Croatia 2008 – the trip
Croatia is located in the Middle Europe, by the Adriatic Sea . We had been unaware of the country’s diversity in terms of landscape, food and culture before we went there. On our way south along the Adriatic Sea, we can observe the original nature attractions. The Pannonian Lowland welcomes us with the cities and villages typical for this region, we drive through the oak and beech forests, enchanting grasslands and can observe typical European fauna. The picturesque karstic scenery takes as to the motorway which runs across limestone mountains and hills overgrown with short coniferous flora up to the South borders of Croatia. The highest peak in Croatia, Dinara (1831m) is one of the most impressive sites, which cannot be overlooked on the way to Dubrovnik.
There are two routes: along the coastline or faster motorway. If you are not in a rush, you can stray from the path to marvel at the beauty of the seaside landscape. Why do I mention about this? Croatia has extremely well developed tourist infrastructure, which will satisfy even the most fastidious tourist, depending on his financial possibilities. The Adriatic coastline is full of hotels and other accommodation facilities. The prices fluctuate between 15 euro for the private accommodation and 20 - 35 euro for a room in the hotel or guesthouse.
What is interesting, the shore line is rugged with 1185 islands and small islands. It is worth to park the car somewhere near the harbor and go by ferry or boat to the gorgeous places which have not been spoiled by the mass tourism yet. Remember about the gum footwear before entering the sea. There are small hedgehogs on the rocky seashore. This little black hedgehogs have numerous thorns which are their natural protection. If the creatures feel at risk, they attack unprotected human body with their little and sharp thorns. As the result, many tourists have to visit their physician when they are back home. Besides, procrastination leads to infection. You can buy flip-flops in Croatia but it is much cheaper to buy them in your home country.
Sightseeing the country along the shore enables us to get to know people, their culture and manners. It is easy to communicate with young Croatians in English. Sometimes, good language skills are not indispensable to feel the country's atmosphere. We couldn't believe in what we saw few kilometers from Zagrzeb. We were stunned to see the burnt tanks, relics of the civil war of 1991-1995. Driving through the towns and villages, it is impossible to ignore desolated houses ruined by bombs and missiles. After the war, when the Serbs had been already forced back, the rule of religious loyalty was adapted under which all infidels had to convert to Catholicism. It was the intentional political move against Serbs, who had been trying to assimilate with Croatians before. If the Orthodox Serb did not want to convert into Catholicism (which was typical) he usually had to leave the country and abandon all his property without any compensation. That is why every second or third house is ruined, left desolate and waiting to be nationalized.
Thanks to the motorway, every place is accessible, network of the motorways stretches on the area of the whole country and is intersected with the numerous tunnels. Nevertheless, all beautiful sites I mentioned before cannot be seen from the perspective of the motorway.
Euro is the legal currency basically and paying in Euro is recommended, but Kuna (Kn, HRK), divided into 100 lip, is the national currency. Name of the currency is derived from the little animal - the marten. Long time ago, marten skins were the basic currency. Apart from the fact that form of the payment has changed throughout the centuries, the name remained. You can have slight problems however on the stalls and in certain institutions, such as post office when paying in euro. There are also exchange offices, so called mjenjalnice, and banks in the cities. We shouldn’t buy more local currency than we really need, because second exchange is possible in banks only on presentation of the receipt. We did not have such problem, but banks tend to make things difficult.
Croatia is definitely worth visiting. Unfortunately, it is impossible to see the whole country during one trip. It is recommended to skim through the guidebooks and choose a few strategic places which are relevant to the type of your holiday. It is best to follow the plan. Obviously, the motorway seems to be better choice in such case.
Croatia– Dubrovnik: 27th of July 2008 r.
We set aside the whole day for visiting Dubrovnik. After the breakfast, about 10 a.m. we were ready to conquer the medieval city – the European pearl of architecture. The drive from Neum to Dubrovnik takes about 50 minutes, traveling through the spiral road, that goes along the cliff with the view of Adriatic Sea.
