EUROPEAN VACATION PART 4: CROATIA WITH A LITTLE BIT OF MONTENEGRO

How many people on this planet know that Sibenik, Croatia is famous for one reason? During the late 1800s when cities around the world began experimenting with street lighting, Sibenik became the first city to electrify with alternating current (AC) thanks to inspiration from Croatia’s native son Nikolai Tesla. The first electrified city lit by arc lamps (Which are powered by gas) was Wabash, Indiana in 1880. Most other cities on the planet used single-phase direct current (DC) powered by steam engines. But regarding the alternating current system that has become the norm for electrical grids on this planet, Sibenik became the first city to implement this system successfully. Plaques that honor the location of the Hungarian built Jaruga I exist in Krka National Park where the first two-phase hydroelectric plant was built. Jaruga II built in 1903 is still in operation and is the oldest hydroelectric plant on Earth. Learning about this one topic is one of the many things I did during my four days in these two interesting and beautiful Slavic countries.

Before diving into this adventure, there are a few regrets. Due to the trip being organized through travel agencies and a cruise ship, we had to plan every detail by the hour. Right before leaving for Europe, my cousin that lives in Croatia informed me of where my grandfather was born and raised. Near the top of the nation sits a village named Zvonece which is only 8 kilometers from Matilji. Southwest of Matilji is the beautiful coastal resort town of Opatija. To the southeast lies the third largest city in Croatia, Rijeka, which was also known as the Free State of Fiume and was an independent nation for a short period of time in the 20th Century. Rijeka is considered one of the most culturally diverse places on the planet due to being in the borderland’s region between Western and Eastern Europe. Because of its neutral, free market status through a good chunk of its history, Rijeka has been a hub for immigrants from around the world for centuries. A hybrid language of the Venetian Empire, Fiuman, is still spoken by 10,000 to 30,000 people in the city. Fiuman is an evolution of the Venetian dialect that incorporates Hungarian and German elements due to Rijeka being under Holy Roman Empire control for nine centuries and then the Hapsburg monarchy for over four centuries. Upon docking in Trieste Italy, Zvonece is 64 kilometers (About 40 miles) and two countries away (After leaving Italy, you must drive through the nation of Slovenia to get into Croatia) and is located on the beautiful Istrian Peninsula. Since our train to Venice, Italy left only two hours after landing in Trieste and these tickets were purchased before my knowledge of my grandfather’s village, I had to sacrifice this part of the trip. But when I come back to Croatia, Rijeka and Zagreb (The capital) as well as the landmark town on the Istrian Peninsula, Pula, will be the priority.

My first steps into my ancestral homeland were in Dubrovnik, Croatia. Dubrovnik is located on a very narrow section of Croatia near the bottom of the nation before it transitions into Bosnia & Hercegovina and Montenegro. Dubrovnik is squeezed into a small area along the coast with mountains lingering over the town to the east. Dubrovnik in comparison to the rest of Croatia is an upscale resort town. Of the three cities I visited in Croatia, Dubrovnik was the nicest. Our ship docked in Graz which is located about two miles away from Old Town Dubrovnik. Old Town was made famous by the television show GAME OF THRONES as the stand in for King’s Landing. Here is one of my few complaints about my Slavic brethren, greed. Everything costs an extraordinary amount of money. Taking the bus into the city and reaching Old Town cost twenty Euros each for a four-mile round trip drive. Walking the walls of Dubrovnik is 35 Euros each. Being aware of these scams, we decided to enjoy the city as cheaply as possible. My partner who put faith in my limited knowledge of the Croatian language convinced me to try public transportation. For two Euros (And an early exit from the bus at the University of Dubrovnik where the highway runs along a beautiful cliff along the ocean), we were able to get to Old Town in about twenty minutes. For those interested in medieval history and have always wanted to wander around a fortress with cobblestone streets, steep stairways, historical gates, beautiful archways, and upon leaving Old Town, experiencing beautiful turquoise ocean waters that circles the town, Old Town Dubrovnik is the place for you. The various monasteries and Catholic churches that make up the skyline are stunning. The museums are in architecturally beautiful buildings scattered around the tourist shops that are located on every corner of this city. One thing that tourists must understand about Old Town is that Croatian people live inside these walls, and you must be courteous to their needs. Upon leaving Old Town to the south, there is a walkway that takes you around the fortress to a secluded beach where native Croatians in their too-tight speedos swim. Off the coast of Dubrovnik is the beautiful island of Otok Lokrum that looks close enough to be within swimming distance. Dubrovnik’s streets are confusing to walk with narrow pathways curving and some streets dead ending. Using Google Maps can get you out of a sticky corner that appears to have no exit. One of the oldest operating fountains in the world is in the main plaza and the water tastes as fresh as it probably was in the 17th Century. Outside Old Town is a beautiful fortress on a cliff named Tvrdava Lovrijenac (in Croatian). If you want to go to the top and experience the beautiful coastal views, you better be willing to part with 15 Euros per person.

