BLOG

I never understood what the appeal of Dvigrad, Croatia was for me. I can't even precisely remember how I got so interested in this pile of rocks and debris, in the first place. I think I remember reading something about it before my first trip to Croatia in 2004. I didn't make it to the ruins that year, being too weak with a cold while in Opatija to make it further west. Upon returning home and later planning for another trip to Croatia, I stumbled across more pictures of the ruins and some history which I think added to the allure a great deal.       So, in 2005, I finally got to see Dvigrad. Naturally, it wasn't this colossal kingdom that was laying in a preserved state as I think I had built it up in my mind. No, it was piles of rock walls that still stood reasonably well despite basically no maintenance to the site. I put up a little gallery of that trip which I need to add more to at some point, since it documents the site at it's worst to date.       It was funny that while we were there, we bumped in to some Italian workers who were striving to preserve the site, or at the very least stop it from crumbling more. After all, the whole town is there on this hill, but in pieces. So, in 2007, on a return trip, I saw the result of their work. A lot of trusses had been put in and the mortar repairs in the stones. It looks a bit different now as you can see in the more recent Dvigrad gallery.       We have ghost towns in the US that are maybe 150 years old at most, but we don't have dead cities like Dvigrad which is over 1,000 years old. Despite this history, it was unsuccessful in living any further, dying out in the 17th century. Yes, I know that there are all kinds of cultures that have ruins that are much older and more impressive, but for some reason, this one I found interesting. There's some kind of a sadness to it, like the crumbling ruins are in a constant state of sighing, waiting for history to swallow them up once and for all.       But, the end might not be as near as it may seem. A plan has been put forth to continue the restoration efforts and as unbelievable as it seems, given the state of the ruins, actually rebuild the whole town. The reason behind it being that it could be a good tourist attraction and museum for the area, which needs some museums badly I might add. Despite all the history that has passed through the area, there is little done to show it. This is most likely the case due to the lands being part of either Venice and then Italy for several centuries until just sixty years ago. Whatever the end result, I do hope that it gets restored and cleared out more. If for no other reason than to allow stupid kids from Zagreb to go freerunning all over it.

In Part 1 of this series, I talked about all the problems that have come about as tourism has exponentially grown in Croatia. Now, it's time to get in to what I feel should be done to solve some of these problems. Keep in mind that I'm not expert or elected official. I'm just a guy with a blog, Croatian heritage, and who has traveled a great deal in Croatia and likes to write.       Croatian tourism is an economy that could easily be a good economy, as opposed to the rather malignant one that it is now. There are a number of changes that would need to come about to make this happen though. The first big one is in dealing with the infrastructure. Take the new A-1 auto cesta that I talked about in Part 1. This was built to be the Tourist Express. It is true that a good connection was needed from the interior out to the coast, but was this entire road needed? There already was a train connection, which I might was also worked on to speed up transport for passengers.       When thinking about this, one needs to keep in mind that the A1 is not finished. There is a stretch that is being worked on from Split to Dubrovnik. This segment is coming at a great expense due to a bridge needing to be built to skirt the strip of Bosnia Herzegovina left over from the Karlowitz Treaty. Let's assume that the road from Zagreb to Rijeka and Zagreb to Split was needed. The old connection to the coast, was a small, meandering road that was difficult to traverse. The new one makes things a lot better. But, the extension that is being worked on from Split to Dubrovnik is unnecessary. The road that connects these two areas is a good road. It's small, but it's good. So, why build the new one? Simple, to get tourists to an already overcrowded Dubrovnik faster. This is the simple answer, but at the core, I think that there is a bigger problem.       Most people don't realize this, but there is no Ministry of Tourism in Croatia. Well, there is, but it isn't by itself. The official name is the Ministry of the Sea, Tourism, Transport and Development or MMTPR. You see, tourism has been intertwined with several other departments that I believe create a conflict of interest. Tourism projects would naturally get in line first for development over say a hospital, which is under a different ministry. The solution? Strip out the Ministry of Tourism in to its own separate department and make it have to put out its hand for an equal share of the pie. It's an crippling practice to be putting too much money in to projects to promote tourism that take money away from other projects that could promote a better standard of life for the Croatian people. The Germans and Hungarians that will eventually be zipping down to Dubrovnik will love it, but the Croats getting to endure being #43 in health care for the world won't see the benefit.       