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Old Oct 12th, 2004, 01:24 PM
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Croatian Trip Report Part 1

Croatia Trip Report

Just got back from Croatia, and thought I should post a trip report to supplement the earlier reports from other travelers that helped me so much. It may end up rather long, so I probably will break it into several chunks.

A bit of explanation is in order. Our trip was a bit different at first from most tourists as we began by staying with a Croatian family. We live in a small Washington State town, Anacortes, that has a large component of folks with Croatian family backgrounds who have tried to maintain their cultural heritage. Part of this is a social club and a large performing dance group, the ?Vela Luca Dancers and Orchestra?. Our son, Steve, though not Croatian, dances in the group and plays in the orchestra.

The dance group planned a Fall tour of Croatia to dance in a number of festivals. Though visiting Croatia was not high on my list of vacation spots, when my wife suggested it would be nice to be there to see Steve perform at least once, I agreed and looked for a way to get there. Coincidentally, Anacortes has a ?Sister Cities Association?, http://www.anacortessistercities.com/. They, and the City of Anacortes, have adopted Sister Cities in Japan, Russia, and Canada, and had recently adopted the Croatian city of Vela Luka on the island of Korcula. The Association had a trip planned for late September to Vela Luka to hold ceremonies to celebrate the union of the two cities. Since they had negotiated a very good fare, we jumped in.

Of course (you must have seen this coming) as soon as we bought the non-refundable tickets the Dance group had to cancel their tour. Sigh ---

Resigned to going anyway, I got on the Forum and began reading the experiences of other travelers. As I read, the trip seemed more and more exciting, and the country more interesting. The plan was for the group to fly Northwest to Amsterdam, transfer to Croatia Air to Zagreb, and change planes for the flight to Split. Overnight in Split, and then an afternoon ferry to Vela Luka. We would then be assigned to stay with a family. Our Mayor and a few other city officials would then join us for the ceremonies with Vela Luka officials. The group planned to stay with their assigned families for ten days. The group would then take a ferry to Dubrovnik and stay another week in southern Dalmatia. I wanted to show my wife more of Croatia, having been there on a sailboat 30 years before, so we decided to only spend three days in Vela Luka with the family and then vagabond to islands by ferry and along the coast by bus; planning to meet the group when they got to Dubrovnik.

The flight went smoothly. Saw a brilliant display of the Northern Lights over Greenland. We had a looooong stopover in Amsterdam because of fog in Zagreb. The delay reached almost eight hours. As interesting as the Dutch have made Schipol, eight hours in any airport when you are pooped from a long flight is agony. We found an area called the ?Meditation Area? on the second level that was simply a big space filled with inviting black leatherette lounge chairs that was more dimly lit and marginally quieter that the other waiting areas. We tried to sleep there, but those inviting chairs must have been designed by an evil genius, because they were the most uncomfortable things I have ever endured.

At last the fog lifted and we got to Zagreb where, surprisingly, Croatia Air had a plane waiting that got us to Split. We all (15) caught the airport bus into Split (30 Kuna) and trundled our bags through the sobe sellers down the waterfront a couple of hundred yards to the Hotel Bellvue. Arranged by our group leader, it was adequate, if older and overpriced at about $100. Hate to be there when the temperature was really high. Our room windows opened on what must have been the local bell factory, as the cacophony when they started to clang at 06:00 had to be experienced to be believed. Never did find out why Croatian churches seem to ring and ring and ring the bells. Seems to have no relation to the hour or anything else, just clang, clang, clang ----. Though jet-lagged, the bells got me up and walked along the front and through the town. Fascinating to see the town come alive. Found the fish market near the hotel and watched the chaos of the deliveries and vendors setting up. Saw trays of what looked like ?whitebait? a treat I remember from England and France ? tiny fish, dipped whole in light batter and deep fried. Yum!

After breakfast in the hotel (good breakfast, knarley coffee) we all took a guided tour of the Diocletian Palace. Very worthwhile. Amazed that something like 6,000 people now live in the ruins. Caught the 3:00 catamaran passenger ferry to Vela Luka with a stop in Hvar (pron: hwar). Cost 24 Kn. each. It was quite warm while waiting in a waterfront café, so someone asked for an iced coffee. When it came it was more like a coffee soda/milkshake, with gelato ice cream and topped with whipped cream. Very popular from then on, but don?t order an iced coffee from a restaurant that doesn?t have gelato. They do not understand the concept of coffee with ice cubes.

Best seats on the catamaran are on the top deck. You can?t carry suitcases or backpacks up there, but must stow them in bins as you board. The trick is for one person to stow the bags while the other races up to grab two window seats.