Before entering Old Town, I was personally on a quest to get some Rakija. Croatia is famous for its various fruit liqueurs with different names like Slivovica which is a plum spirit, Rakija which is the cherry spirit, and Medovaca which is the honey brandy. I stumbled into a bar called THE KOP where all the local Croatians who are fans of Liverpool FC drink. The bartender gave me the locals discount because I ordered Slivovica and Rakija shots in Croatian. This was the best five Euros I spent on the trip.

After seeing Old Town, we decided to head back to the ship. We had a wonderful Croatian lunch at Culto before having an average but drinkable Croatian beer at the Dubrovnik Beer Company. Then, I discovered what would become my favorite part of this port stop. A museum about the experience of living in Communist Yugoslavia called the RED HISTORY MUSEUM. This was one of the Top Three Museums I have ever visited. The museum had incredible historical detail of what living day to day in Yugoslavia was like (Through displays of bedrooms, kitchens, and living rooms), what the culture was like, and unfortunately, what living under a dictator (Tito) is like (And how he “handled” anti-partisans violently). The museum was a wonderful historical experience showing a time and place that Americans would never have tolerated. While Communism has been a blight on this planet through the 20th Century, living in Yugoslavia during the Communist era was not as terrible as Stalin era Soviet Union or Pol Pot’s Cambodia. The country modernized and had a successful economy for a couple of decades and many Croatians remember this time of their lives fondly.

Next on the list was Split, Croatia where we spent a couple of days. This city was a more authentic Croatian experience. On the first day, we took a tour to Krka Lakes National Park, an hour to the north and home to clear, translucent water and dozens of beautiful waterfalls. This was the location of the hydroelectric plant mentioned at the beginning of this blog that created the power for the first AC-powered city of Sibenik which is located on the ocean a few kilometers to the south. Sibenik itself has a beautiful ocean drive and more beautiful churches and monasteries mixed into what is an unimpressive, middle-class city. St. Nicolas’s Fortress which is the most famous tourist location here is on an island off the coast. Sibenik upon approach looks very similar to Old Town Dubrovnik. On the drive back and forth from Split to Krka National Park, the Croatian landscape resembles the coastal sagebrush look of San Diego. The biggest difference is San Diego is built on sandstone, so the beaches are loaded with sand. The Croatian landscape is limestone, so the beaches are filled with white rocks. Instead of using wood or metal to build fences around their property, farmers in Croatia in the rural areas use limestone.

On the second day, we ate at an overpriced restaurant overlooking a bunch of the islands off the coast called Dvor where I had a wonderful Adriatic Tuna lunch, and my partner had a terrible lamb shank. After this, we spent a couple hours at the beach underneath the restaurant swimming in the shallow and quite warm for November Adriatic Sea with the islands of Brac and Solta glaring at us on the horizon. Afterwards, we decided to do a self-tour of the city. Split is broken up into areas along the water that are much wealthier, and the quality of the neighborhood declines the further from the ocean you get. Besides walking through some sketchy neighborhoods, we also saw the famous Diocletian Palace where so many of the tourists go to shop for souvenirs and experience some of the historical sights. One of the oldest farmers’ markets in the world resides along the outside of the Palace and for my own interest, we took a tour of the apartments from the Communist era which, like most art from this political era, are uniform and boring. It was spectacular. We finished the vacation off taking a bus to the Fortress of Klis which was the primary castle for most of the Croatian Kings of the medieval era and has a beautiful view on a mountainside looking down into the city of Split. Upon heading back to the ship after spending a couple of fascinating days in this city, I encountered my second regret. Split is the headquarters for taking ferries to the dozens of islands that are off the coast of the city. If another visit to Croatia does occur at some point in the future, these islands will be at the top of my list.

Before moving on, I want to make a couple of points about Croatia. Americans are incredibly uninformed about this nation. On one of my tours, an American argued with our Croatian tourist guide about Soviet control over Yugoslavia. The tour guide corrected him and said that Yugoslavia was neutral and never fell behind the Iron Curtain. This is true. When Tito took over Yugoslavia after World War II, Stalin tried to assassinate him multiple times. Even though Yugoslavia did make peace with the Soviets after Khrushchev came to power, they also had a relationship with the United States. This non-aligned movement defined the nation of Yugoslavia and allowed it to become quite wealthy and stay out of violent conflicts between the two nations.

