An Eventful Trip (Part 5): Split, Croatia

Day 10: Cetina Canyoning experience

We got up early to meet our group for our EXTREME CANYONING adventure. We joined a group and they provided us with free transfer to and from Cetina Canyon. This is about 45 mins to an hour's drive outside of Split.

When I was researching what there is to do in Split, there were lots of options for getting out of the city and doing a fun activity - such as rafting, zipling, hiking, canyoning, beaches, ruins, island hopping, wine tasting etc. I decided to do canyoning because it's something I've never done before and also I saw a video of someone repelling down waterfalls in New Caledonia and it looked so fun. So I kind of went into this with only that expectation.......

We arrived at the activity centre, they had us read "waivers", didn't even have to sign anything about how the centre is not responsible for any injuries, accidents or deaths. :S

They suited us up with neoprene suits, life jackets, helmets and hiking boots. Then we took another car ride for about 20 mins to the place where we hiked down into the canyon. Just hiking down was difficult because it was really climbing down the side of the canyon to get to the bottom... at times I couldn't see where to put my feet, and my field of depth was quite bad - I had forgotten to wear contacts for this activity and had to take off my glasses because the rapids would definitely wash them away.

We were really hot and sweaty in our neoprene suits by the time we reached the bottom - I think it's the heat and also a bit of adrenalin pumping through my body. It was so nice to enter the waters of the Cetina River and cool off, but they didn't give us much time to sit around. We quickly starting going down the river. Our guide told us that the course we would do today is about 2km long and Canyoning involves jumping from rocks, going through rapids and also repelling. Doesn't sound so bad does it?

When you're there and you see the rapids it can scare you, I was definitely scared. I'm a strong swimmer, but rapids are areas where rocks are close together and water speed is a lot faster. Also I'll be lying down with my feet first and my head is supposed to be raised a little so that I can see where I'm going. My hands should be by my side and help to manoeuvre..... but let me tell you, when you're in the rapids, there's no time to think!

Your feet might crash into a rock that you can't see, your bum might have sunk a bit lower causing you to get caught on a rock, your hands can't really do anything to change direction as the water is pushing you so quickly. And your head.... well you might be trying to see where you're going, but the rapids might rush over your head.....

Not at all how they describe it on the website where I signed up for this! :D

The whole adventure was a bit too "extreme" for me... but I decided to stick with it since I was already there, but I think my fear, adrenalin and the fact that I am not as physically fit as I want to be made it a very exhausting activity. After the first rapid I was having trouble breathing because the life jacket had been tightened so much that I had no room to expand my chest and diaphragm areas.

Then my neck felt like jelly because I think I might have pulled a muscle while I was holding my head up in the rapids (the next day it was so painful on one side of my neck). My legs and arms felt like lead as I was climbing boulders to move along the river. It was also non-stop: get in water, walk/climb boulders, go through rapid, walk/climb boulder, go through rapid, walk/climb, repel down, float through river, go through rapid ...... etc.... couldn't stop to catch my breath.

The course was 2km long only, but it felt like I had traveled 20km or more! And we started at like 10:30 or maybe a bit earlier, and got back to our base camp around 3:30pm!!! we took 4 hours to travel 2km!

Although this was both physically and mentally exhausting, we did see some beautiful views in the canyon. These views can't be seen from the same perspective if you were hiking or ziplining. We saw a 50ft waterfall as we repelled down the canyon walls and the blue blue sky with the canyon walls rising up as we floated on our backs down the river (photo at the top of this post, and the one below are from website). We're both glad we did this and came out of it all in one piece, but probably won't be taking it up as a hobby.

Unfortunately, we didn't take any photos and our tour guide didn't help to take any photos of the scenery. He did take a photo of our group.... but he totally disregarded the scenery behind us!

When we got back to our airbnb, we rested for a bit and then I went out for a walk around the old town area of Split. I checked out the ferry ticket prices and times for our island trip the day after, I checked out what souvenirs I want to buy and compared prices, then I went over to the place where we were to pick up our rental car to confirm that they have an automatic car ready etc.

Lastly I stopped at Toto's for a hamburger and salad..... for some reason I was craving that. Maybe because of our exhausting adventure earlier that day, or maybe because I wanted something familiar. The hamburger was really yummy - had a thick, juicy patty; and the salad was surprisingly large. Felt full and healthy (with the salad..... haha)!

above left & right: we were in Croatia during the World Cup, and Croatia did amazing

One of the matches must have been an important one, there were SO MANY police officers on the streets

and a bunch of Korean Ahjumma tourists started asking the officers for photos

Day 11: Road Trip

We, or well I, had it all planned out before we left Canada. Our plan was to wake up early, pick up our rental car drive to a little town called Primosten, then go to a winery, then go to Krka National Park for a swim, then go for dinner before heading back home. Waaaaaay too much to do in a day.

