Croatia Day 6

Primo Primosten

I woke up early this morning to try and get out ahead of the crowds in order to experience the palace without the throngs of people that blanketed it yesterday, and wow, what a difference! I love wandering areas in the wee hours of the morning before the locals arise and the tourists descend, it seems to impart a more authentic feel to the place

I made it back to the apartment around 8:15, woke the girls up and we walked the twenty minutes or so to pick up our rental car, a small but comfortable manual Peugeot – a definite step up from our car on Vis that had crank windows (even though the two cranks in the front were missing); the girls were just happy there was Bluetooth.

We headed out from Split with the decision to drive through Trogir, a UNESCO heritage site as well, and see if we wanted to stop. Pulling into town, the answer was a definitive “No!” after encountering masses and masses of people.

The next stop was Primosten, and when we saw it from a ways out we thought it looked like an ideal stop.

We pulled in there it was perfect – the town was quiet, with mostly locals lounging on the beach.

After a challenging start to figuring out how pay for the parking, we walked up to the church on the top of the hill. The church was open and I was finally able to light my first candle for my dad.

The small church really held a beautiful spot and the cemetery surrounding it had spectacular views. The breeze on top of the hill was delightful and combined with the shade, made for a relaxing respite from the sun. We all just found a spot to chill out a bit before making our way back down in search of lunch.

We selected a spot right on the water. We each ordered a greek salad and split a basket of freshly baked bread which was divine.

From Primosten, we headed inland towards our destination for the night, a hotel on the outskirts of Plitvice Lakes National Park. My trusty navigator, who has rarely failed me, ended up missing the exit and before we knew it, we were looking at an additional 30 minutes as we had to go 15 minutes up the highway to exit and turn around to get back to the exit. However, when evaluating out options we opted for a route that would really take us about the same amount of time but would take us through more of the country.

Our decision paid off in spades, as we absolutely loved the drive through the countryside, getting a real feel for the country. We were clearly in an area that saw few tourists as we got some serious stares from the locals as we waved.