Primosten

Primosten 16/9 - 23/9/06

After a 12 nights with just the 2 of us in wonderful, tranquil and peaceful island hideaways, it was off to Split to meet the Findling Family for the start of the Griswold’s Family Vacation……….

It was quite emotional when we got off the ferry and saw Jason and Val after 6 months away (Val was ready with tissues in hand!). Unfortunately Joey missed the whole event as he started to run when he saw a ferry arrive, however little did he know that it was not our ferry. Finally Joey joined the gang and we all had a beer to celebrate. Then just as the rain started to teem down we hailed a cab and off we went to our apartment in Primosten – a little town recommended by Troy and Jean about 1.5 hours south of Split.

After one of the most terrifying journeys of our lives we arrived at our apartment to find our hosts, an 80-year-old Croatian couple. They couldn’t speak English, we couldn’t speak Croatian, so lucky we had Joey who spoke Polish and she managed to understand the occasional word here and there. We spend the next 7 days and nights swimming, snorkelling, sun baking, eating fresh fish, seafood risotto, drinking local wine (literally local wine form the corner house served in plastic bottles – very posh!!) and generally having a great relaxing time with the family.

Moments

• Our first meal together in a little Croatian restaurant in the old town. It was great to catch up, eat great Croatian food and drink excellent wine with the Findlings (alias Griswells).
• Free shots of local grappa following each meal (Val loved them!!)
• Jas, Dazza and TC swimming to an island (about 1km away!). Amazing – heaps of fish!
• Cooking a BBQ dinner with the old Croatian couple looking over our shoulders. It look over 3 hrs to get the fire started !!
• Visiting Sibenik. Great cathedral with faces representing different people and emotions. Humbling to see evidence of recent brutal war.
• Meeting Ivan at the Beach Bar. He told us all the stories about how he and his family managed throughout the war. After we had a few too many Long Island Ice Teas (I am sure we only paid for one) he left us to close the bar! We ended up going for a midnight swim in the Adriatic!!
• Cruise to Krka National Park. Great grilled fish lunch with wine on the boat and a beautiful walk around the waterfalls. Very rough trip home with a few tourists not quite making it – I can still see the grey liquid!
• The little old Croatian lady going sick at Trace for not having any shoes on!! Not once, not twice but 5 times!! Good one Trace!

ZAGREB….ZAGREB……we are going to ZAGREB
We left Primosten early to head back to Split to catch a train to Zagreb. After a long ‘travel day’ we checked into our hotel and headed into the city for a feed. Great city, more traditional Croatian food but the highlight was the massive ice-cream shops – WOW!!

TOOL OF THE WEEK
The tool this week has to go the Griswolds for keeping the neighbours up with our ‘passionate discussions’ over dinner. The poor 80-year-old lady had to ask us to quieten down in her dressing gown at about 11pm at night.