The next big step that needs to happen is to stop promoting Beach Tourism. At the very least, promote Beach Tourism in the off season as well, so that people can go enjoy the "fresh sea air" and the people in the coastal communities can have an economy based upon a regular as opposed to a seasonal source of income. But, the best course of action, is to scrap the beach bit altogether. People know it. People are coming. Enough.       Croatia needs to start promoting the interior. The country has lovely, wonderful spots that, while not near the sea are great to visit. The Zagorje is a nice place full of rolling hills and fresh springs (this is where Jana water is bottled.) Medvednica and the Međimurje are also lovely places with serene villages, good white wines, and castles for those interested. Spas are popping up in these areas for those who really want to relax. You're not going to relax at the beach in high season, but up there, you can. It's peaceful.       There are also towns that could be promoted more. Dubrovnik and Split get the majority of the press as they're coastal towns. But, Zagreb is a town that I've been to four times now and really love. The buildings are all from the days of the Austro-Hungarian Crown, there are a great number of parks, and about 10 museums worth visiting. Varaždin, Samobor, and Karlovac are also nice towns to visit. While a one or two day stay would be plenty per each of them, they offer that Central European feel, but far cheaper and more relaxed price than say Prague.       There are even decent skiing slopes in northern Croatia, but based upon the promotional materials now, you wouldn't think that the country had any snow anywhere. There are also many parks, but with the exception of Plitvice, they get little mention, because most of them aren't on the beach. It's true that the park of Mljet is surrounded by water as it's on an island, but again, it's a spot that is over hyped because it sits on the Adriatic.       Then there is Istria. This little peninsula is a microcosm of everything that is wrong and everything that is right about tourism in Croatia. I covered all the things that were wrong about it in Part 1, which center around the Beach Tourists who flood there. But, in Istria's defense, I think that it's more for reason of proximity than for promotion of the beaches, that the tourists have come. It's literally a 20 minute drive to Istria from Italy. It's maybe three or four hours at most from Austria. It's just really close and so, the Beach Tourists flock there with little that can be done except to try and accommodate them. But there are things happening in Istria that are very interesting. For one, there is wine, lots of wine. Terran (Refošk) and Malvazija are excellent varietals and these wines give more of a reason to visit than warm waters. It also creates a sustainable economy for the area. From this, other things have risen up like Agritourism. People have found that staying in the middle of bucolic hills, surrounded by wine vines can be a pleasant way to spend a holiday. This is something I might add, that can be done year round and is thusly not a big seasonal "kaboom" followed by nothing except hoping that the next season is the same.       Then there is Grožnjan. I don't know who is in charge of this little town, but they're doing good things in showing how to properly run a tourism economy. They have arts and crafts being sold in cute little stores of the old town. They have a Jazz festival that is an outgrowth of the International Cultural Centre of Young Musicians. They have truffles, wine, and good restaurants as well. All of this is in a town with maybe 100 homes, in the center of Istria, and a good half hour drive drive from the almighty beach. But the people who go there, don't go for the beach. They go for the charm of the little town and the fact that out of all of Istria, it was the one place I could actually find listed rooms to rent. There is much to be learned from this town for all of the rest of the coastal towns.       And that's what it comes down. There is much for Croatia at large to learn in how it handles its tourism. I would most likely be slapped for saying it, but they could learn a lot from their neighbors of Slovenia and Bosnia Herzegovina. The difficulties these two countries have in that they are nearly beach-less is what makes their tourism industries stronger than in Croatia. They have had to develop places and destinations for tourists and in doing so, they inevitably develop places that are going to have sustainable tourism simply because they are not flippant Beach Tourists.       Croatia will level out in the end. It has to. This will either be a smooth road, paved with long-term thinking and an overall plan for tourism development to co-exist with the people in the country, or it will be a bumpy road with localized recessions and depressions that will ultimately bring the whole country down if too many things are built on the premise that the Beach Tourist is forever. Only time will tell and it, as well as neighboring Montenegro and Albania will be interesting countries to watch over the next decade.

