While in Zadar Jessica met a Croatian in a book store from the island of Vis. She asked her where a Croatian should go while traveling in the country and she told us the island of Vis. It turns out we were already thinking of going there so it made it even better. She also told us about an unofficial camping spot in a grove of pine trees overlooking a beach and the sea. We arrived in Split via terrible bus ride complete with shity a/c, pissy ticket person and no confirmed seats even though we had tickets. Ah the Croatian bus system!
We found the ferry terminal and bought tickets for Vis. While traveling to Vis we met Simon, Theo and Andrew or as I call them Simone, Teo and the man. Turns out Andrew and I had already conversed via couchsurfing with a Croatian beach surfing group we both joined. Simon and Andrew are Canadian and Theo was Romanian. We told them about our cool campsite and they decided to tag along. We got to Komiza on the other side of Vis and made our way through this little fishing village to the wooded campsite in the trees only 20m above the sea. Pure hippy paradise, no showers, no toilet, water from the mountain, lots of sharing oh and music from the beach disco below. Actually the campsite was pretty perfect, so much that we stayed a week instead of two days, that is Croatia. During our stay we discovered a few nude beaches nearby and well when in Rome or Croatia in this case....no worries I still have a white butt but not for lack of trying! We met lots of Croatians who were "camping" in the same spot and shared stories. We shared chocolate with Simon, Theo and Andrew. We took a boat to the Blue Cave, where the water makes the inside of the cave look very clear blue. Another reason we traveled to Vis besides the great camping was we had heard about a guy named Senko Karusa, a local celeb of sorts who was actually a famous Croatian author. He has retreated to Vis to start a slow food movement in Croatia complete with a nine hour lunch with only local foods. We tried and tried to get in touch with him but he did not want to be reached, mobile was turned off. We also heard he is kind of eccentric (read weird) so he did not like to be bothered much. I encourage anyone who visits Vis to try and contact him if that is an interest for you, everyone on the island knows him.
While on the Blue Cave tour we met some great Hungarian and Swede folks (Peter, Anna, Alex, Anna, Carl and Frigina) who invited us to go see a former military submarine base on the island. We happily obliged and well it was cool to see but not nice to swim at so we swam near the entrance and sunbathed.
Somewhere in the middle of the week after countless bread, cheese and salami meals we purchased a kids plastic sand bucket and invented Bucket Salad. Basically a variation of cut up tomatoes, cucumbers, beans, cheese, and what ever else we could find. It served us well and we still have the bucket. We also experienced an all night DJ disco party at the beach below our campsite. It started at 2am and lasted until well 6am we thought but it was just a break. We left at 630am after not sleeping all night but heard they started up again until 9 or 10am. Wow! They know how to party, and wow we are old!!!
Back to Split to catch a bus to Sarajevo! But not before cathing the ferry and something that Jess and I had to try because our Canandian and Romanian told us about their ferry crossing to Vis. Well we BRIBED the ferry agent back to Split 2 for 1. It was so nerve racking yet cool. I sliped the ticket guy a 50 kuner instead of buying two tickets for 94 kuners. Ok not something to do everyday but apparently eastern europeans are used to it so we hear. We were scared for about 5 minutes after entering the ferry but then settled down and I developed a new coolness about me. Well not really but Jess liked it!!!!
Lest we leave Croatia without one last bad bus experience. The overnight bus to Sarajevo had some drunk Bosnian guys on it and well again another sleepless night.
Croatia is a wonderful country filled with interesting people like Phillip from the ferry who was a former national ski teamer, and beautiful natural beauty like the island of Vis.