Arrived in Vela Luka after a two hour ride to be met by our hosts, Marita and ?Jerry?. They grabbed our bags and trundled them about 100 yards to their home, which faced the new promenade along the front. Jerry had built the house on a lot his parents owned with his own two hands, hewing the stones one by one. Only the first floor was finished, and Tammy and I were given their own bedroom, and another visiting couple got the other bedroom opening onto a small balcony overlooking the harbor. The other members of the group were scattered in homes across the small city; population about 4500. The arrangement was that the hosts would be given 25 Euros/person/night, which would include all meals. All of the homes were so immaculately clean and well appointed, I would hesitate to invite them to stay in our home without a major spring cleaning.

We had meals with the couple and their two sons, both of whom spoke good English. Marita also has a good grasp of the language, and Jerry could make himself understood. Grandpa, Marita?s father who spoke no English, also shared some meals with us. We all hit it off immediately. I don?t think we have ever before taken to a family quite so quickly and completely. They are truly a warm and giving family who welcomed us generously into their world. They fed us excessively and adventurously with things like raw quail eggs and snails from the garden, and went out of their way to help us explore the island and their culture.

The welcome started immediately when they sat us down to their table on which were figs and nuts, wine, other food, and several big bottles of Rakija; a fiery home-made local brandy. We were told by our host that the custom was that anything put out on the table was ?on offer?, and we were expected to help ourselves. Rakija was poured for all and we shot it down with a (private) shudder. I explained that this was similar to ?Texas hospitality? in our country. I demonstrated this by picking up a full bottle of Rakija, pulling the cork, saying, ?Welcome to my home.?, and throwing the cork away over my shoulder, before pouring everyone another a drink. This was a big hit, particularly with the two boys, 17 and 20; they liked the ?Cowboy Hospitality? idea.

Rakija and wine were always there, but nobody drank much. Wine was taken with meals, but water was always added. As a matter of fact, I found this was the only way I could drink Croatian wine. I?m no wine snob, but any objective evaluation would say it is just dreadful ? at least all that I tried. I found if I added fizzy mineral water it made a drinkable beverage with dinner. I?d order a half-liter of house wine, and a big bottle of mineral water at a restaurant and do quite nicely.

The town of Vela Luka, as is most of Croatia is severely depressed economically. The town had a tin can manufacturing plant where Marita had worked for 25 years, and a shipyard. The factory closed, putting Marita out of a job, and the shipyard had just laid off 250 workers. In a town of just over 4,000 this was just devastating. Jerry is and engineer with the town?s water district, so they still have some income, but plans for finishing the house, and the kids further education is under strain. We were told that the average wage in Croatia is somewhere between 350 and 450 Euros per month. If it were not for tourism in the coastal belt they would be in even deeper trouble than they are.

I should mention something we learned about Croatia and emigration. I had always wondered why so many Croatians had ended up on the West coast and in Washington State. When you look closely at the island of Korula, or any of the other islands, as a matter of fact, you will see rather new pine forests beginning to obscure the fact that almost every square meter is terraced from the sea up to the tops of the hills. Jerry said that the first task every Croatian does in life is to learn to pile one rock upon another. These terraces contained some olive groves, but mostly vineyards. The islander?s livelihood depended on the grape.

In the late 1920s the Phylloxera aphid attacked the roots of European grape vines and wiped out two thirds of all vineyards in Europe. Korcula was particularly hard hit, and in 1927 1,400 young people had to leave the village of Vela Luka in a single day or starve. They describe it as the saddest day in their history. These desperate folks made their way with whatever meager resources they had to places all across the world. The Washington coast and San Juan Islands drew many of the farmers and fishermen as the country and the work reminded them of home.

Jerry and Marita still have olive trees and grow grapes in a number of plots across the island, and took us to them; explaining how they are grown, harvested and made into oil and wine. One plot in the hills had a number of varieties of grapes almost ready to harvest hanging heavy from the vines. All of them were sweet and delicious eaten warm and plump from the vine. We almost hurt ourselves gorging on six different types. November is the month of olive harvest, to which they look forward with mixed joy at the harvest and the back-breaking dawn to dusk work it involves.

Space does not permit the description of all of the things these nice people shared with us; the tours of the island, the local sword dance troupe, the dinner party cooked outdoors in the woods near a nearby village for perhaps 60 people entertained by the really professional local men?s chorus, vodka and cookies with a 92 year old local artist in her gallery ? who would be world famous if she would sell her works. Suffice it to say we spent five nights with them, rather than the three originally planned, and had trouble tearing ourselves away.

This is getting a bit long, so I?ll put off until another day telling about our trip to the town of Korcula in search of the mythical Prim, Hvar, Split, Trogir, Omis, Makarska, Dubrovnik, Mline, and Montenegro.

