing in 20 minutes, we just parked the car and started running.

It was a 5 steep downhill jog to the supermarket, where we got supplies for breakfast during our stay, and dinner tonight. We then had to make the very difficult climb back up to the villa, but we made it. We checked into our room, which is really nice. The kitchen area especially is gorgeous, and it’s very tastefully decorated. Definitely the nicest place we have stayed at. Scott started cooking dinner- pasta and chicken in a lemon garlic sauce. As usual, it was amazing. He also made some sangria; after today, we definitely needed a drink.

I’m about to shower now and get to bed. Even though today was a really challenging day, we persevered through it and got to Dubrovnik. I was definitely very frustrated and anxious today, as was Scott, but we kept our cool when it mattered. Every time we had a problem, we solved it. And we got to see some of Split in the meantime. It was a long day, but now we have 3 days to relax and enjoy Dubrovnik!