After 5 days of cooking and cleaning for a sick wife that can somehow muster the energy to sunbathe all day, I needed to burn off some ham cracker calories and decided to climb the 1000m mountain of Ilija just behind Orebec. I knew time would be tight but I thought I could fit it in between feedings, I was given a 4 hour pass. I hauled ass up, got lost off of the trail, decided to scramble amongst the mountain sheep (saw the shit but did not see the sheep) to the summit, quick pictures, sign the summit book, hauled ass down with a finish 5 km run into the kitchen… 3.45hrs. All was well lunch was served promptly at noon and things were looking golden up until that evening (after the last feeding of the day) when Brandy said that she was feeling much better and that we were going up the mountain the very next day. My wobbly legs began to shiver with fear at the thought of that hike again. So I packed up the required feeding and up the mountain we went. Of course Brandy had no problem and kicked my ass all the way up the mountain. Luckily I had the previous day’s exertion excuse to fall back on.

We took an early ferry to Kurcula, another one of the amazing walled villages that sit right on the sea, watching the sun break over the mountains we had climbed the previous day and we were treated to dolphins feeding in the small cove our ferry docked at (this description should have brought a tear to the reader’s eye). We then continued on to Split which was not even on my radar screen as anything more than Croatia’s second largest city, was I wrong. The place is amazing… it has one of the oldest Roman palaces still in use. There are over 3000 people still living within the palaces walls! 1700 year old houses… now that is an old house. We have checked out a few different areas around Split, seen some ruins, walled cities, UNESCO Heritage sites all incredible but what really hit me was that there is match race sailing series here with the likes of Coutts, Pace and Baird all manning 10 meter one designs. Having made an ass of myself at a few much lower caliber sailing regattas, I knew that there would be an expo close which would inevitably have a pivo (beer) sponsor giving out free pivo. Brandy was marginally keen on the idea of watching sailing but as we mounted the hill that the yacht club sits upon we were amazed to see that the boats were only 200m off of the 20m cliff we sat on. It was a very short course and the head-to-head elimination races was thrilling. Harry and Lenny, we were wishing you were here. Oh did I mention the free pivo? Yeah Baby we were golden, what an afternoon. Pivo, sun, racing right under your nose, more Pivo… lets just say we had big plans for the evening but the little cat nap lasted until the next morning.

The next day we were doing some more touring around and ran into a couple of gals we had seen a few days before on the ferry. It turned out one of the girls, Sonya, is an adventurous Canadian working in Britain and just traveling in Croatia with her friend Chantelle from NZL and with them was Peter from AUS. Brandy told them about the sailing the previous day and how great it was, they all listened in a friendly way and even made some sort of mumbling acceptance when we suggested we should all go look upon the racing for the afternoon. But once Brandy mentioned the free beer it was like we had just offered Peter a winning lottery ticket and off we went. We rode that beer keg until it was dead and then went out for a great meal with a great group of travelers we had met that day. That is one of the things I like best about traveling meeting great people…. and drinking free beer.

I end this post with one of the best days I could imagine we will have on this trip. Start with a great morning on the beach, swimming and lounging. Watch the championship match of the sailing between Baird and Pace (beer was still cold and free) and finish off the day taking in the championship football match. Which Split won! What a day!
Here is a European football fan match check list:
1- Work in the yard for three days straight without showering. Check!
2- Wear blue jeans with 20 smoke bombs, flares, fireworks and flashbangs.
3- Hajduk hat, scarf and arm bands.
4- Start drinking at 7:00am the day of the game, drink heavy starting at 9:00am of same day.
5- Locate 50,000 friends with similar ritual.
6- OK lets go!!!!!!

We were searched before the game but the only thing I think they were looking for is Thermal Nuclear Devices because all of the above firepower is allowed. It was insane. Every time Split scored the crowed would rain down the flares onto the field and the players would keep playing right around the fires. What a show. Towards the end some 500 riot police ringed the field but fortunately Split won by 6 goals so the crowd was not that rowdy.

So this weeks FFP is the crowd at the football game, we have never seen anything like it!!!

Till next time.

KLH

Photos:
Mt Ilija in Orebic
Mt Ilija Summit
Orebic-Split Ferry Sunrise
Korcula
Roman Amphitheatre - Split
At the Regatta
Match Race Boats
Peter, Chantelle, Sonya, Brandy, Kevin
Hooked
Croatian Football

And this installment's FFP (Funny F'n Person)... there were so many, we couldn't pick one:
FFP 3