Crowds in Croatia
Date: 22 May 2025
Ancona is not Italy’s most charming town, and the weather matched it perfectly. We took shelter at the ferry terminal, people-watching and effectively losing a day from our already non-existent schedule. A major route change had become necessary – the only ferry running this early in the season was to Split, which we’d hoped to avoid. It’s halfway down the coast, meaning we’re skipping most of Croatia. Never mind – we’ve been here before, and we know it’s lovely.
To pass the time, we stretched our legs with a quick ride up to the cathedral overlooking the town – and the shipyards – before boarding the ferry. We found our cabin for the 12-hour overnight passage, or “cruise” as we’re calling it, since we’ll likely never take a real one.
The original plan had us island-hopping up the northern coast to join the TransDinarica at Rijeka, but we salvaged part of it by choosing Korčula, an island off Split, for a Croatian island experience. In an incredible twist of fate, we discovered only the night before that Jill’s brother Mark and his wife Alison would be there too. Once again, fortune is on our side.
We arrived in Split early and wandered the highly polished old town, exploring the huge third-century palace of some long-dead emperor before the cruise ship mob woke up and crowded us out. Keep your gaze above street level and it’s quite a sight – drop your eyes and it’s souvenir tat all the way. We fled around the headland, loving the shady park, the crystal-clear water,
and a genuine burek we picked up in the unpolished suburbs. We ate it in the yard of a tiny church, watching Croatians drink morning beers loudly and joyfully. You don’t have to go far to find real life here – it’s just not what they serve up to the cruise ship crowd. Bureks are one of the main reasons we were happy to come back to Croatia. They’re right up there with the best of Kiwi pies.
We found a beach not far from town to wait for the afternoon ferry and passed the time debating the sexuality of the budgie-smuggler-clad men frolicking in the water, playing handball with dramatic leaping and diving. We eventually decided they were just posturing peacocks, though the complete absence of the female of the species remains a mystery.
The islands are steep and dramatic, with villages tumbling down the hillsides to the coast. We arrived on Korčula and wound our way through the usual maze of tiny old-town streets (13th century this time) to find our apartment. We felt very international being greeted by Mark and Alison as we pushed our loaded bikes past a row of inevitable “jewerly” shops – their spelling, not mine.
We’re being tourists for a few days, and it’s all very pleasant but we can’t wait to become travelers again.
Max elevation: 39 m
Min elevation: -6 m
Total climbing: 262 m
Total descent: -267 m
Total time: 07:03:42
Battery use: %
Ok, I’ve brought myself up to date and can see you are having a fine old time. Loved the sound of your big downhill. The boy racers on their motorcycles remind me of a similar experience. Keep rolling and keep posting. Regards, Mike