Our last day in Croatia

Okay, so our last night together in Split, we went to Bacvice beach and a few bars in that area. The night was pretty short and pretty uneventful because Jill, Cari and I had to leave the next day. We went to a few open air bars that were really cool and probably would be packed on the weekends. About a dozen people were skinny dipping not too far from the one bar we were at and it was funny watching them in the water. We assumed it was pretty cold since it was around 11 p.m. On the walk back to the centar (the area close to where we were staying) we happened across a guy in his car, ummm, how do I put this... uh, he was having a bit too much fun by himself and just smiled at us as we walked by. There he was sitting in his car, with the door open, parked next to a well-traveled walkway... pervert! But we got a good laugh out of it!

One of the things we discovered to our dismay is that Croatians don't have any late night eataries (etterums). Our only hope was the ONE McDonald's we had seen so we hoofed our way over there (that's the one picture of Katie, Jill and Cari in the lamplight) and missed the doors closing by 15 minutes. 15 minutes! Ugh... There aren't many American fast food joints in Croatia but we did also see a Subway. We talked a bit about how in the next 5-10 years corporate business is likely going to take hold of Croatia's beach towns. Would be a bit of a shame if that happens totally though as many would lose their charm. Again, we were just so impressed with the culture and the history of all of the places we saw.

Anyway, okay now our last day (or half day anyway) in Croatia was Tuesday and we skipped the beach to do a bit more shopping. Jill, Cari and I ended up leaving for the airport around 3. A friend of our hotel owner is the one who drove us and it was interesting to learn when he dropped us off that he is also a chief for the local police force. Driving a cab is his second job. Would that happen in the States? Makes you wonder. We made it through security (or what security there was) and waited for our flight to Budapest.

We got to Budapest probably around 7:30 or so and got picked up for our one night stay at the Mellow Mood Hostel in the heart of the city. Our driver got lost and we took a bit of a impromptu tour of one part of the city... lucikly on the way to Croatia we had about 6 hours in Budapest and were able to do our own sightseeing. So the hostel was probably the least favorite of our accommodations. It was basically like a college dorm and we were all pretty much over it before it started. Cari used her deflated raft to sleep on rather than touching the bed, Jill used her beach towel and I used two sarongs. Wasn't THAT bad but wasn't the Marriott either. We went to the hostel bar and got some beers (40s with 5.3% alcohol) to pass the time. Our flight Wednesday was at 11 so we set alarms and asked for a wake up knock for 7:30. More on Wednesday later...