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Ancona, Italy

We woke up in the night to booming thunder and pouring rain. Oh no, not more! In the morning the weather was steady rain and it was check out day. Great, a day with no house to rest in, and no point in a day trip either – what to do? The temperature had also dropped along with our spirits to around 13 degrees. The forecast had indicated sun most of the day with a couple of showers and clearly it was wrong.

Now that I have finished moaning again about the weather there is not really much to report, we basically spent the day dodging the rain in a couple of coffee shops and under shop awnings being determined not to get wet and cold to the bone again.

As mentioned before, Split has not lived up to our expectations. The city is not overly scenic, but somewhat shabby and its harbour water is not as clean as Dubrovnik. There is nowhere near the clarity or fish life and there is always some rubbish to be seen in it. We even saw some human waste floaters yesterday …… Sewerage smell is prevalent coming up from pipes in a lot of places, including the heavily touristed promenade. The town streets have more dog poo than we have seen previously so caution is required when walking – Vern got caught once eek.

The food has not been good quality either with the exception of our last meal which was tasty though more homestyle cooking than a chef. I had grilled squid and Vernon a lasagne with cream poured over and we shared a salad with cottage cheese. Other than our hostess (ex pat Aussie) and the tour to the lakes, the service has been poor and the miserable demeanour of the people wearying.

After learning more about the people from Ernie our guide and Antonia, we do have a clearer understanding of why they may be like this, but it still grates against our kiwi values and beliefs. Things are tough here, wages are average 1,000NZD per month and many employers just don’t even pay their employees for periods of up to months (true) and the employee won’t leave as they only get a benefit if they get fired, not leave voluntarily…. So you can imagine how much they care about their work! Pensions and benefits are not really enough to live on, and extended families live together supporting each other.

After the war and break down of communism a lot of industry went bust and this has affected employment opportunities. The silver lining to that Ernie said is that the environment has improved greatly. I have previously mentioned the urban drift, and myself can’t really fathom why I would want to be poor in town verses poor on the family farm – at least you could be more self sufficient. Antonia did mention that the infrastructure – schools, medical etc is not perceived as good in the declining rural sector and this increases the urban shift.

Antonia also said that the Croatians are known for moaning and complaining about everything, yet doing little to change a situation. That they generally view tourism as money to be made but do not share the concepts of service and business building that Australia or NZ does (and some other countries of course). I personally think that this concept of taking rather than building is perhaps why some of them abandon the life on the land – its all too hard to work it and ride the highs and lows – but its a hunch of course I do not really know anywhere near enough.

So in summary our big highlight was Plitvice lakes and we had a nice stay in our apartment. Split for us lacked charm and had the weather been better and we made it to the islands we probably would have had a more rewarding stay. Really we have had such a great 6 weeks so far, we are probably getting fussy and spoilt for the great weather and experiences.

Our ferry to Ancona is not as big as the one we came over on and the room is smaller with the shower being in the same room as the toilet and sink with no shower curtain or separation, so the water goes everywhere and drains in the floor. Vernon said they have that in boats and subs etc for room economy. Just means that you have to wipe down the loo if you want to go soon after!

Kipped down early in our narrow bunk to a cosy warm rocker bye baby sleep.

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