I have enjoyed the last fours years of travel, visiting Croatia. I love the country and while my meager claim to being Croatian is small, I feel a good deal of kinship to it. It is after all a beautiful country with snowy, wooded mountains at one end and crystal clear waters of the Adriatic Sea at the other end. It's hard to not want to travel there and until recently it was rather undiscovered by a great many tourists, including Americans. This however, has changed.       With these changes a blight has emerged in Croatia as it seems that a vast chunk of the country and nearly the entire swath of the coast is centered on one single economy: tourism. To this I might add that they are focused on Beach Tourism. Yes, the rude, soak up the sun, get drunk at night, spend as little as possible, clog the highways kind of people are flocking to Croatia. But, why are they flocking to Croatia? The simple answer to this is that it's cheap. Actually the simple answer to this is that it was cheap.       This is where the problems start to rise for Croatia. When I first went looking for a guidebook in 2003, there was one by Rough Guides and one just about to come out from Lonely Planet. They touted the affordable life that travelers could have if they hopped off to this strange place most people thought a war was still being fought (it officially ended in 1995 with the Dayton Accords by the way.) Fast forward four years and there are something like six solid guides for the country and several ones about specific regions or cities like Dubrovnik. Instead of hearing from friends and family, "Croatia? Why the hell do you want to go there?", I'm getting, "Hey, where is the cheapest place to stay in __________?" Undiscovered, Croatia is no more.       Despite all of this, Croatia found itself in a tough spot at the start of the 21st century. Unemployment was extremely high and still is, at a bit over 9% (the US is just below 5% and people are currently worried about a recession here to give you gauge for this.) So, instead of letting tourism develop in a natural manner, the government took the rash approach of pumping the hell out their coastline to attract Beach Tourists. It wasn't necessarily the worst plan and their official tourism slogan of, "The Mediterranean as it Once Was", was catchy if not a bit pedantic. They already had a good deal of the infrastructure in place to handle Beach Tourists, since the coast had been developed from the 1950's onward by the then Yugoslavian government. They also had a long history of Beach Tourism, which you can seen in places like Opatija in the northern part of the coast where holiday mansions and retreats were built in the 19th century. So, in theory, people + beach + Croatia, should = kuna.       The problem with this approach was that they didn't know when to let up on it. As far as I know, ads are still playing on BBC TV promoting this aspect of Croatia. The net effect has been incredible successful in getting people to the coast of Croatia in the summer, but it has ultimately proved to be massively detrimental. I can sum it all up in one conversation I had with two Irish girls that were staying at the pension we were at in Jelsa, Hvar. They realized that we had traveled the area a bit and then had the gall to ask, "So, you wouldn't happen to know where the sandy beaches are, would you?" Needless to say, I didn't know as I like the pebble beaches and without this information as well as their inability to know that the Prošek (a delicious sweet wine) the couple served was incredible good, they moved on the next day. They were cheap girls who couldn't even spend money on a guidebook and just wanted to drink. They were the epitome of the people who come to the Croatian coast.       Ultimately, the government should have realized there is no need to attract the Beach Tourist. They come of their own accord, migrating according to the winds of cheapness. These are people who only want to sit in the sun and they don't give a damn how nice the water is, as long as their can go back north with a cruel chocolate-strawberry hue to their abused skin. I've witnessed firsthand how these people have been treating Croatia. In Dubrovnik, that town is full. Don't go. Stay away. You literally will not get in. In Hvar City, people party to all odd hours of the night, vomit and piss on the streets, go lay in the sun and then repeat this all the next night. In Istria, every single spot it crowded, from the most pristine rocks to the lowliest mud hole on the Adriatic (sun is sun to the beach tourist.) Korčula City sees throngs of idiots roaming that small town drunk and trying to pick up the local girls. The roads are clogged, including the brand new auto cesta that runs out to the coast and was built basically to pump tourists out there. The congestion isn't because of the roads being small, but because there are just too many cars going to the coast during the summer and the result is the same as if you tried to push a pig through a garden hose.       