{"id":9673,"date":"2019-01-21T11:24:33","date_gmt":"2019-01-21T19:24:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/malimish.com\/blog\/?p=9673"},"modified":"2019-12-09T09:27:11","modified_gmt":"2019-12-09T17:27:11","slug":"leaving-split-croatia-and-headed-to-ston-croatia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/malimish.com\/blog\/2019\/01\/21\/leaving-split-croatia-and-headed-to-ston-croatia\/","title":{"rendered":"Leaving Split, Croatia and headed to Ston, Croatia."},"content":{"rendered":"

We’ve been in Croatia for a little over 3 months, enjoying our time in Split<\/a> and on the islands of Hvar<\/a> and Vis<\/a>, sailing the Adriatic<\/a>, waiting for some residency paperwork and spending the holidays here with family and friends.<\/p>\n

\"Leaving<\/p>\n

But now it’s time to pack up the van and head south for new countries and hopefully some warmer weather.<\/p>\n

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And off we go!!! Super excited to be in the van full-time again. Living in old stone houses for a bit was a nice change of pace but the road is our home.<\/p>\n

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Our van is still stuck in Pacific time. We *were* planning on an early start but it’s like 2:30 pm. Ha. It’s how it goes for us.<\/p>\n

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Ava, our oldest kid, got a little nauseous on the coastal drive south. Nice place to stop and get some fresh air.<\/p>\n

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Dan was going to fly his drone up to show you this great pull out on our drive but his battery was too low and too cold to fly. Oh well.<\/p>\n

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Happy face.<\/p>\n

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The Adriatic Sea to my right. Limestone mountains to my left.<\/p>\n

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Made it to the little town of Plo\u010de, Croatia for a dinner break.<\/p>\n

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And to spend the night as well.<\/p>\n

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We used the Park4Night app to find this spot. It is a public parking lot across from a hotel and right against the water. No one else was there but us. One of the benefits of traveling Europe in the winter during its offseason.<\/p>\n

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Our surfboards have been inside the van since we left the US. It’s finally time to strap them on top and leave them there.<\/p>\n

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Woke up the next morning to people walking along the sea past our van… and to our fair share of condensation.<\/p>\n

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Kids rolled out of bed, put on their winter coats and headed out the van to look for some cats. There are always cats around and they get to benefit from leftover kibble from our cat Yoda.<\/p>\n

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Luka has been sitting seaside a lot lately and staring into the blue sea.<\/p>\n

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As we continued our drive south, we opted to take a ferry to the\u00a0Pelje\u0161ac peninsula to stay in Croatia and avoid Bosnia. The weather to visit Bosnia is not the best this week with snow in the forecast and the pain of buying insurance for a few days wasn’t worth the hassle. We will be back to explore Bosnia properly at a later time in our European adventure.<\/p>\n

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Got sprayed by plenty of sea water on this two hour ferry ride.<\/p>\n

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The views during our drive from Trpanj to Ston, Croatia were breathtaking.<\/p>\n

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We made to the ancient town of Ston before nightfall. The walls of Ston are the second longest preserved fortification system in the world.<\/p>\n

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We did a quick walk around the town before settling in for the night.<\/p>\n

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We opted to spend the night in the neighboring town called Mali Ston. It has a free dirt parking lot at the entrance of town, next to the bus stop and across from the cemetery.<\/p>\n

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Didn’t feel as creepy as it sounds.<\/p>\n

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Here’s a peek at dinnertime in our van.<\/p>\n

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Bolognese pasta with veggies and fresh bread is on the menu tonight.<\/p>\n

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We also set up the table for the kids to use next to their bench seat during dinner time.<\/p>\n

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Last night we did okay without our heater but tonight it’s going to be close to freezing so Dan set up our Olympian Wave 6 catalytic heater<\/a>. We used it before bed and also early in the morning. No complaints from anyone.<\/p>\n

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In the morning, we drove down the road once again to Ston to take a tour of the ancient walls.<\/p>\n

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Construction of the wall and its three fortresses began in the 14th century to protect the peninsula and the precious salt pans which are still active today.<\/p>\n

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We opted to take the shorter path around the wall around the main portion of Ston.<\/p>\n

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These are the salt pans.<\/p>\n

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Cannon holes in the fortress.<\/p>\n

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Oh, Luka.<\/p>\n

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It’s the longest fortification wall after The Great Wall of China.<\/p>\n

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Dan made a video about it. I will embed it at the end of the post.<\/p>\n

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A quick tour of the fort in the city.<\/p>\n

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And of course more stray cats that need some kibble and loving. We’ve got plenty of that.<\/p>\n

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Here is a video about heading south from Split.<\/p>\n