Nukesafe


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Old Oct 12th, 2004, 06:32 PM
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Absolutely wonderful start to your trip Nukesafe and a terrific trip report. How lucky you were to be able to experience a tiny bit of Croatian life with your hosts. I am certain it completely changed the way you looked at Croatia the rest of your trip. I can't wait for the remainder of the report!
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Old Oct 16th, 2004, 03:21 PM
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Thanks for your appreciative note, Happy Cheexehead. I am moving forward rather slowly on doing the rest of these the parts of this report, but I must get them done before the details slip away from this ageing brain.

Feel free to e-mail me if you want more detail on anything.

Nukesafe
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Old Oct 16th, 2004, 05:02 PM
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nukesafe, what a fantastic report. You make me feel like I was there on your adventure. Thanks.
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Old Oct 18th, 2004, 01:54 PM
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I was in Croatia mid-September and am still working on organizing my photos. What a treat to read your posts about your trip. Although I was on a guided tour, we (in small groups) had dinner with local families outside Dubrovnik, and I can't agree more with your comments on how friendly and sharing the people were. Everything we ate or drank that night had been grown, picked, raised, slaughtered, smoked, milked and made into cheese from scratch. Croatia was never on my list of places to visit until a friend asked me to join her. I was blown away with the beauty of Croatia and the surrounding countries (since we did Slovenia and Montenegro also). I hope to go back one day; we only got to see the tip of the iceberg, but it was such a learning experience. I am loving reading your reports. Thanks for sharing.
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Old Oct 18th, 2004, 04:36 PM
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Pallette,

Thank you for your kind words. We too want to return one day. We just hope now that the place has been "found" it won't get all crapped up as has happened to Spain and so many other places where a fine people got corrupeted by monied cultures. We had a time share place on the Costa Blanca years ago when the town was a small fishing village. Now, they call it the "Concrete Coast", because when you come in from the sea all you see is a solid wall of high-rise German-owned apartment blocks.

Sigh ----

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Old Oct 19th, 2004, 03:47 PM
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For those less experienced on this forum who don't know about finding your additional "installments" by clicking on your name (and of course, that will be come less user-friendly in the future if you post here a lot) - - the second installemnt is at http://www.fodors.com/forums/pgMessa...p;tid=34535432

Best wishes,

Rex
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Old Oct 20th, 2004, 06:52 AM
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Oh, Rex, the advantage to report writers and readers of keeping the parts continuous on one thread, and the way to do it, just aren't in everyone's purview.

Such wisdom hopefully comes with experience.
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Old Oct 20th, 2004, 08:07 AM
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Yes, Jed - - you'll notice that I have not said that &quot;nukesafe&quot; actually <i>erred</i> - - just trying to facilitate the process of finding the other installments, since it is proving to be quite popular among readers.

It has been pointed out on some other threads that when trip reports get added piecemeal, over several days, there is no obvious &quot;alert&quot; to readers, that more installments have been added.
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Old Oct 20th, 2004, 09:29 AM
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Rex,

You are correct, Rex, I am a &quot;newbie&quot; to this thread, and I apologize if I made things difficult for some to relate the parts of my trip report by posting them separately. I was concerned, however, that they would jointly be to long and unwieldy. I would be happy to re-post them as a single report, if that would help, but thought that might be over some sort of size limit for the Forum.

Your sage advice, Please.

Nukesafe
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Old Oct 20th, 2004, 09:49 AM
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I appreciated that Rex added the link- I had not realized that additional reports had been created and I was anxiously awaiting the next installment! I stayed up too late and read thru all of them, and will be too sad when the final one is written!
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Old Oct 20th, 2004, 12:34 PM
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There are limits of some kind to the amount of text you can put into any <i>post</i> - - though they seem to have been raised significantly sometime un the last year - - but there are no limits to how long a <b>thread</b> can be (a &quot;thread&quot; is a series of replies to an initial post). There are some &quot;famous&quot; threads here on this forum which have grown to many hundreds of replies.

Most readers say that the best way to post a trip report is to post it all at once (not spread over days, as you might take days to write it) - - and to post it in manageable &quot;chunks&quot;, as replies to yourself.

But this site has made it easier to find the posts of any one person by the &quot;click on your own name&quot; option. It isn't a big deal, and my addition of the links to the subsequent posts is my salute to you for writing something that a lot of others are finding enjoyable to read.
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Old Oct 21st, 2004, 05:46 PM
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One thing I just noticed - - on your Oct 16 post (above) you say...

&lt;&lt;Feel free to e-mail me if you want more detail on anything.&gt;&gt;

How?

Click on profile, and you will see that you can disclose your e-mail address to everyone, if you so choose.

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