Ties, war, Tito

We left Dubrovnik early this morning to go back to Split to take a boat to Hvar Island. I managed to stay awake for most of the bus ride this time (including another swing through Bosnia) and I'm still kinda feeling the afterglow of how great it was. The most beautiful bus trip ever.

The Lonely Planet says Hvar attracts international jetsetters. I was hoping for Mick Jagger, but all we saw were the same tourists we've been seeing all over Croatia. It's really nice though, even without Mick. There's a little bay with boats and there are some nice churches. (A nun kicked me out of one because I'm wearing a tank top. It happened right after a little kid told Shane to stop talking. They didn't think much of us in that church.) There's also an old fortress up on a hill; it's now a catering facility but still pretty cool to walk around.

The boat from Split drops you off on the wrong side of the island, so we shared a cab with some annoying British women to Hvar town. They really drive like maniacs here. We were on this narrow two-lane road with hills and curves and the driver kept passing people and I'm pretty sure the car left the ground going over a hill. And the British women kept distracting him with unnecessary details about their plans in Hvar, causing him to occasionally turn around and look at them, swerving a little in the process. I guess it's not a real cab ride in a foreign country if you don't fear for your life at least once.

In all the Croatian cities we've been to so far, the sidewalks are made of marble, at least in the old parts of town. It looks cool, but marble is pretty slippery and so are both pairs of shoes I brought with me. Marble is also really hard, so I've been walking extra carefully. I hope I don't fall.

Another good thing about Croatia (whose Croatian name is Hrvatska--why does everyone else call it Croatia?) is there are cats everywhere. All the restaurants we've been to have a cat or two wandering around.