croatia (post 4)

There’s a lot I want to say, a lot I want to plagiarize from the two guidebooks we used. But I will attempt a milder form of torture on you. Here is my quick stream of consciousness:

Croatia is as beautiful in parts as Tuscany, and others, the American West or the Riviera. It geographically has the components of all three: rolling green hills, terracotta-roofed houses, vineyards, mountain ranges, and over a thousand miles of coastline dipping into the turquoise (no exaggeration) Adriatic Sea. The food is fresh and local (so I watched other people eat fish a lot), the people are Slavic and proud. Important stretches of the country now exist a great deal on tourism, which I always struggle with internally, as I know I am partly the cause. But there is a reason people are drawn there. It is filled with visitors, but not as many Americans as will be there in ten years. Hang in there, Croatia. It associates itself with Western Europe, in the ways of its cafes and attitudes and sophistication and beauty. Its history and geography tells it it’s in Eastern Europe. My parents were there when it was part of Yugoslavia. The complicated business of ethno-political conflict and treaty-making mean that a hairline break in Croatia’s coastline, bizarrely, was given to Bosnia. It is all fascinating, and breathtakingly beautiful. It is one of the finest vacations Bryan and I were ever smart enough to plan. Croatia is a must-see. And a visitor there is never more than a minute away from gelato.

Plitvice Lakes National Park

the drive…

Split

the island of Vis

what teenagers in Vis do for fun

Dubrovnik

Bryan got a shout-out on the wall of the old city for his Strong Island shirt