We ended up picking up our car a bit later in the morning, then we had to navigate the narrow roads back to our home to pick up all our stuff for the day.

Then we got on the road and headed north towards Primosten. This is a little penninsula town about 50 mins north of Split near Sibenik. I found this town by accident as I thought it would be nice to have a place for a coffee on the way...... it's such a pretty little place that we ended up staying for much longer than a coffee.

We walked around the whole coast of the town, there were so many places where you could just walk down rocks/stairs and jump into the sea - which quite a few residents did, and there were also quite a few people fishing. There weren't many people along the coastal walk that we took, so we got many photos without throngs of tourists as part of the scene.

In the end we decided to have our lunch there because we happened to see a menu with a photo of a pot of seafood that looked like a fish stew. We still haven't had a single dish of the Croatian Fish Soup that I had read so much about during my research.

So we chose a restaurant and ordered a fish soup/stew, a squid ink risotto and a plate of grilled veggies. It tasted great, especially the fish soup. The fish they used was so soft and the soup/broth was really yummy! I just think the amount of soup wasn't enough - wish there had been twice as much soup.

Then we made our way to Vina Rak - this is a winery owned by the Rak family. When we arrived, they were quite busy with the celebration of a baby's christening. There were lots of people, loud laughter, music and dancing.

The owner's son came out and he welcomed us even though he couldn't really give us the whole winery tour because of the big party, he still gave us 6 wines to taste and we also got some charcuterie platters to accompany the wine.

I can't drink a lot, but I did enjoy some of the wine.... but can't remember now.... Supposedly the Rose at Vina Rak is an award winning one in Croatia. And the Pruiscetto that they have in Croatia is really yummy, that we finished all of, but we left most of the cheese untouched as it's a bit too strong for us. I prefer a light soft cheese (like the one I had in Paris). There were also these little Sardine or Anchovy like fishes, which I thought tasted great if you ate them little by little and used it as a spread on bread/crackers.

After the wine tasting - which lasted very long because we had to wait for them to serve us each wine..... and they left us to taste and eat in between, so by the time we were done, I think it was already around 4pm or so..... we had to drive to Krka National Park, which isn't far, but that didn't leave us much time till sun down.

We arrived at Krka National Park, and unlike what I thought, we couldn't drive right down to the waterfalls, park and swim. We had to take a shuttle or hike down 2km. We waited for the shuttle and when it finally left the parking lot (which was a while, the driver took a coffee break) and the ride down was very steep and windy. I'm glad we didn't try to walk. And the 2km ride on the shuttle still felt very long...... maybe 2km is a very long distance.....

Once we got off the shuttle, we walked along some paths trying to find the waterfall and swimming area..... but we never reached there. We had to hurry back to Split to return our car before 8pm, as we had to leave early the next day for a ferry to the island of Hvar.

We drove back to Split as fast as we could, we definitely went over the speed limit. In Croatia, or at least the part where we drove outside of Split, the people who drive here are very funny. They either drive super fast and follow you REALLY close behind if you're slow to get you to give way, or they drive suuuuuper slow taking in the view and talking with their passenger.......

After I saw how fast Croatians drove, I wasn't too worried about us speeding.  :P

******let me digress briefly......******
Unlike... ahem.... Melbourne, Australia..... here's a warning for all those planning to travel to Melbourne! or the State of Victoria in Australia. They are a stickler for staying within the speed limit. We drove quite a bit there and most of the time we just drove along with everyone else on the highways, we weren't weaving in an out between cars and were, for the most part, not in a rush to get anywhere.

Three months after the trip.... I receive this letter in the mail with a stamp from Australia, I thought my friends must have sent me something. I open it up and it's a fine for speeding!!!! The speed limit was 100km/h, and we were (supposedly) going at 110km/h but they gave us a bit of leeway and said we were going at 107km/h and fined us AUD$ 198!!!!!! I don't think we were speeding the whole way on the highway... but just for those few seconds..... urgh!

And then three weeks later I receive 2 more letters from Australia.... I thought they were reminder notices about the first letter.... but when I opened them I got 2 more fines!!!! both for speeding and one of them was over 110km/h so even higher fine!!!!!

Australia really knows how to rub salt into your wounds..... I ended up with, just shy of, AUD$ 800 in fines!

I immediately messaged my friends in Australia and asked them why they didn't tell us about this, because it's happened to many tourists apparently..... my friend just answered "you have to pick your spots".......

They have a "keep left" sign at nearly every road intersection, no matter how small, they should make more visible signs to warn people of speeding cameras and speed limits.

.......... *crying in my heart.....* the $800 could have been used for something that brings me joy!!! like a new Dyson cordless vacuum!!!!!

******end of digression******