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Italiano (Italian)
Once I put my feet and car on the ground, the trip to Croatia became itinerant; on my mymaps the itinerary.
Croatia trip begins from Dubrovnik
In Dubrovnik I first headed by car to Mt. Srg, 5 minutes by cable car cost 27 euros; the view is worth it, and there is also an interesting museum on the war with Serbia in the ruins of the Napoleonic fortress.
The tour of the medieval alleys is nice, but I probably had too high expectations, and there is nothing else memorable. The other towns are nice too, but there are hundreds of medieval villages in Italy, with or without port and walls, AND where you don’t leave a kidney every time you enter somewhere.
I usually don’t go out of my way to visit even expensive countries, making up for it with street or supermarket meals and, above all, limiting my lodging expenses. I have also learned to give little weight to certain reviews; there are people who are not very malleable and want to unload aggression by being keyboard experts. For example, what is the point of staying in the cheapest place in a city like Dubrovnik that is perched and surrounded by mountains; complaining that there are climbs to be made? But then go to Casalmaggiore on vacation!
The switch outside the chamber
The first night in Dubrovnik I had the light in the tiny room, outside in the hallway! To park the car I had to make an elaborate maneuver in a very small space with a slope of at least ten degrees,
I had considerable heat with just the small fan. I think, as is the case everywhere in Africa and Asia, it is no longer possible to sleep without air conditioning in the Mediterranean. Before I went to bed, though, I enjoyed a spectacular view on the terrace overlooking the harbor together with a friendly dog, but he left when I tried to photograph him.
Along the coast it is a succession of glimpses of the sea, rugged coastline and myriad islands. Starting from Zadar to go to the plateau, the road is spectacular with a real wall of rock that seems vertical.
4 brandies and Bengali breakfast
The hinterland has more affordable prices. Despite the 2 beautiful parks of Krka and Plitvice, very crowded and 40 Euro entrance fee. I also found the people much friendlier. In general I think it is nature and not so much the cities that offer the best of Croatia.
After passing through it seems to be in another world, and from the Mediterranean scrub you find yourself in the midst of meadows with grazing cows and fir forests.
I had a room in the house of two elderly gentlemen 15 minutes from Plitvice Park, with a very comfortable, excellent, rustic restaurant two minutes away. My hosts (he more than toothless) spoke no English, but we understood each other well. Every time we passed each other (except at departure since it was 7 a.m.) they offered me two glasses of homemade schnapps.
Knowing the customs I knew I had to drink them all in one gulp, strong in the fact that they told me it disinfects. The only sore point was the smells coming from the kitchen where the other guests, I assume workers with permanent housing, were cooking. Particularly in the morning the flushes of fried and spicy Bengali gravies are not easy to overcome.
Krka is a park similar to Plitvice, with a more beautiful waterfall but overall the more famous park offers more.
Plitvice is a must on a trip to Croatia
The Plitvice Lakes are a succession of small lakes and waterfalls surrounded by forest. The water is brightly colored and teeming with fish. On weekends and in July and August they are unpassable because of the crowds. At the end of June there were many people but all concentrated near the waterfalls and food stations.
I can’t understand how anyone can spend 40 euros plus 9.50 for parking (usual policy adverse to poor individuals) to take 2 selfies on the fly and then indulge in souvenirs and fries. So many were in flip-flops so they just didn’t think about walking.
The conspiracy of umbrella selfies….
Someone took several selfies. One girl in line in front of me took at least 50 already on the boardwalk well before she got to the waterfalls.
In such beautiful places then the selfie-takers bolt knowing that they might post the photo that will get the like from all the relatives, even Uncle Peppino! So it’s a succession of sudden stops, plus lots of pauses to find the perfect pose. The groups are terrible; for each corner everyone has to take a picture with a different companion, and the combinations are endless: mother, son, daughter smiling; son, father, mother serious; daughter with a potty-mouthed ass and distracted dog; etc, etc….
There is a subspecies of selfies that is just plain dangerous, the umbrella walkers. There are several predetermined routes, mostly on comfortable wooden platforms, even in the rain, all doable safely. It rained quite a bit that day, with some more intense moments. But armed with my rain jacket with hood and hiking pants and shoes I was more than protected.
I actually ran various dangers so much so that at one point I thought a conspiracy was afoot on the part of the many umbrella selfies, aware of my aversion to them. Several times they tried to skewer me with umbrella slats or fling me into the water with sudden moves when I approached or flanked them.
Jokes aside, I am serious when I say that people should be given driver’s licenses for walking and gun licenses for those walking around with umbrellas. Having passed the assemblages, I enjoyed the long walks with few people, which were basically the parts without waterfalls.
Zagreb, quiet capital
From Plitvice I headed to Zagreb, which for a capital city is rather small and with few things to see. It was also with many places closed or under restoration after the earthquake there in 2020. I liked it on the whole and because of the buildings and the big boulevards, it feels like a neighborhood in Vienna. One place that was open but that I decided not to enter was the Museum of Broken Relationships, where objects symbolic of ended histories are collected.
Home set of trips Travel to the Balkans, between nature and even recent history
Next stop Experience in naturist camping, i.e., for nudists
Trips taken, travel stories divided by continent
Countries visited in my travel stories
Anecdotes, divided by type in travel narratives
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