But, beyond all these problems which could be seen as merely annoyances, there is the issue that tourism is smashing the local economies of the coastal towns in to being solely sustained by tourist money. This creates the first main problem of a group of people who work for three or four months and then have no income for the rest of the year. But, even more so, things like bars, nightclubs, strip joints, and whatever else start popping up just to cater to the tourists, thusly obliterating any sense of local culture from the people in the area. And once all this gets built up, you end up having an economy for the area that has its market driven by a single service. We all know that's bad and that the main thing any investor will tell you is that you need to diversify. The Croats who have focused on tourism for their main source of revenue are feeling the pinch of this already. Inflation is out of control on the coast and goods are very expensive for the locals to buy now. But the other fact is that the price of hotels, apartments, and rooms has gone up massively as well. In 2004, I paid 35 Euros a night for an entire apartment flat in Dubrovnik. The same flat is now about 100 Euros a night four years later.       This is all very bad for attracting the Beach Tourist. They want cheap and this is not cheap anymore. In fact, it's nearing or is the same price as places like Spain and Italy. So, there is now a glut of housing in the area and people are having a hard time filling all their rooms. By no means does this mean that Croatia will become a bargain again, but more the fact that hard times are ahead for a great chunk of the country that has heavily invested in the Beach Tourist.       This is all very negative of course and it's easy to complain about all the problems of an area. This is why there is a 'Part 1' in the title. In Part 2, I cover what I feel needs to be done to avert these problems. While these are personal observations of mine, they are from someone who knows the country well and has seen it from one end to the other. Okay, I admit that I haven't been to Slavonia yet, but I had to save something for a future trip!

Fresh on the tail of my Top 5 Croatian Reds, I thought it would be timely to mention my favorite whites for the year. While solidly a red drinker, I was shown the glory of being that is the white wine in the Mediterranean, where even the Chardonnay tastes good (no idea what they do to crap it up in California). These may not be whites for white lovers, but at the very least, they're damned fine wines:              5. Pošip Čara - Marko Polo       Pošip is the primary grape of Korčula and for a reason. They do it very well there. Even though this is from a large producer, it's still a very tasty and mild white that can be enjoyed anytime despite the cheesy name.              4. Demian - Malvazija       In the south of Istria, they make mighty fine wines, despite the shafting they get from the establishment. This is a solid example of the whites made here.              3. Kozlović - Malvazija       Way up in the north of Istria, they're making whites like this that are crisp, sweet, delicious and perfect. This is one that you can get in the US and worth every penny it may cost.              2. Zigante - Vero       An Istrian maker who have this barrique version of the standard Malvazija that is a perfectly balanced wine.              1. Bibich - Lučica       Heaven in a bottle and from an area that isn't known so much for its whites like Istria. It's a blend of several whites in the area including one called Debit. The newest vintage that's just been bottled is flat out incredible and as far as I've heard, already sold out!

There's been a lot of wine drinking in Croatia this year for me and after two months, sampling the entire coastal productions, I have a really good idea of what I like and what I don't like. The title of this post really gives away the meaning, so I just wanted to share with all the rest of you my favorite reds coming out of Croatia this year:              5. Kiriđija - Dingač       An older fellow on Pejlešac, he makes a very good and deep Plavac Mali grown in the Dingač region of that peninsula.              4. Demian - Barrique       The only Istrian member to the group because while I haven't tried every wine from Istria, this is a mighty fine vintage of Terran.              3. Bibich - Mantra       A finely crafted wine. The newest vintage blows away all previous editions.              2. Baković - Plavac Murvica       A real surprise, since I tasted the wine so long after meeting the maker. I call it the 'perfect plavac'.              1 (tied). Zlatan Plenković - Zlatan Plavac Grand Cru       I don't know what wine could knock this out the number one spot and I suspect it will be there for some time to come. It's a beautiful Plavac Mali that is barrel-aged to be one of the tastiest wines in the country. Try and find it if it doesn't sell out before you can.              1 (tied). Svirče - Ivan Dolac Eko       Brilliant, just like the Grand Cru and it makes sense, seeing as how they're maybe 15 kilometers from each other on the same island. This wine has all the sophistication of the Grand Cru, but in different ways that let it be just as tasty a Plavac Mali, while being its own wine.

