Vranjic

Although we did not sail today, this was officially the last day of the tour.

We dropped our bags at our airbnb in Split for that night before having a quick breakfast and then making our way to the meeting point for our day trip to Krka National Park which we had booked for our last full day with Nicky and Alex!

We met our tour guide, Mario, who provided us with some fun facts on the way to the national park which took about an hour's drive. The facts included that:
-Croatia gets its name from a 7th century family who discovered the region and the youngest child was called Croate so that’s how Croatia got its name.
- Split comes from a Greek word which describes a yellow flower that blooms in the Split area.
- On the Croatian flag, the red and white squares are the walls defending Europe and the crown with three lions is the coat of arms of Dalmatia (the region in Croatia which includes the coastal towns).

We arrived in the National park and Mario took us on a short tour showing us displays about the watermills, the hydroelectric plant (the second oldest in the world after Niagara Falls- by two days), the old blacksmith shops and tools and the traditional methods of clothes making.

Mario explained a few things about the area, including that:
- The waterfalls have been under protection since 1985.
- The total national park is 109km2 (though we would just be visiting the most touristy part).
- There are lots of fish (mostly a type of trout fish) because it is forbidden to fish in the park.
- The famous Zinfandel grape actually comes from Croatia! Wine is a big part of Croatian culture. The Zinfandel grape is produced in California, however after 12 years of heritage research it was found that the grape did in fact originally come from the Split region and it is now UNESCO protected. Because of this, the government funds vineyards to increase the number of plantations to produce the wine (many of which we saw on the side of the roads to and from the park.
- When Mario spoke about the importance of blacksmiths in Croatia, he explained that kovac (which means blacksmith) is the most common Croatian name because that was a common job in the early communities and families were often named by their professions.

We then explored the park by ourselves for about an hour and a half, admiring the beautiful nature and waterfalls as we made a loop back to the bus. For the last couple of years, it has been prohibited to swim in the Falls due to the increase in tourism and damage it was causing to the mossy areas.

We then drove to the town of Primošten, a small beachside town for a late lunch. We had some yummy meat/fig pasta and octopus salad before chilling out on the beach for an hour. The water was very refreshing and we enjoyed chatting in the water and lying on the pebble beach.

We caught the bus back to Split to end our day trip and made our way back to the Airbnb to freshen up before heading out for our last dinner with Nicky and Alex :( We loved the place from yesterday so much that we decided to go back there! Nicky ordered the same dish whilst the three of us tried some different things. Gab loved her pumpkin ravioli and Daniel had a great prosciutto pizza.

After our delicious dinner and a few beers and aperol spritzes at dinner, we then made our way back to the Airbnb for a night of drinks and cards into the early hours of the morning, trying to pretend that our time with our friends would never end!Read more