Undies and other smalls freshly washed and dried on the rope strung between balcony pillars, we enjoyed another breakfast on the balcony before packing to leave. We are to make our way back to Split by ferry, before boarding a larger overnight ferry, and cross the Adriatic to Ancona in Italy. As we had a few hours to kill in between ferry's, we checked our bags into a luggage storage hut on the wharf (never seen so many bags stuffed in one little 1.5m x 2.5m hut, still not sure how the guy gets in and out), and wandered around Split for the afternoon.

Our overall impression of Croatia is wonderful. It is a very scenic countryside, steeped in history and everything an ancient culture has to offer. It isn't the sun and beaches play ground we had expected before arriving. Most of the ocean activities revolve around boating, for which we were unprepared and hadn't allowed enough time to organise… Next time !

Yep, I'm confident there will be a next time, probably need to have a few weeks to settle into the groove, but we have had a great taste of what to expect.

We boarded the ferry to Ancona about 7.00pm for a departure at 8.00pm. Making our way to the forward section of the ship, we spread ourselves out along a lounge in a quiet part of the bar / lounge area. When booking the tickets while in Zagreb, we weren't able to confirm a cabin accommodation, so we had to hope for the best with seating. Luckily for us the ship was very quiet and we were virtually alone in this forward section for the entire trip.

Eleven hours later we were docking in Ancona, through customs and heading towards the central station for the next leg of the journey to Florence. A quick croissant for breakfast and we were boarding the high speed train to Bologna. Mid way through, we were challenged about our seating by a somewhat aggressive 20ish Italian woman (gorgeous looking girl, just the wrong attitude), and her elderly parents, possibly Grand parents. After confirming our seat were indeed correct, she launched into some diatribe in Italian to the couple sitting with us (no doubt complaining about all the bloody tourists), all the while her parents were fading fast. Deciding to let her parents have our seats before they fell over, Lauren and I grabbed our packs and headed further down the train. Not even the slightest acknowledgement from either the parents or the woman had us musing the nature of people when travelling. The remainder of the trip to Bologna was about 30 minutes, if the woman had simply asked, we would have happily given up our seats for the elderly couple. The hustle and bustle (nice way of saying the "Push and Shove") to get off / on the various forms of transportation we have encountered brings out the worst in people. The desperate lunge for the seat on a 10 minute bus ride, or the refusal to join a queue by just pushing their way through, all makes me wonder what their lives must be like… Must look up how to say "Chill" in Italian..

Changing trains in Bologna, we were finally bound for Florence. I have booked a very centrally located, 2 bedroom house in the heart of Florence (couldn't believe my luck), but the directions were a little vague. We knew we need bus numbers 11, 36 or 37, but the stop mentioned in the directions was nowhere to be found. With the help of another commuter, the bus driver assured us he would let us know when to get off. As you can probably guess, he forgot about us. Seeing a few familiar sights fly past as we sailed through Florence, my suspicions were confirmed when we arrived at a bus station on the other side of town..

Staying on board for the return trip, we arrived at Piazza della Calza, which is indeed in the central part of Florence.

Our two story villa style house is great, with plenty of room to move and all the conveniences of home.

It had been a long trip from Stari Grad, so we grabbed dinner at a local restaurant and headed home to bed.

While out, we noticed some very cool looking, "tiny restaurants". By tiny, I mean these places have maybe 2-3 tables at best. I get the impression, they tell you what you're going to have for dinner, but I'm sure it will be freshly cooked…