Croatia Day 13

Day 13: Krka National Park and Ferry to Hvar

This morning, we had a nice surprise.  Ivana , our travel agent, met us at the hotel before we left.  It ws nice to be able to put  a face to all the emails and calls. She also gave us each a bottle of local wine as a welcome gift.  She has done a great job planning and executing this trip so far, and we would all highly recommend her to anyone looking at Croatia for a vacation.

After saying our goodbyes to Ivana,  we loaded up the sprinter van again for our trip to the island of Hvar with a visit to Krka national Park before taking the ferry. Croatia has 8 national parks and by the time we finish, we will have seen 3.  Krka was about an 1 1/2 hour drive from Split.  Mario dropped us off at one entrance and planned to pick us up at the other end of the park.  It was supposed to be very easy to walk through the park to a ferry landing, and then take the boat to the other end.  

We apparently missed the boat, literally, because we wound up back where we started.  After asking a ton of people, we finally found the queue for the boat.  We were on a time crunch, because if we missed this boat, we would be late for the ferry to Hvar.

Fortunately, even with all our wandering, we made it onto the boat and were off to the town of Skradin, the other entrance to the park, and hopefully, where Mario was waiting.

Yes, Mario was there, and we were off to return to Split for the Hvar Ferry.  Even though we had a ticket for the 5 pm ferry, if you are not in line early, you could get shut out, so Mario wanted to get there by 3.

On the way back to Split, we passed remnants of the Roman aqueducts that supplied fresh water from the mountains to Split. 

We got to the ferry line just before 3 and they gave Mario the green light for us to take the 3 O'Clock ferry.

Dave decided to break into the bottle of wine that Ivana gave us earlier, but unfortunately, did not have a corkscrew.  But that didn't stop him.  He spent about 1/2 hour digging out the cork with a tiny pen knife. He was certainly persistent.

He then pushed the remaining cork in with a pen, 

then distributed the wine into water bottles.

Necessity is the mother of invention.

Suzy opted for an ice cream bar.  Required much less effort.

The crossing to Hvar took about 2 hours, but was very pleasant.

From the ferry port in Stari Grand we had to drive across the island to Hvar Town to our hotel for the next 3 nights, the Amfora.

After checking in, we walked along the waterfront to dinner.  We invited Mario to join us, and we were very happy he agreed.

Waterfront with the "Spanish Fort" high above the town

Central Square

Dinner at Kogo

Mario missing his 3 daughters, 5 granddaughters, wife and female dog

 

Hvar has stiff fines for public indecency (thongs and Speedos)

After a very enjoyable dinner with Mario, we found gelato for dessert and then returned to the hotel.