My first HiveFest ever just started here in Split, Croatia. We meet and greet at Paradiso Bar, in the middle of Split.
What can I say, I met a lot of interesting people, like @abbak7, @creativemary and @honeydue who are also from Romania, then the people taking care of a Hive/HBD community centre in Kraków, had an interesting chat with YabapMatt about Splinterlands future, and I like it. Seen a lot of other guys, including @arcange, as he seems to have finished his daring motorcycle trip.
Got some drinks, and met so many interesting people, so please forgive me if I did not mention or tag you, yet. Got the name tag, and now, off you go, on my way to the conference. They got some generic snacks, but good ones, so I had some watermelon and 2 mini croissants. Then the Conference Day 1 started with @Roelandp and @lordbutterfly. Nicely organized. Well done, mates!
Next on the list we had, one after another, Insights from the core development team, then Liotes Project with @ph1102 and @achim03 (I had some interesting conversations with both later during dinner, but this is a story for another time) - check their project! Some Latam crypto advocacy with @missbitcoin-sv and LEO-related stories with @khaleelkazi. The revamping of pinmapple into World Map Pin project, with @lizanomadsoul and @detlev, and some interesting Web3-related custom maps with @grampo. @eturnerx, getting some gaming launch info seems cool enough to check later, and @hallmann, it's about building communities in Kracow with the Kingdon without Limit. At this moment my brain took a break, unable to assimilate any more information, so all I remember now is the last speaker, talking about skating - see Skate Hive app.
After that, we all had a Croatian-themed Gala dinner at Restaurant Gusar. The Split cuisine is interesting, and somehow surprising, as I was not able to identify at least 1 or 2 ingredients in each meal, so they must be local ones. What did I get? Well, I ate most of the meal served, with few exceptions.
And then we had the second day, at Diocletian's Palace. With a special blessing from the Roman army, after we shared our bread, we started the conference.
We started with Splinterlands, as they underlined the advantages of having Splinterlands on Hive Blockchain, and pointed out the advantages, and small disadvantages of staying here. They stay here, @Yabapmatt said.
We got some more interesting speakers, like VSC with a demonstration on BTC - HIVE exchange, using their own app and CashApp, and Ecency with the new short posts app called Waves, on Android and iOS already. And some more innovations. We finished with a movie about the Ghana boreholes, and some Q&A with @mcsamm.
We had one final picture with all of us, and Roeland closing up, but some bad news, due to the bad weather, there is no boat trip tomorrow, instead we gonna meet at 15.00 at the Billiard City Club. My mom @vmihalache had a hard time waling there from the town centre, but we all met there for a drink and a slice of pizza, playing darts or pool. Some are better than others. Talked with a nice couple from Greece about his Skatehive app and holidays.
Saturday - ride along @ssekulji with the Hive Rally Car, an event sponsored by 3Speak.
Closing drinks at Antique Bar, even if we are not closing, there is a distinct possibility to have the boat trip on Sunday. It would be tricky, as I need to go straight to the airport after I finish with the boat trip, but we will see how it goes.
On Sunday we went with the boat, but our trip was cut short, as few of us had to fly around 19.00, so we were back at 16.30 instead of 18.00, skipping the underwater museum.
We did stop in a nice little gulf, the courageous ones had a did into the Adriatic Sea, the water was fine, but once you went out of the water was a bit cold and windy. Then some fish on the barbecue, pirate style, and back to the mainland.
We went out of the boar, and ready for the plane. Truly international. One Uber with @steevc and @basilmarples, and we were on our way home, after a little waiting time in the airport.
Goodbye HiveFest 2024! Goodbye, Split!
Sorry if I missed some people's names, but there were so many at once, and my memory is not perfect yet.