May 29, 2018
Today, we did a whole lot of nothing. We woke up knowing where we were going from here, even if we don’t know exactly how we get there from here.
We had a few errands to run. We needed to find breakfast pastries and coffee, in that order. The first two bakeries we went to did not have the yummy, flaky, straight rectangle filled croissant things we’ve been eating this whole trip, so we kept walking till we found what we were after. Chocolate for me and nuts for Nathan. There are literally 3 bakeries within a block from our room, plus the bakery counter at the Konzum, so we didn’t have to go far.
With warm flaky pastries in our belly, we went to the tourist information office to see if the internet was correct in its information. There is a bus from Primosten to Plitvice, direct, tomorrow at 1. This seemed to surprise the TI woman, as she regarded my question as quite nutty. It’s a little like saying yes, there’s a bus that takes you straight from Vail to Jackson Hole without a stop in a big city like Denver in between. The woman at the TI gave us the name of the company and said we could buy our tickets on board the bus. This late in the game, I bought tickets online, convenience fee be damned. If the bus was full, we’d have a hard time getting to where we need to be in a timely fashion.
Errands done, we changed into our swimsuits, slathered on $5 worth of sunscreen and headed to the beach. We walked around town a little; to the church on the hill, through the cemetery, and around the beach peninsula. We were sort of looking for stand up paddleboards to rent but found none. It’s still early in the season here, even though the temps and tourists have arrived. Instead, we set up at the same spot on the beach, rented a beach umbrella and lazed the day away.
Now, we are once again enjoying a glass of wine at a seaside cafe. The guidebooks have said the Croatian service and attitude would be slow and indifferent. As Americans, we do find the restaurant service, basically in any other country, to be a no rush, slow and leisurely affair. However, to say the people would be indifferent to us would be unfair. Everywhere we have gone, the locals have gone out of their way to make sure we are comfortable and having a good time. Currently, I’m not able to connect to the cafe’s Wi-Fi, so the waiter is letting me use his cell as a hotspot. His idea. We tried to refuse but he insisted. No problem and why not are common English phrases. Want to stay for dinner? Why not? Want to buy something less than a kilo of strawberries? No problem.
