29 August 2007
Quote:
"Cheer
down."
(George Harrison)
Split
The bus ride to Split went smooth, and the bus was basically empty, so it was possible to switch seats depending on the direction the sun was shining. There are lots of mountains on the way, and long tunnels. I should have taken the proper road map, because I can never tell where exactly I am. The Lonely Planet map is so tiny.
tunnel
vision
Split is easily navigable, and I had no problem finding the small hostel in the old town. They had air-conditioning! Split was even hotter than Zagreb. Early in the morning the temperature is bearable, but even at 8 AM the sun is too strong to stand outside the shade without melting, and in the afternoon the short walk from the bus station to the hotel is enough to drench me completely in sweat.
The Dioclectian Palace in Split is the best preserved Roman building in the world. But that only means that its basement halls are still standing. The upper floors have been converted into the town itself. The basement halls are huge, like a medium-sized shopping mall. Nowadays they are also used for exhibitions, and when I visited they had huge cut-outs of painted figured sitting in the corners. The idea was interesting, but it was a bit of a pity that the art itself wasn't very good. Quite bad, really.
One of the better
artworks
A more modern touch
"..qu頍
bien huelen los pinos..."
The cathedral (apparently the oldest church building in the world - the building is old because a Roman structure has been converted into a church. There are older churches in the world) seemed a bit of a rip-off with grumpy-looking attendants, no photo permits and a small museum with some dusty relicts.
Details in Split Cathedral
I also paid a visit to the small Ethnographic Museum. They had an exhibition of traditional Croatian bedspreads that are made by the bride for the weeding as a symbol of good luck and fertility. There are really colourful and psychedelic showing sexual symbols like mushrooms and animals. Some are more shocking than B-Rude. LOL
I went for a walk along the coast to the "rocky" beach which was still busy with bathers at 7 PM. The water looked lovely, but I hadn't bothered to bring swimwear. The Adria really looks impressively exotic: the water of the sea is totally turquoise blue. Later that night I walked to the other side of the corniche, the "sandy" beach where all the night spots are. The stretch of rare sand is very short, like 300 metres. It was a full moon, and the bars and clubs in full swing. Lots of young people... everybody is so young (not only in the hostels). Walking in the balmy night along the promenade and the windy roads in the old town reminded me of Barcelona (it doesn't take much usually) and I got all melancholy. (It was a full moon after all.)
For dinner I went to a seafood restaurant and had fish carpaccio and black squid risotto (cooked in the squid's ink). The risotto is really black. Not just slightly darkish tinted, but pitch-dark black. Not a good dish to have whilst wearing white! The food was excellent, but the waiter was a bit patronising, as they tend to be towards solo women. Not speaking the language doesn't help, even though none of the other guests did. They all happily communicate in English, German or Italian. Split was full of Italians which is no wonder with the port and all the ferries coming in from Italy.
Whilst I was eating, this
Italian couple came into the restaurant. He was a big, loud young man, she
a typical primadonna wearing a large Rhinestone tiara in her hair. They
had a 1-year old baby with them and made a right fuss trying to arrange a
table downstairs where the father could just leave the pushchair and
wouldn't have to carry it upstairs. Of course they were blocking the way
for everybody else, but that didn't matter. They were so loud, like
the owned the place, especially the man. I could hear every little detail
of their conversation, what each of them would have for dinner and why
(she only wanted a starter because the sandwiches in the afternoon had
been quite filling). The baby was bored and naturally started grabbing at
things, but instead of giving him a toy to calm him down, the mother
repeatedly shouted "Nooo! Nooo! Nooo!" at the child in a very intense
tone, like she was talking to a dog that needed to be trained.
I was bemused because they totally re-enacted all the prejudices I have
towards Italians. They are so complicated, if they are nice, and
inconsiderate if they are not. It must be so tiring...
Dubrovnik
The bus to Dubrovnik was nothing like the day before: this time it was packed, and loads of people were standing, many passengers only going to the next town along the costal road. Because the bus took the windy coastal road it took forever, but there were some nice sights to be seen as well. When we passed a border with passport control I realised that a small bit of the coast belongs to Bosnia-Herzegovina, a tiny passage to the sea. But there was no change in the perfect Adriatic scenery.
When the bus pulled into
Dubrovnik station, the town was just burning down, or it seemed like it. A
forest fire had broken out just above the road and people were staring.
The fire brigade was arriving and seemed to get the fire under control. I
wonder if my insurance pays if my hotel burns down?
What's even more worrying is that the fires in and around Athens are still
raging. I'm going there next week! 60 or so people have already died and
they can't seem to get the fires under control. If all fails I need just
get through to Athens airport...
Buying a ticket to Sarajevo for the next morning was not a problem. I had been slightly worried because the Lonely Planet had claimed that there was only one daily bus which could get crowded. In fact there are at least 4 busses a day. Maybe things have changed along with the prices that seem to have tripled in the last 6 months. Or maybe they are simply the high season prices (high season stops tomorrow LOL).
After a short but exhausting walk I checked into my private room, changed, and went to the old town. Of course I did the walk on the city walls. It was very, very hot, and the whole town was full of tourists. The city is great, but all the hype is too much. Yes, Dubrovnik has city walls, but so has York. And Jerusalem. And Rothenburg. Or maybe it was simply too hot. This is deep tourism land, so prices are high and rip-off is ripe. The old city seemed to be invaded by Spaniards. Still not many Germans. That's funny, you usually can't escape them!
I took
refuge in the Franciscan monastery which has a nice cloister and one of
the oldest working pharmacies, from 1391.
I walked back through the Lapad peninsula, partly because I had gotten on
on the wrong bus and partly because I wanted to check out the beaches. But
in the end I didn't go for a swim because I was too tired and it was still
too hot at 6 PM.
I didn't want to change any more money because I wouldn't need Croatian
currency anymore, so I just bought some cheap food from my last kuna and
went back to the hotel to blog and watch CSI.
It pisses me off that when
you go to galleries, many portraits are either left half-finished or are
totally over-painted. The "half-finished" ones are sketchy in a
non-convincing way. Amateurish. They are supposed to look like the are
"sketches" with unfinished areas, but in reality the unfinished areas are
those that the artist didn't get to grips with: the difficult bits. That's
cheating. And it's not gripping. Just a cheap, first sketch, and you can
see that the artist didn't even attempt a second sketch. They are lazy.
The "overpainted" ones are not sketchy enough. Part of the face is
elaborately painted in a realistic manner, but doesn't fit in with the
rest of the painting. Often the face is distorted, as if the artist found
that after they had put so much work into the details they can't
re-arrange the whole portrait to achieve a likeness.
If you're clearly no good at painting the human figure, why insist on
exhibiting your works? Stick with still life. There's a lot damage to be
done in this area, but it's not as insulting as murdering somebody's face
in a portrait...
According to Kevan they will really play ten (!) nights at the Shaw Theatre. I hope he's wrong because I haven't got enough holidays left! I would have to commute to and from Sheffield every night! (Of course not doing all shows is not a option. LOL)
David from the Samaritans texted and asked me to call him back. I tried all day and when I finally reached him he only said he'd call me when I'm back in Sheffield because I said I didn't know how much credit I had left. Doh!
