"We had to get our Facebook pic of the day!!!" says one of the Golden Girls in her thick Texas accent.
Of course photo shoots are a perfect excuse for holding up the entire bus. Who was their loyal photographer? None other than the Brenna Friend! In the end we really weren't THAT late, and the picture turned out great.
Since early Febuary, I've been waking up around 8:30. In my mind this is the perfect wake up time. It's not too early, but you don't feel lazy either. Now that we are on the boat, our tours start at 8:30. This means we have to be up for breakfast at 7 ready to go. WHAT!? So the plan has been to wake up at 6:55, change, and run down to the dining room. It's day 1 and has worked perfectly.
Our first tour today was around Split. We met with a local tour guide who was witty and had a joke for everything. The best kind of tour guide you can ask for. Back in the Roman times, the last pagan emperor, Diocletian made his retirement home here. This retirement home covered around 30,000 square meters. So it was HUGE. For those of you who love The Game of Thrones as much as I do. Some of it was shot in this area. It only took workers - forced laborers - 11 years to make it and 2,000 slaves died during the process. Today, it looks much different than it used to. Throughout the years, much of the original Roman structure has been removed, but what has stayed are the outside walls, the four gates, and some of the interior. It was interesting to see the mix of roman and medieval architecture with modern people living inside. Really, the word palace is misleading. Now the buildings inside the original gates house many people of the city. It was very unique compared to the other roman architecture I have seen on this trip.
After saying goodbye to our wonderful tour guide we hiked up to the top of the nearest hill with Rok and a few others from our group. This was a great picture moment, and we took plenty then settled down for a quick refreshing drink. The weather has been beautiful. For the first time, I've felt completely comfortable in just a tshirt. It's like summer!
We found some time to visit the local tourists shops and look around the town before heading to the Athena for lunch. Back on the boat we found a spot to rest after our busy morning. Not long though! We had more places to see! The optional tour for today took us to Omis. It was a half hour ride, but we had a local guide to entertain us. I fell asleep.
Omis is known for its pirates. This place used to be crawling with them. They even stole from the Pope as he was traveling through the area by boat. Their biggest enemy was the Venetians. When the Venetians heard about the Omis pirates stealing from the pope, they had had enough. They came by boat ready to conquer the area, only to find the pirates had booby trapped the place by tying boulders up above their houses which were built into the mountains. They also had escape routes and kept 80% of their loot in a castle at the top of one of the mountains. The Venetians didn't get very far.
Soon we boarded a boat to sail down the river to a special restaurant. Along the way, we saw kayakers, zip liners, and fishermen in little huts.
The restaurant we went to was famous for the way the bake bread. Once the bread had risen, it was placed under bell shaped bowls, then covered in burning coals to cook. It came out in a really odd shape, but was the best bread I have tasted since we left Italy. Along with the bread, we got some deep fried dough balls that probably have some official name. Scarlet and I made sure the group didn't leave any to waste.
Ivan showing off the fancy bred
Scarlet enjoying the deep fried dough balls
This is where the Golden Girls requested their photo shoot. It was considered a success and we boarded the bus to climb to the top of the mountain for the best view in this area.
The castle where looted gold was stored
With our driver Mario speeding down the highway, we made it back to the boat in time for the captains welcome dinner. Everyone was dressed up and Scarlet and I felt pretty for the first time since we left America. The captain cracked a few jokes, the crew was all introduced, and we had an entertaining port talk from Ivan, our other Program Director. We sat with some new friends, Scarlet was served some champagne with sorbet - she opted to lick the sugar from the rim and send the rest back to the kitchen, and we discussed cruising, and clothes washing.
As if the day wasn't full enough, we were entertained with some folk dancing by people my age!!! When they were done, Scarlet and I ran up for a picture with the new celebrities.
We'll work on the sorority squat, Scarlet
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