World Cruise Day 82/152 - Split, Croatia - 101 Dalmatians started here - and we saw a Great Tit!

Cruise day: 82/152

Ports days: 30
Sea days: 52
Countries: 15
Continents: 4
Ports: 22

 

Hello from Split, Croatia!  This region of Croatia is known as Dalmatia, and the origins of the Dalmatian breed of dogs can be traced right back to here.  

Croatia sits on the Adriatic sea to the east of Italy. We are in Split, toward the southern end of the country, north of Dubrovnik, where we will be in a few days.

We sailed in this morning, docking around 8AM under brilliant blue skies and cool temperatures.  This entire area has been unseasonably cold lately and this morning was no exception with temps in the 40s.  Ultimately, it reached the upper 50s with light winds, so it was another picture-perfect weather day.

Our dock had a lighthouse on the end

We set off at 8:45am for Krka National Park, about 100km north from Split.

Overall, our tour guide was excellent.  However...like other tour guides, we fact-checked some things and they aren't always 100% correct.  For example, the photo below shows a portion of a Roman aqueduct that was built in Split somewhere around 300AD - 400AD.  Cool?  Yes.  Then, he said that it is still in use today supplying drinking water.  Really cool? Absolutely!  True?  Not at all.  As it turns out, the aqueduct was partially destroyed during the Gothic wars in the mid-500AD time period.  It sat unusable for 13 centuries until it was reconstructed in the late 1800s.  In 1932, a modern pump station and a pipeline were installed and the aqueduct was decommissioned.  So, listen to your tour guide, but don't believe everything they tell you. 

Check out the fortress built into the hill

We drove the twisty road down into the canyon and Krka National Park.

We started our walk above the famed waterfalls.

The clarity of the water was amazing

There was water flowing and falling everywhere

These colors are not enhanced - it was beautiful

Do I look regal?

As we started the walk down to the falls, we walked through former workhouses that are now used as displays.

Stone grinding wheels

The grinding chamber - the water was let in the front and corn was fed down through the hopper and a wooden arm ground the corn against the stone

Women would bring laundry here and let the power of the falling water wash the dirt from the fabric

A water-powered fulling mill for the production of cloth

We continued our walk down. There were so many beautiful places with falling water, it was hard to choose which of them to photograph.

Croatian Bamboo!  Who knew?

Sweet violets were growing all over

A hydroelectric power station

The colors were amazing

At the end of the tour, we were rewarded with a massive climb of over 100 steps back up to the bus. Lucky for us, that burned a few calories to prepare us for our next stop in the town of Skradin for lunch.

We were treated to an appetizer of local cheese, locally produced prosciutto, and fresh bread.  That was followed by a fresh salad and then the main course of grilled chicken and potatoes with carrots.  We thought we were done, and then a slice of delicious chocolate pie arrived.  Of course, there was some nice wine to top off the meal.

This is a dated area.  When was the last time you saw a bathroom towel dispenser like this?

Interestingly, it didn't wind back into the machine and just dumped onto the floor

When we came out from the restaurant, we were treated to a song from this little Great Tit who was perched across the street. (It's a bird - look it up!)

From Skradin, we relaxed during the just over one-hour bus ride back to the port.

After a nice dinner and then drinks with friends, we enjoyed tonight's entertainment, another show by comedian and magician, Mel Mellis.

Our final news of the day is that we got our revised itinerary for the Viking Homelands cruise - the last 15 days of this journey for us.  Because of the situation in Ukraine, Viking revised the itinerary and canceled Tallinn, Estonia, St. Petersburg, Russia, and Helsinki, Finland from the itinerary and shifted much of the rest.

Here is our updated itinerary.

WED MAY 11, 2022 Embark In Bergen on Viking Star

THU MAY 12, 2022 Bergen, Norway 

FRI MAY 13, 2022 Eidfjord, Norway 

SAT MAY 14, 2022 Stavanger, Norway 

SUN MAY 15, 2022 Ålborg, Denmark Oslo, Norway

MON MAY 16, 2022 Copenhagen, Denmark Oslo, Norway

TUE MAY 17, 2022 Berlin (Warnemunde), Germany Ålborg, Denmark

WED MAY 18, 2022 Gdansk, Poland Copenhagen, Denmark

THU MAY 19, 2022 Cruise The Baltic Sea Berlin (Warnemünde), Germany

FRI MAY 20, 2022 Tallinn, Estonia Bornholm (Rønne), Denmark

SAT MAY 21, 2022 St. Petersburg, Russia Gdansk, Poland

SUN MAY 22, 2022 St. Petersburg, Russia At sea

MON MAY 23, 2022 Helsinki, Finland Mariehamn, Åland

TUE MAY 24, 2022 Stockholm, Sweden 

WED MAY 25, 2022 Disembark In Stockholm

We are disappointed in the loss of some of the ports, but certainly understand and support the reasons why.  Viking has done an excellent job revising the itinerary and providing a quality itinerary.  Changes - we roll with 'em!

Tomorrow, we'll sail into Fusina, Italy at noon.  It is less than optimal as we will have to spend an hour on the bus to get to Venice.  Italy's ridiculous COVID protocols make it worse as Italy has denied any independent exploration.  What that means for us is that we will spend four hours on busses tomorrow and Thursday.  We booked two excursions each day and Italy's protocol does not allow us to stay in Venice between them.  So, we'll bus in from Fusina to Venice for an hour, tour St. Mark's square and return to the ship to then turn around and bus back in to take an evening gondola ride and then bus back to the ship.  It's stupid and Italy is being ridiculous, especially with a ship that has continued to maintain a zero COVID count.  It is what it is.