Month: May 2007

I have reached that point in my travels that I have stayed here too long, in Split, that is. My friend Marko has been very kind to let me stay at his home, far outside the city, but it has actually been very inconvenient for me. I have been reliant on him for transport, etc…Yes, you can say that I am relying on a Higher Power, but humans are not my idea of a HP, and Marko is far from the ideal. He is flighty and disorganized and changes his mind at a moments notice, giving any real thought to his passengers. He may believe that he is thinking of them, but he is not.

I am also finding it difficult to stay out of other folks’ adventures. I gave someone some unasked advice yesterday and I just did it again…Damn. I hate breaking my own travel rules. This is more evidence that I have outstayed my time in Dalmatia. I am becoming an ‘expert’.

So tomorrow I head off to Plitvice National Park, north of here and find a hotel, where I belong. I am a tourist and do not relish the idea of staying in people’s homes too long. Plus I do not know the area, so I will be the one asking the questions. Unfortunately, before I get there I will be at the mercy of my mercurial friend who has offered to drive me there. He says we are leaving at noon, and that it will take 3 hours to drive to the park. We’ll see…In some ways I’d rather take the bus.

On board the truck drivers and I have had our supper. I had pan-fried Gilt-head, potatoes, strawberries, and roasted red peppers with olive oil. They ate Pasta, lamb stew, and other heavier trucker food. They had wine, I had water.

We left port around 5PM (10AM EST) and entered the Ionian Sea. We have yet to reach Corfu, where we’ll stop briefly to pick up more passengers and discharge some of the freight lorries tucked inside this enormous ferry. It is still the shoulder season so the ship is largely empty, but in July it will pack 600 people in its cabins and on deck.

I drink coffee, smoke cigarettes, and read my book. The world is blissfully unconcerned with me tonight and I feel the same way.

The sea is smooth and deep, and a blue that begs for description but it has been said to be ‘wine dark’…and it is. I cannot help but know that the route I am traveling has been charted for thousands of years and I am merely another of millions (maybe billions) of travelers to skim over its depths.

Imagine that it is 2500 years ago and a small Minoan boat is making its slow and peaceful way along the limestone coast. On board are 6 people…3 of them are crew; there is a trader from Corfu on his way home from trading in Athens; a scribe on his way to a wealthy household to become the teacher for the owner’s children; and there is the last passenger…a young man from Somewheresville, who can’t help but think he’s been there before, and that he will return again and again, if only to feel the depths and blueness of this sea.

Johnnyboy