Category: Split, Croatia

Croatia, etc. Day #7 “Let’s Split Then It’s Off to Zagreb”

by reissmd, posted in Split, Croatia

Last night we had a wonderful dinner at Dvor (Put Firula 14, 21000, Split) at the recommendation of our tour director, Gabby. By the way, Gabby has been a true delight on this trip. She is well informed and always looking to make our experience a pleasant journey. Back to Dvor. The restaurant was superb. The food was great in taste and presentation, the service was excellent, and the location ideal (we had a table from where we could see the beach and the Adriatic). I think Dvor caters to rich Americans but unfortunately only one of those adjectives apply to us. Our waiter, Zvone, was great. His English was excellent. He spoke openly about the restaurant, the food, his family, and his experience with customers. It was another one of those interactions with locals that I enjoy so much. Zvone said that he learned a lot of his English from watching movies. When he referred to his father as his “Old Man” it did make me think that television had played a part in his education.

Zvone, our great waiter from Dvor.

Today we had a relaxing start to our day compared to our recent early departures.  At 10:30 we boarded the bus to experience the Krka National Park.  We walked through much of the park seeing lovely waterfalls, vegetation, and wildlife. 

Waterfalls of Krka National Park outside of Split, Croatia. Lovely but it won’t make you forget Niagara, Iguazu, or Victoria Falls.
Water Frog posing for me. I had some trouble getting my camera set but frog was very patient and waited for me to get set.

From the Park we went to lunch at the Roca pig farm. Mr. Roca gave us a tour of the farm showing us his pigs, chickens, and vineyard. We then had a great lunch which included pork ribs, ham, and some other pork dishes.  Everyone enjoyed the meal with the exception of the pigs.  The ambience was beautiful but it was very hot and we were eating outside. We also had some visitors during lunch including this unidentified flying object. See below,

Pretty critter but I would prefer to not to see him around or in my food.

After lunch it was on to the Split airport for an evening flight to the nation’s capital, Zagreb.  As you can see below the airport is quite modern but what is even better there are no hoards of travelers as you battle when in LAX.

Split Airport (SPU) terminal as we prepare to board our flight to Zagreb (ZAG). The woman with the two handbags is out TD (Tour Director), Gabby.

As I said it was very hot today.  So that means no more writing but rather it’s a cool shower then off to bed. See you tomorrow. 

Croatia, etc. Day #6 “A Hot Day of Touring in Split”

by reissmd, posted in Croatia, Split, Croatia

No break from the heat today. After breakfast we boarded the air conditioned bus avoiding the 86 degree temperature while we headed to a museum dedicated to the art of the famous Croatian sculptor, Ivan Meštrović. If you have not heard of him don’t worry you are not alone. None of our fellow tour members knew of the man. We might not have heard of him but others had, enough so to make him a rarity……. a wealthy artist. The works we saw were truly impressive.

Sculptures of Adam and Eve made from Oak (Eve is on the left in case you failed anatomy)
This is our guide (Harry) explaining this depiction of his wife, or was it his girlfriend? The artist’s wife or girlfriend, not the guide’s.

Meštrović’s sculpture entitled “The Great Pieta”

The above work entitled “The Great Pieta” is very impressive but a bit wierd in my viewpoint since the portion that is meant to represent the Virgin Mary is a self-carving of the artist, the Jesus representation is actually his son.

The museum is located in what used to be the artist’s “Summer Villa”. It is huge and absolutely beautiful.

View of the Meštrović gallery as you approach the entrance.

If you walk up those stairs and turn around, this is what you see. See below.

Not a bad view from your entrance, no?

Like I said, this was his summer residence. Apparently he never returned after the Nazis occupied Yugoslavia.

After the museum we headed to what used to be a palace in Split. The tour was informative and interesting but the heat was opressive and I couldn’t wait for it to end. Interestingly, outside the palace we were shown this. See below.

Yes, a sculpture by Ivan Meštrović.

After lunch we walked back to the hotel but we made a stop to buy materials to show my travelmates another magic trick. For the trick I needed to buy a postcard. I found one that would work and it cost .50€. We didn’t have any change and the smallest bill I had was a 10€ note. The woman at the store said she didn’t have change. I was a bit shocked. I definitely would understand if she didn’t want to make change for a 100€ or a 20€ but a 10€? So we went next door to a jewelry store and apologetically asked if the salesperson had change for a 10€ note. She said no initially but after Patrice told her we just needed 50 cents for a postcard the woman went into her purse and gave us .50€ in change. I didn’t want to accept this incredibly kind gesture but preferred to look further for the change but she insisted that we accept. I then reached in my pocket and offered her a USA one dollar bill as a gift from me. She seemed very pleased. It was one of those moments that make travel so very special to me. I have a modest interest in seeing “things”. What really gets me going is interactions with local people.

