May 14 page 48 |
2005 BALKANS TOURBen Oostdam | from STON to TROGIR DALMATIA |
| I got up early that Saturday-morning and enquired about the bus service to Split. I figured I might have to go to Maliston first, since Ston itself was on a sideroad leading further onto the peninsula. A waitress told me that her boyfriend might give me a ride, but while settling my bill (over $ 100 for overnight and dinner, one of my biggest expenses on the entire tour) I talked with the guy from the room next door, and he offered me a ride in his BMW all the way to Split. At first, I objected not wanting to intrude on "them", but he assured me that she was just a casual acquaintance and would not mind. So after we had breakfast together, we drove along the Adriatic coast with all its inlets, rocks and islands, with Tony driving, and 17 year old sweet S. sitting and smoking in the back. Tony spoke fluent English, was in the merchant marine and appeared to know just about every port in the world. No, he did not have a girl in every port, just in every port he had visited. |
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(left): two charming |  |
| Without even having to produce my passport, we drove through the BiH corridor (Bosnia-Herzegovina) and its tourist town of Neum. Before we hit Split, he used his cell-phone (he had recently incurred a $4.5K monthly bill in the Persian Gulf) to call some friends of his to find me accommodation. He then decided I should skip Split and first see his native town of of Trogir, which was vastly superior to Dubrovnik. I went along and drove all the way through and beyond the town and its shipyard to take S. home before he dropped me off at Anchora, a restaurant with guestrooms. He also gave me the name of a photoshop where I could put all my digital cards onto CD's - by then I was completely out of "storage". |