Clouds in the sky

Today I expected to be a lazy day. I got to sleep in so I did not have to be up first thing in the morning. However, I am bad at sleeping in so by 8am I was ready to go for the day. I decided to start my morning with a walk down by the markets in old town.

 I was told that this was a great place to start the day by Ana yesterday and she was right. I have always found that markets are a great way to observe a town and get to know an area. While part of this market definitely catered to tourists, going early in the morning meant that I could see what the locals came to the market for. 

The first thing I noticed was that the part of the market that was most active was the fruit and vegetable portion of the market. There locals were clearly getting ready to sell their wares while other locals were buying goods. Along with the fruits and veggies there were nuts, olives, meats, cheeses, and fish. There are so many different smells in the market. Some are good and some are bad. 

I bought my postcard for my journey in Split while I was walking but I needed to grab more money before I could by more fruits and veggies for my meals for the day. I went back to the hostel and grabbed some money. I also grabbed some food because I knew if I did not grab myself food at the hostel I would end up buying pastries from one of the bakeries that I had passed. 

Back in the market I bought myself more food for my meals. I really liked the fresh pears that I found in the market. They were so very tasty. Also, pomegranates are in season here and so they are selling many of those in the market. I may have to go back and buy some tomorrow. 

I spent more time wandering around the old city and other areas near the hostel this morning. I went back to the hostel and enjoyed some down time. I had an early lunch and then it was time to make my way back to the bus station. Today I am not leaving the town to go somewhere else for another night but instead I booked tickets to visit a national park. 

Krka National Park Croatia is located about 1.5 hours from Split. I arrived in the town near the national park. From there I had to buy tickets for the park and to get a boat over to the park. One can take a special park bus to get to the entrance of the park but the boat was so much better. 

The boat ride was beautiful. The river runs through beautiful mountains. Once I got off the boat I ended up walking along the main pathway to the bottom of the falls. There were many people there but still it was a wonderful place to stop and take pictures. There were clouds in the sky as I walked but fortunately there was no rain. 

There were lots of stairs and paths to walk along by the falls so I did just that. I took time to stop and enjoy the water and marvel at how beautiful the earth is. These falls were wonderful. Though they are not large they are very neat with the way they carve through the landscape and fall into the lake below them before it empties into a river. 

I followed the path around the various levels of the falls for over an hour. I got to enjoy seeing the magnificent woods around the river. There is lots of wonderful fauna in the area. I really enjoyed the purple flowers that are everywhere here. There were also pools of fish I checked out as I walked. 

After figuring out that I had more time than I initially realized I got to spend some extra time walking around, enjoying the way the sun finally broke through the clouds to light up the waterfalls, and more of the nature surrounding the falls. It was nice and relaxing walking around. I really enjoyed the park. 

I caught another boat back to the main town. There I had a little bit of time to wander around and get another postcard for myself. Then my bus back to Split arrived. It was a lovely ride back. Again we drove through the mountains and valleys. One could see where fires had burned away brush and other vegetation. 

Back in Split I again avoided the rain and had a relaxing walk back to the hostel. I was hungry so it was time to make dinner. The stove here is very challenging to use. The controls do not make sense and it is a special electric stove top that I struggle to cook on. After dinner it is time to prep for tomorrow. I also need to do some laundry (sink laundry is the best in hostels). 

Some random observations...

• lots of people smoke here. It is very common everywhere you go
• most of the people on vacation right now seem to be other Europeans
• people buy food for just a day or two here 
• there are not a lot of people who are not white here
• no one here wears bright colors but the do sell lots of bright colored clothing to tourists
• it is really hard sometimes to be more of a traveler and less of tourist, depending on what you are trying to see or do during your travels 
• I really like it here