At breakfast I was still not very happy about the prospect of sailing Jim and Tracey back to Marina Frapa and requiring them to take a taxi into Split for the start of their bicycle tour. Then it occurred to me that people come to Solta from Split for the weekends and longer vacations. How do they get here? By ferry, of course. There is a little ferry port on the other side of this island with a direct service to Split Old Town. It is very frequent. There is a bus service from the town nearby that goes directly to the ferry dock. Problem solved!
So we decide to have a land-based day and explore the island a little. Walk into Maslinica- a beautiful little village wrapped around an equally beautiful harbor and small marina. It is busy with day-trippers and other tourists and has a lively but relaxed atmosphere.
We wander around and stop for lunch in a wine bar that is run by the same folks who run the restaurant we ate in last night.
We also run into Valentina and her friends who work in the wine bar. We talk about island life and their plans for the future. They seem very focused on being successful in the new Croatian economy.
The bus to the ferry port leaves from a spot just next to us and we think that it would be a good idea to test Jim and Tracey’s logistics for tomorrow. So we take the bus to the ferry and everything looks like it will work as advertised. Getting back takes a little time due to the bus schedule, so we walk round a beautiful little village with really old tone houses and its own castle.
The villages here are surprisingly reminiscent of those in England with little narrow streets that go round sharp bends and must make driving a challenge at times.
It is Jim and Tracey’s last night and we eat dinner in Maslinica. It has been a great week and they have brought some good sailing weather. It has been cooler than we feared and we hope that it will remain so for the more strenuous part of their vacation. But it sounds like they will continue to have fun and see more of this beautiful part of the world.
For us, we will head north to Marina Frapa hopefully dodging a little storm that is predicted to pass by late today. The next few days will be focused on boat maintenance and preparation for the trip north towards Venice.