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CROATIA, UNSPOILED AND INEXPENSIVEBy Susan R NortonWith the Euro beating up on the American Dollar like a prize fighter pummeling the United States currency into the ground, there simply isn’t a better place to visit than Croatia, and do it soon before the Kuna gets caught up to the value of the Euro. There is simply no better place to escape to for an affordable seaside holiday than the coastline and islands of Croatia. Don’t forget, it is the same Adriatic Sea that caresses the east coast of Italy and meanders down to the Greek Isles. Actually Croatia mimics Greece and its island of several decades ago.
Travel now and you will see the “real” Croatia before a
super highway is finished connecting Germany and Croatia and allows a break neck
commute between the two. Also, it is just a matter of time before the rest of
the tourist world closes in on this whole area, including Montenegro.
The food is basically local fish, oysters and mussels, pasta, pizza and the wine is inexpensive and very good. There are several local wineries that are surprisingly good.
After five days in and around Dubrovnik, including Mljet,
Ston, Korcula (the birthplace of Marco Polo), Cavtat and Lokrum, all easily done
by water taxi. I took the bus up the coast for a six hours trip to Split at the
Hotel Park where we met Sir Michael Pallin, who was here
filming a travel documentary.
Croatia holds many wonderful attractions, the best ones being the many wonderful people that are more than willing to practice their English and give you suggestions or directions. My only advice is to put Croatia on the top of your “Must Do Soon” list. It’s a small country that is slowly gearing up for lots of tourists, and you don’t want to miss out being among the first ones so that you can regale your friends back home with your adventures and encourage them to saunter down to the gem of the Adriatic, Croatia. GUIDEBOOK: Be sure and contact The Croatian Tourist Board – WWW.CROATIA.HR English Speaking Angel Phone # in Croatia - +385-62-999-999 Telephone Country Code for Croatia - +385 Croatian Airlines – WWW.CROATIANAIRLINES.HR Hilton Imperial, Dubrovnik – WWW.DUBROVNIK.HILTON.COM FERRY – WWW.JADROLINIJA.HR The Hotel Park, Split – WWW.HOTELPARK-SPLIT.HR Croatian Travel Agencies –
WWW.ATLAS-CROATIA.COM WWW.PALMIZANA.HR - A TROPICAL RETREAT ISLAND OFF THE ISLAND OF HAVAR |
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The
port of Dubrovnik actually reached its peak of importance in the 15th and 16th
centuries when it rivaled Venice for prominence as a gateway of commerce, and
boasted the third largest shipping fleet in the old world. There is also the
extra advantage of the combination of Medieval and Renaissance architecture
placing it on UNESCO’s World Heritage List.
It has
been over a decade since the Bosnia (Serbian / Croatian) War that tore
Yugoslavia apart, and several earthquakes have battered the country, but these
people are resilient. The younger ones have not deserted their country. They are
learning English, and dress casually in designer jeans. The girls especially
wear the latest fashions and carry ”hip” handbags. There are no beggars or
homeless and everything is beautifully clean.
My
first stop was Dubrovnik, a must see old town that still has bullet holes dug
into houses and is surrounded by a one and one half mile wall that you can walk
on top of and peer down at the tiled roof homes and winding pedestrian streets
of the Old City.
I decided to stay at the Hilton Imperial linking the best
of its original 1897 architecture with the newest of modern comfort and
technology. There is a beautiful patio for meals and a wonderful evening piano
bar with both early and late night entertainment. It was the perfect place after
sightseeing and before and after dinner. The most appealing feature of The
Hilton was the location. It is just a few hundred feet outside of the historic
Old Town and right near an ATM machine where I spent a lot of time since almost
all restaurants and stores only take cash meaning kuna (approximately 5 kuna to
the dollar.)
The most elegant and pricey hotel is the newly renovated
Grand Palace. It is the “piece de resistance” of all Dubrovnik hotels but it is
some distance from Old Town where all the action is.
Dubrovnik is filled with Roman Catholic churches, sea food
restaurants, an aquarium, a Christian cemetery, a 14th Century
Pharmacy, Dominican and Fransciscan Monasteries, the Rector’s Palace, a museum
honoring the dead from the war, and a fort overlooking the town and the port.
The city was bombed every day from 7 am to 11 pm at night, at which
time the people would scurry out to get chores done and find food. This went on
for months on end. 
The
stores are filled with wonderful coral jewelry. Most of it is either sterling
silver or 18 karat gold. They are eager for tourists and welcome several cruise
lines into their port.
The food is not sophisticated and prepared simply but the
gelato (ice cream) is to die for.
His crew spent the day in the bay in front of the
hotel filming the young Croatian men playing their water game called Picigin, a
kind of a
stand-in-a-circle-throwing-back-and-forth--a-tennis-ball-minus-the-fuzzy-part.
They seemed to have the most fun diving into the water to make outlandish
catches, and exposing their muscular bodies to the adorning female bystanders.
Split began in the 3rd Century as the over one million
square foot castle of the Roman Emperor, Diocletian, and the largest private
residance in the ancient world. Just an hour up the coast by bus is the quaint
town of Trogir, filled with narrow stone streets that meander at will around
ancient architecture. Trogir is a well deserved World Heritage site. Split is a
great place to ferry off from to visit several of the nearby islands, such as
Brac, Vis, Bisevo, and most popular Hvar, the isle of cypress, lavender. and a
seaside walkway. You can jaunt out for lunch or for several days.