To understand a country that survived between multiple empires for over thousands of years of its existence, Croatia (Hrvatska in Croatian) has had an interesting history. It has been conquered by multiple kings and empires but never fully incorporated. Croatians have been lucky to have a great deal of autonomy through their history due to the difficulty of ruling over a land that was often distant and with a wonderful coastline that allowed the people to travel to different locations easily. The Slavs did not arrive in this region until around the 6th or 7th Century. Before that, the land was part of the Western Roman Empire before the fall of that Empire and subjugated to the Goths before it became part of the Byzantine Empire. The Franks owned the land for a short time also. The Duchy and Medieval Kingdom of Croatia existed from around 800 to the early 1100s when the Croatians were Christianized away from their pagan past. Parts of Croatia have been ruled or attacked over its history. The Venetians controlled many islands along the coast over hundreds of years. The Croatians joined a pact with the Hungarians in the early 1100s that lasted until the fall of the Austrian Hungarian Empire after World War I. The Mongols raided Split and the Fortress of Klis in the 1200s before retreating due to the death of their Khan. They never went back to the Dalmatian Coast. The Ottomans took chunks of Eastern Croatia and turned it into the present-day nation of Bosnia & Hercegovina. The Ottomans never were able to conquer most of the Croatian land. Napoleon conquered the region during the Napoleonic Wars. Hitler conquered it during World War II. Italy has often possessed the Istrian Peninsula. The Holy Roman Empire ruled large parts of present-day northern Croatia for centuries. And of course, the country was Communist until the breakup of Yugoslavia in 1991. This is why it is hard to distinguish a unique Croatian culture when visiting the nation. The food has elements of German, Italian, and Hungarian. The architecture varies from Austrian to Italian. Croatia feels like a nation filled with a proud population that was put together piecemeal, one puzzle piece at a time. Even their language is put together with elements of the nations that border it. Understanding this history and these circumstances will help you appreciate everything these people have gone through.

Finally, a few observations about the small nation of Montenegro.

Montenegro is mostly a mountainous country with its own proud culture. Montenegrins are also Slavic and despite being located very close to Croatia and Bosnia, it has a completely different history. Montenegrins are mixed religiously but are more aligned with the Orthodox Serbs and Macedonians. After the Bulgarians were kicked out of the area, Montenegro fell under the Serbian realm as the principality of Zeta and remained part of it for over many centuries. The coastal area of Montenegro best represented by the beautiful Bay of Kotor is an incredibly scenic section of the country that was conquered by the Venetian Empire and held for centuries against Ottoman aggressors. The Ottoman Empire did take a piece of Montenegro and held it for centuries. But like parts of Northern Croatia and Eastern Italy, Montenegro was often treated as a borderland transition between east and west which gave them a lot of autonomy. There was even a short lived Kingdom of Montenegro that only lasted for eight years during the World War I era before it was incorporated into the Kingdom of Croats, Serbs and Slovenes during the post-war era. When visiting the country, there are more Macedonians and Serbs plus an interesting mix of signs in Cyrillic (For the Serbs) and Latin alphabets. Turks are a large minority in the population due to a free trade agreement signed between the countries that allows them to live in Montenegro for 180 days before being forced to return home. After staying in Turkiye for 180 days, Turks can go back to Montenegro and stay for another 180. Like Dubrovnik, Split and Sibenik, Montenegro has its own Medieval Old Town. Upon our visit and needing to get exercise, we climbed the 1000-foot incline, 1300 plus stairs to a Venetian fortress that is preserved along the mountainside (For 15 Euros each of course). Kotor is a beautiful city along the Bay that is protected by mountains on all sides and water to the north. It is a very easy place to defend due to the geography. Kotor is nicer than every Croatian town we decided to visit. If given the opportunity, I recommend visiting this small mountainous country. It is scenic and you will not regret it.

Before ending this long blog, a few words about my passport issues. As mentioned in Part 1 of this series, I had issues going through customs in Germany due to many of the countries I visited not stamping my passports. Here is what happened in each one keeping in mind that only Albania stamped it.

Greece: Left the Athens airport without any Greek checking my passport. Flying into Athens was like departing a domestic flight in the United States. No one ever asked for my passport in Greece. Upon returning to Greece from our Albanian day trip, the custom officials again did not check our passports.

Croatia: During my four days there and two separate entries into the country, the Croatian authorities waved me through by just showing them my passport in my hand. I never opened it.

Montenegro: Never was asked to show my passport. Customs let me walk right into their country with no issues.

Italy: Upon my four days in Italy and two separate entries, the only time the Italian authorities looked at my passport was upon re-boarding my cruise ship in Ravenna, Italy where I also needed to go through a metal detector. The Italians did not stamp it. After exiting the ship to spend a few days in Northern Italy, no Italian authorities ever asked for my passport.

San Marino: This small nation only stamps your passport if you pay them five Euros. I decided to decline that offer. Other than that, they never asked for my passport.

None of these countries cared about international travelers invading their lands. All they really wanted were my American dollars. Montenegro and Albania also have very lax immigration laws. You can stay in Montenegro for three months over a six month period with no visa before the government bothers to act. In the case of Albania, you can stay a year before being forced to pursue either citizenship or be kindly asked to go back to your native country.

THIS IS MY FINAL POST AFTER CHRISTMAS. HAVE A WONDERFUL HOLIDAY.