On entering the city, beautiful and highly modern bridge of Franjo Tudjman should be crossed, that hangs over the rocky bay and is a 20 km short cut to the city. The bridge took its name after the first President of independent Croatia, who is regarded here as a national hero.
The city is entered by the Pile gate, on which the posture of Saint Blaise - the Dubrovnik’s patron is situated. After crossing the gate, on the right side, the Onufry’s Fountain is placed, which was designed by Onofrio di Giordano Della Cava in 1438. The Fountain has an unique shape, not completely resembling a fountain. It’s round and pretty huge construction with 16 masks, from which the water flows. According to the legend, the one who drinks from all of the taps, will have good luck for all year long. In order to fulfill the tradition, we walked around the fountain, tasting cool and refreshing water, which was more likeable, since the temperature was reaching 30 °C. Reportedly, this building had a great number of beautiful ornaments, but earthquake in XVII century damaged them, and no one has tried to reconstruct them since then.
To sightsee the entire city, you require two days at least; we had time until 5 p.m. The city is divided into two parts, by the long promenade, which is made of white limestone, and has also served since the XII century as the channel separating two settlements: Dobrava – the Slavic settlement, and Laus – the colony of the original settlers. It is worth to mention about the first pharmacy in Europe, established in 1317, which serves as a museum nowadays, containing a great pharmaceutical collection from its long-lasting period of functioning. It was originally used exclusively by monks, but soon (about 1391) it became at the disposal of all city. The old town (Stari Grad) has maintained its unique character, by many buildings that are made of white stone, and their history dates back to the medieval times. The most interesting, in our opinion, are: the gothic Franciscans’ cloisters of XIV century, as well as Dominicans’ from the turn of XIV and XV centuries, The Rectors Palace of XV century – the residence of Dubrovnik Republic’s authorities at that time, serving today as the museum, Sponza palace of XIV-XV century – currently the Dubrovnik’s Archive is situated there, but before it was a place for custom-house, treasure-house, mint, bank, measure office and even the Museum of Socialist Revolution. The most spectacular attraction are the city walls with 20 bastions, that have overall length of 1940 meters. While walking around them, you can observe the breathtaking views on the sapphire sea and on the city’s panorama on the other side. When visiting the walls, two things should be taken into account: good shoes and a headgear. The temperature during the summertime is high there, and you have to cover another stairs all the time, that reach upwards, and the fatigue along with the sun can be discouraging. After we walked around the walls, we went to see them from the sea side. There are the tourist ships moored at the harbor. You can buy a trip for 5 euro. On the boards of these ships, the tasting of local vodka Rakija is prepared, especially for tourists. I don’t know, what it is distilled of, but after having one glass I wanted to sing a half of Britney Spears’ repertoire.
The culmination point of our journey, was the relaxation in the pub. After short consultation with the people from the next table, we ordered the local meals. The lady brought us two enormous pots of seafood, one of them contained little fishes roasted with a sauce, that had an interesting flavor, while the other included the little roasted octopuses. The food was delicious, but the amount of it was beyond our capabilities. A piebald cat, took advantage of it, entertaining the other pub’s customers, who took the photographs of this cat, who was eating hurriedly each octopus, that it was served with. The free tasting was ceased by the waitress, who admonished us politely, that the cat should not be fed in that restaurant.
On our way back, our attention was absorbed by an inscription, that was curved in the rock of Saint Laurence fortress: "Non bene pro toto libertas venditur auro" – The freedom can not be sold for all world’s gold. Considering the history of Dubrovnik and whole Croatia, this inscriptions distinctly reflects the past times of this region, which was occupied by Venetians, Turks, Greeks, Italians and many other nations.
At evening, after we came back to the hotel, we didn’t want to wander at it surroundings. We postponed it for tomorrow, which was reserved exclusively for relaxation at the beach and visiting the city.
 Croatia– Split
Croatia– Trogir
Krka National Park
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