Makarska

Our last day and night on Stari Grad was very relaxing. We found a beach opposite our side of the port and lay on the beach.

I was watching a group of children with a woman, and given that they were all about the same age, wondered whether they were sisters or cousins. I was helping one of the little girls fix her mask, and she called the woman 'teta' (aunt). I asked her whether they were sisters and she tried to explain, and in the end just said 'children's home'. Shortly after, more and more children and women arrived until the group were about 20. A children's home. I'm not sure how or why there would be so many gorgeous looking kids under about 12 years who would be in a home. I tried to research it but came up with a blank except for a comment that there were parents struggling financially who couldn't keep their children. I can't see that, because family is everything here.  You can see that it kept my mind in motion for a while. I was talking to a South Africa woman, a part of the diaspora from the 1990s and she said 'yes of course, there are children's homes in every country'. Again, not so much. Not in NZ.

We had our last meal in a little konoba below our apartment - home cooking to die for - eggplant dishes and a salate from the ager - hadn't seen that word, seems it's a colloquial term for field (polje).

Funnily enough, a group of people walked past our table, and the returned to sit beside us  half an hour later. I  muttered to Chris that one of the group looked Maori - and then bent our ears to listen - indeed, a kiwi accent, sitting with a group of earnest (smoking) Croatians. In the end, one of us said, 'oh, we were right, whereabouts are you from?'. Rotorua he said. Then, not sure why, Chris asked him what his surname was - Curtis. It was Cliff Curtis, our actor. How embarrassing. We sort of recognised him but couldn't place him. 

He chatted to us for a few minutes, and then his group turned their backs on us. He is here filming a Croatian movie, in which he plays the 'exotic' stranger. The intense woman who dismissed us with her body language was the director.

We left it at that - we chatted amongst themselves, they ate their meal. He slurped his soup and then smoked between each course. The smoking thing has really bugged my people here. Everywhere in the cafes. Everywhere. But Cliff Curtis is a Kiwi - he should know better (shouldn't he?).

In bed before 11  - the bus arrived at 6:50 am, and on the ferry at 7:45. We amused ourselves with a game of 500- as you do on a ferry - rolled across the road onto the Makarksa bus and here we are still. Feels like my second home now. And I almost feel as though I need to protect it and make excuses for it.

So although I didn't need to book a room for you, you have very nicely come on my first 'tour' with me. We've seen things that most tourists miss - we taken time to chat to locals to see how their world is for them. We've eaten out every night and have tasted wonderful food. We've climbed and cycled and walked miles. I've loved it, and want to continue sharing this part of my world with my friends.

Maybe next year I can book a room for you.