To further expand on this concept, an interesting thing happened at lunch. We were sitting at a window table and a young man sat just outside and for some reason I wondered where he was from. Patrice and I talked about it and I said, I am quite sure he is from Germany. I have no idea what made me think that but once we had the discussion I had to find out. I asked the waiter who I saw talking to him if he knew but he just gave me a shrug of his shoulders. Finally my curiosity forced me to act. I went outside and told the gentleman that my wife said what he ordered looked really good and we wanted to know what it was. He said the homemade pasta. I then asked “Where are you from?” To which, he replied, “Germany”, “Munich, Germany”. Now that is what I call magic.

I would write more, but I need to work on my magic trick. We are having a group dinner tomorrow and I don’t want to disappoint my audience.

Croatia, etc. Day #5 “Time to Split”

by reissmd, posted in Croatia, Mostar, Bosnia Herzesgovina, Split, Croatia

Today we had an early departure from the hotel in Dubrovnik on our way to Split, Croatia.  I’m embarrassed to admit I had never heard of this city. 

Recently I was talking to a patient about our upcoming trip to Croatia. He asked me “Are you going to split”? I said “No, this is just a vacation. I love my work and plan to work it as long as I can”.  When he explained that Split was a city in Croatia and he wasn’t asking if I was planning to retire soon, I had to confess my ignorance.  
Prior to arriving at Split we stopped at a farm just outside of Dubrovnik where we saw a local olive farmer named Mato Dubelj.  Mr. Dubelj taught us how olive oil was made prior to the advent of high tech machinery.  In part this involved a horse pulling two huge stone wheels to crush the olives and express the oil. He was extremely affable but his command of English made understanding his presentation a bit challenging.  I think I understood most of what he said but some of the details might have been missed.  Here’s a picture of Mr. Dubelj with his work-horse Perla. 

Mr. Dubelj and his horse, Perla. Perla is on the right.

We then got back on the bus and crossed the border to Bosnia Herzesgovina on our way to the town of Mostar. Unlike yesterday, this border crossing went very smoothly and shortly thereafter we arrived at our destination.  There we were given a tour of the market place and shown a museum dedicated to remembering the tragedy of the war that gripped this region in the early 90s. This is when Yugoslavia ceased to exist and the countries we are visiting on this trip came into existence. We saw pictures of the bombed buildings and the rubble left behind.

Then we heard a gentleman named Mustafa talk about life in Mostar during the war.  At times it was difficult to listen to what Mustafa was saying and I don’t mean because of his accent or the volume of his voice but rather because of the heartbreaking human tragedies he described.

It must seem like an odd segway but after this sobering talk, we then headed for lunch. I saw this sign on our way.

No dogs, no kissing, no alcohol, no music, no laughing (really? No laughing?), and no bathing suits.

I warned Patrice not to kiss me since it would be breaking the rules. Hard to imagine she could go throughout our visit without a burning desire to kiss me a time or two. As difficult as this would be she will have to suffer since we are not rule breakers (Patrice here: Is this man deluded?)

After lunch we headed back to Croatia and to the city of Split. Today was another hot day so after arriving at the hotel I just wanted to chill (literally) in our room. Soon it was time for dinner. In case I hadn’t mention this before, we are on a Tauck tour. This is our first trip with this company but my mother used them extensively and always spoke highly of their trips. One thing I like about their trip style is the opportunity to meet some other travelers. Tonight we had dinner with Steve and his wife, Karen who are from Boston. Steve is a big Celtic fan so he was immediately put on “friend probation”. I am not sure I can be friends with a Celtic fan. After dinner I told Steve that I have been taking magic lessons and offered to show him a trick. I explained I am new at this. I had him tap a card from the deck but I never showed it to him making it impossible for him to know if I found the correct card. Like I said, I am just learning. So I tried it again and this time it worked perfectly. Steve seemed very impressed and wanted to see more tricks. Being a Celtic fan is no longer a problem.

Not sure what is on the agenda for tomorrow but I sure hope it is cooler.