Rijeka, Croatia

I would not say this is my favorite place. After visiting cities along the way that cater to visitors, I finally found one that does not. All I wanted was to find an Internet cafe so that I could plan out the final few days of the trip (these cafes have been ubiquitous sites throughout my journey thus far), but this wish proved far more difficult than I had imagined. Just to put this into perspective. The ferry disembarkation (is this a word) process put me on ground at 7:10 AM Rijeka time. I walked the city until 10 AM to find a place to gain access to the Internet. And, this one is a Internet club for members. Apparently, the city (large compared to Split) had two Internet cafes, but due to the economy, they have closed down. I chose to visit this northern city because it traveled the most north of any ferry I could find out of Split. And, I need to make it to Venice for my flight back to LA, so I figured, this made sense. In any case, I begged the lady to let use the computer. Even though I am not a member, she obliged, thankfully, so here I sit. My feet hurt yet again, but now after a moment to rest, I am finding my spirit back in yen. The search for an Internet site reminded me of the Amazing Race. I jumped off the ferry, walked to the bus station (should be one around there, right?), traveled quickly to the train station (certainly a nice spot to set up an Internet cafe, tourists and all), then, finally, gave up and started asking random passersby. After I gave up and decided to head back to the bus station to sit for 6 hours until my bus to Trieste, Italy takes off, I happened upon this place. More life lessons for me.

So, the ferry from Split to Rijeka was basically uneventful, minus the guilt I felt by purchasing a sleeping cabin. I can't even blame it on my age as I am far from the only geezer backpacking across Europe, or traveling in this ferry. In fact, plenty of people much older than I, slept on the floor - all over the ferry they spread themselves out, eager to claim their piece of real estate on the ground. Everyone had these little sleeping mats, obviously not ferry virgins. At night, when I climbed into my relatively luxurious bed, I felt like I was being a bad traveler by not roughing it more. All these Grams and Gramps slept on the dirty red carpet outside my cabin while I wrapped myself up in the cozy sheets. Had I known this was the norm, maybe I would have done it this way as well? My cabin mate was a bit of a grumpy-puss, he barely said hello and turned off the cabin lights at 9 PM. I entertained myself above deck, but as the night grew darker, I headed off to bed, realizing I would not be able to see anything as we journeyed north along the coast. I jumped down from my bed at 5 AM, eager to watch the sunrise. I had to wait an hour, so much for the early bird, eh? The start of the day turned out worth the wait, I watched the sun peak over the horizon near 6 AM, then headed off to enjoy the breakfast that came with my cabin purchase (all the perks!). Modest and minimal, but enough to get me started, the breakfast ended with a young German 4 year old spilling orange juice all over the table. And, unlike what would happen in families I know, the father just laughed, looked at me and spoke some German, saying to me, hey, he's a kid.

The bus leaves in an hour, so off I go to trek back across town to the bus terminal. More later.