Thursday, September 16, 2010

Split, Croatia - Home of Diocletian's Palace (Look it up)

FREE AT LAST, FREE AT LAST.  THANK GOD ALMIGHTY I'M FREE AT LAST.  Took the car back yesterday .



Split is absolutely charming.  Yes, this is Alan saying "charming".  I think I've heard it so many times from Alice and Belinda that now I say it !  Anyway, it is.  Our sobe (room) is actually inside the Palace walls.  We look out our window and see the Roman walls.  If we turn right out of our room we go directly into The Bapistry of St. John (The Temple of Jupiter).  Diocletian thought he was the son of Jupiter.  What a geek!  If we go left out of our room, we immediately cross a small courtyard (Peristyle Square) and walk up a few steps to Diocletian's mausoleum, now the Cathedral of St. Dominus.  You see, Dio (as we call him because it's hard to spell Diocletian), well, Dio liked to kill Christians.  Who didn't back in 300 A.D.?  Anyway, he made quite a name for himself.  Well, karma's a bitch and so now all of "his" things have been renamed and reused by Christians.  Wouldn't he get a kick out of that?

This is one happening place.  The first night we get here it's after dark and there is no parking around.  Did I tell you how much I hate driving in foreign countries?  Anyway, I park the car next to a sign that reads "xcruty  czyyclwwy aazyzbeevva" or something like that.  I leave Alice with the car and Belinda and I go searching for our sobe.  Now I told Alice not to let anything happen to it and we weren't sure how long we'd be gone.  Right?  So, Belinda thinks a priest is going to help us and she asks him for directions.  I think he thought we were asking for a blessing because all of a sudden I felt better.  Well when he figured out what we really needed he walked us into a store with two of the hottest chickies around.  So I pretended to look around (well, I guess I was) Belinda is still trying to get directions in English, Spanish, Italian, and, I think, Greek.  They sent us down the street with some gestures (which may have been meant for me).  Now this area is like one big shopping mall but more like a maze.  It is wonderful but there is no "go here and turn left".  It's more like "go 20 meters and turn right and go into the cellar and take the stairs up to the left and when you get to the tower with the three lions look for a cross and go the opposite direction as the cross is pointing and then climb up to the 2nd floor (which is the first floor in the US) and then ask someone else."  Now if you think I'm making this up, come to Dio's Palace and just try to find Sobe Base.  That's the name of our apartment.

So, after a good 20-30 minutes and five different persons, we find our place about 20:15 (8:15pm).  The owner, Evo, was kind enough to wait for us but a little surprised.  "Three persoons?"  Yes, three of us.  "Did Tina (his daughter) know?"  Yes.  "JESUS CHRIST, SHE DIDN'T TELL ME.  THERE IS ONLY ONE BED.!!"  Now you know me.  I'm really flexible when I travel.  I didn't mind sleeping the three of us in one bed but Belinda pipes up and says "Can't you bring in a rollaway bed?"  "Of course I can.  You go get luggage and I bring in bed and linen and towels.  No problem."  Then he proceeded to tell us a shortcut.  I quit listening after the fourth left turn.  We attempted to follow our first route back and finally found Alice shopping !!! 

When we get to the car there is a tow truck there.  Did I tell you I hate driving?  Fortunately, he had one car to go before ours and I told him we were lost and showed him the map where Evo told us to park.  He said to follow him and he would show is the spot.  Then we watch as he puts straps on the car next to us and lifts it with a crane onto his truck.  A few more minutes and that would have been us.  Thanks goodness the directions Evo gave us were so clear and allowed us to get back to the car in time.  Anyway, we follow the tow truck and find a spot to park for the night on the sidewalk.

Now I mentioned this is a happening place.  We are now about 1/4 mile (if I knew meters I would use that) from the sobe so we are dragging our bags with wheels and they click-click because of the cobblestones.  Sounds charming until you do it for 1/4 mile.  Then we cross the Peristyle Square where eveyone (like maybe 100 people) is sitting because there is a lovely guitarist playing and our bags go clickity clack in front of everyone. Belinda was dying.  So we put our bags away and go back down to the square and sit until midnight listening to this wonderful music.  This whole palace is one big mall.  It is fascinating.



And this is just the first evening.  In Split.  So yesterday (Wednesday) we drove out to Trogir, a little seaside village.  I sat in the car and read.  Belinda and Alice walked around.  THANK GOODNESS FOR ALICE ! although I was having second thoughts when she almost let the tow truck get our car.  Then we attempted to take the car back to the rental agency at the airport.  Did I tell you...oh nevermind.  We needed to fill the gas tank up and the only gas station for 30 miles was "broken".  I bit the bullet and decided to let the rental agency fill it up and screw me.  Our plan was to return the car and take a shuttle bus (5 euro each) back to the ferry terminal, which was close to our sobe.  Never make plans in foreign countries is my new motto.  We finally found the parking for "renta-a-cars" and walked up to the only rental agency on the 2nd floor.  All the others were easily found on the first floor.  There was a line, of course.  Damn tourists !  While I was waiting, a man walks up and asks if we are returning a car.  I said yes and he said he will help.  Now, while not a criticism, we find the Croatian service people to be a little shy of friendliness so it made me nervous because I was told to be careful about car thefts when I picked up the car.  So this guy has no "official" shirt on and takes my keys and paperwork and he and I walk out to the car.  The girls are in the WC (bathroom) as usual.  On the way out, he offers to drive us back to town for 200 Kuna, about $40 US.  About twice the cost of the bus but we didn't have to wait.  So I said I would have to get the girls and walk back in to the terminal all the time thinking the car is gonna be gone when I get back.  Well, we were lucky but not out of the woods yet as we had not discussed the gas situation.  When we picked up the car, it had 7/8 of a tank.  When I brought it back, it had 5/8.  When he looked at the gauge he told me 200 Kuna for gas.  We got into a little discussion about what gas costs (It is about $7 US per gallon, by the way) and he finally accepted 50 Kuna but still wanted 200 Kuna for the drive and I was so tired and hot I agreed.  So he has one of his friends take us back to town in a much bigger car.  (We had rented the smallest four-door I could find and I have a lot of stories about that if you have time later).

OK, my fingers are tired and it's time for gelatto.....ciao  Oh, I just learned something.  NEVER use a spell checker in a foreign country.  It took five minutes to check this blog and marked 98% of the words as incorrect. So if there are misspellings, correct it yourself.

Oh, and check back to this post later.  Since we now have a computer in our room, I'll try to catch you up with our car and hill adventures today.