Day 66. Leanne here.

 Early in the trip, I purchased a necklace that denotes “Carpe Diem” inscribed on a silver ring at the British Museum.  I figured it would keep me focused on making every day of this yearlong trek count.

This morning, Kyle and I go to the local coffee bar for cappuccino.  We walk in and five older gentlemen look up and stop their conversation staring at us.  We order two cappuccinos and another guy stares us down more.  Kyle is convinced we have entered into a bar that is a front for the Croatian mafia.  I drank that cappuccino very fast indeed.  We gather the troops to get out by 9 am for perhaps the coolest boat daytrip we have ever taken.  Another John find.  

OK, so I figured we aren’t going to get our educational planning (we are now starting our homeschooling plans) and our cultural needs filled today, but it is still August, its 95 degrees out and a boat ride in the Adriatic Sea out to some islands right now sounds really nice.

At the first dock at Barca Island, the boat stops and the captain tells us we are expected to jump off the top of the boat.  At first, I thought he was kidding.  What? In the U.S., it would be the opposite as I’m sure a dozen liability attorneys would have warned the owners. But in Croatia, you jump off the top of the boat.  Pretty much everyone did it from ages five to 65 taking a 12 foot leap into turquoise salty waters of the Adriatic.   Most of us get a chance to standup paddle board.

The entire boat is filled with tourists but presumably we are the only ones speaking English in our immediate area.   On the way to the second stop, an 18-year old Israeli youth starts chatting with Kyle and I, presumably because we are American.  The gregarious young man shared he was born in California but grew up in Israel and that he is on a gap year before starting his obligatory 2.8 year commitment in the Israeli military. He tells us all the great stops to hit in Israel when we go there.  He’s a musician whose traveling and making his pocket money through his music. Overall, we find him an interesting young man but couldn’t figure out why he wanted to chat with us for the life of us.  

The second stop led us to Solta Island to a small fishing village that finally found something Kyle has been seeking.  A place with absolutely no American brand stores or fast food chains.  You were lucky to find what one might need from a Croatians’ perspective, much less worry about helping someone with a Big Mac Attack.  In fact, we have not seen any American brand stores or fast food chains in all of Croatia but you  never know if you missed a Starbucks or the Evil Empire of McDonalds tucked away somewhere. But here in Solta, we can definitively say there are none.  Solta was small and quaint and the rocky beach offered us another great opportunity for swimming, resting, relaxing, and taking way too many photos.    

The ride back, Kyle is sitting there just taking in the sun, sea, and the salt air, sitting in the most relaxed position we’ve seen him.  As soon as we get off the boat, he’s on a mission to find a place for a couple’s massage for the two of us.  Yes, this IS one of those days we should just skip the blog post and also why it is late in forthcoming.  

After navigating his Google Maps, Kyle meanders down several different alleys in Split’s Palace as he wants to get to the only massage place in Split proper.  His Google maps takes him to a place that looks more like a back alley of a restaurant with trash.  “But this is where Google Maps says it is,” he insists.

We don’t want the day’s relaxation to get thrown out the window looking for more relaxation (definition of irony?), so I started googling and find another massage place but with appointments in two hours not immediately.  Kyle’s relaxation meter is dropping like led balloon by now. 

We stroll down another couple of alleys and finally found the first place he wanted to visit.  It’s a tiny storefront - maybe four feet wide - which is probably why Google maps wasn’t 100% sure where it was!  The nice business owner says she has a booking for 5 pm but they hadn’t yet come.  She would wait a few more minutes but give us the slot if her booked customers don’t come. She asks us to sit outside.  Kyle suggests offering her 100 Kuna “booking fee” to take us right away to eliminate the risk of the couple showing up. 

Kyle and I take stools outside and stare down every passerby with the hopes that none of them can find the 4-foot storefront.  We were secretly hoping that they also used Google Maps and were not as tenacious. Score.  The 10 minutes past and the nice Croatian lady offers us up two massages.  Kyle walks out saying it was the best massage of his life.  I walk out thinking “there’s no such thing as a bad massage.”

We head back to the place. Feeling guilty that we just played today, I convince Justin to grab the final hour of the Archaeological Museum of Split.  Split has a great collection of Roman, Greek early finds from various digs nearby.  We would be remiss in really getting the culture of Split if we didn’t explore these findings.  It’s both indoors and outdoors and Justin and I find everything from Roman coins, the Bronze Age weapons, to tombs, to early Christians lamps. The outdoor part was particularly interesting as the sun was setting and the guy wanted to close up so we walked through the tombs in dusk, adding to our experience.  My guilt for enjoying the day in the sun evaporates with each artifact we explore and try to understand.

Justin and I get back to the flat to find a bit of dinner and a bit of John working on his new college classes.  From islands to paddle boarding to fishing villages to archeological finds, we once again live up to our “Carpe Diem” mantra on final full day in Split.   As the family fades into sleep, Kyle wakes up to find fireworks off the balcony for me to enjoy with him to end a perfectly planned fun day!