Getting to split

For some strange reason we slept in a bit longer than we should have but still made it to breakfast in time. Feeling a little seedy from the previous nights festivities we berthed at port on the mainland called Omis. This place belonged to pirates at some point in time and they built some pretty clever fortifications.

The river enters the sea through a spectacular gap in the high cliffs. We all piled into a little noisy boat and wound our way up the river fighting strong cool winds, the river currents and hangovers. Slowly the river got shallower as the vegitation thickened. This was starting to look like the Amazon and feel like the never ending journey when we finally arrived at our destination. In the middle of nowhere is the last state owned restaurant. A relic of the communist era where it has seemingly been transformed into a place that can cater for hundreds of visitors all at the same time. It particularly seems to be able to cater for groups of visitors. It seems really coincidental that there were a lot of tourists there as well. The idea of the place is to let people sample local produce such as cheese, olives, ham and course - red wine. The timing of this excursion could've been better as the impact of comsuming wine in such a state for morning tea is not such a great idea. Soldiering on though we did our derndest and then had a look at the still working kitchens which use wood fired charcoal spread over concrete to create oven like environments for slow cooking methods such as those required to make bread.

The people doing the cooking looked as excited as the whole country would have been when under communist rule. Our OH&S folk at home would've had field day (maybe even a week). The cruise back down the river was much more pleasant. Tail winds, a helpful current and the effects of the red helping somewhat. Our schedule then took a hit due to a fuel tanker which was due to fill us up catching fire and thus the juice in the vessels tanks was as low as that in a significant number of the passengers. Therefore we saw a rare sight of the boat sitting beside an unattractive landing while a back up tanker eventually arrived. Pumped it full of juice (as did the aforementioned passengers by having a siesta) we shot away from the mainland over to the town of stonemasons. Pucisa is where they quarry and work the limestone which is used widely here and sometimes elsewhere, such as the Whitehouse in W.D.C. the've been using the stuff since Roman times so by now they're pretty good at it. Some went to have a look at the local school. But as the mine tour itself was cancelled due to late running' so we walked around town instead admiring all things built from stone (including WC signs), statues and the church. A quick impromptu dip in the town beach by the girls preceded our final cruise into the famous town of Split. The walking tour of the old palace was really insightful as our tour guide (who we knew quite well by now) grew up playing here as a kid before the homeland war and subsequent invasion of the tourist hordes. It is a real shame to see the locals who have been living here for many generations being squeezed out due to UNESCO heritage listing. Interesting that once they've left then the place could loose the listing as the culture has been squeezed out of it. Call someplace paradise - kiss it goodbye.

At least we'll still be able to take postcard type pictures when there is no culture left that hasn't been touristised. With our new BFF's we eventually found a restaurant with good wine, food and ambience. More laughs and good times although somewhat subdued to the exhaustive effort of the previous day So it was an early evening back to the port to sleep in our berths for the last time with all views blocked by abutting ships.