Truffles are strange little individuals. They look pretty funky and smell really strongly. Staring at one, you would either think that it came from outer space or a cow.       I haven't tasted the ones in France or Italy, but have recently been introduced to those in Istria in great abundance, where the market seems largely locked up by a one Zigante. Even still at any farmers' market, you'll find people selling them privately or opening up their coat to sell you some black market style because in theory, truffle hunting is supposed to be tightly regulated in Croatia, but countless hoards do it out of the bounds of the government oversight. Just listen for the sounds of dogs (or 'brek' as these type are called in Croatian) roaming the countryside in the fall when they harvest.       As for the taste, it's an acquired flavor. For those living in Europe, not so much, since they've been tasting them most of their lives. I at first didn't care for truffles due to the smell, but once you get that flavor in your mouth, it's true that they are hard to let go of. But, since they seem to be grown many places throughout the world these days, you can taste them as often as you want as long as you're willing to pay. And that's the catch because they could easily plant more trees where the truffles like to grown, but they won't because it would drop the cost of the little buggers.       Some people get crazy about truffles and imbue them with all of these holistic aspects like the fact they're in aphrodisiac. In reality, I doubt any of this and if they cost as much as the common potato, people would think a lot less of them. Still, I do enjoy them and if there is the option on the menu to get a dish with truffles on it, I'll give it a try. I just don't do it all the time, because there is great truth in having too much of a good thing.

I think that I'm at something of an end to covering specific locations in Croatia, although I'm sure I'll revisit some areas again here as they seem pertinent and I'll be writing some larger articles about larger topics.       I've left Croatia behind a few days ago and had some time to reflect on the places that I saw and the people that I met. All of this was during high season, so I saw everywhere in the worst light possible: freakin' hot and full of beach tourists. Given that, I realized that even in the darkest depths of high season, there are a great number of places in Croatia that are worth seeing because they're just good spots. These appeal to me because they are scenic, or interesting, or pretty, or something else that makes them better than you basic tourist trap that you see in one day and then want to move on from. So, without further ado, here are my Top 5 choices:              Pelješac       This peninsula that sticks off the coast above Dubrovnik is not heavily touristed. The only thing that most people see is the road that runs up to the ferry in Orebić to take you to Korčula. Really, this is the place to go if you happen to like wine, because there is a growing wine industry in this area. Other than this, there isn't much there besides relaxing and not beach relaxing mind you, because while the water looks nice, it's not so good to swim in. This all adds up to a perfect time for me.              Međimurje       Regions at borders are cool. People speak three or more languages and because of migrations and the fluidity of borders, people in these areas are easy going. I did another article about this area that goes in to more detail, but suffice to say, it's all part of the tourist no fly zone north of Zagreb and so it is very, very relaxed. The landscape is gorgeous as well.              Skradin       This little gem had long been forgotten about. Then then new Auto Cesta opened up and it was a toll exit. Suddenly, people have found it again and with good reason. It's charming. It was ethnically mixed during Yugoslavia, which meant problems after the breakup, but ultimately gives the town a very textured look to it, not clinging to one Empire's aesthetic. It is also mellow and while there are a few tourists that find their way here, I can't see it being a huge destination unless they choose for it be, since there is no beach. If a tourism industry grows up here, I assume it will be a sustainable one due in no small part to the businesses of Alen Bibich.              Istrian Interior       The coast of Istria is hell during high season, but just 10-15km away, there is the interior. This heart-shaped region is awash in lovely little hilltop towns, great wine, food, and of course truffles. Yes, the tourists have found a lot of the spots in here, from when they get bored at the beach and start wandering. But, outside of high season, the tourist that goes here is the one that I like. They're foodies and winos and those are usually good people in my book. Oh yeah, there are the cyclists as well, whom I'm not too in to, but they're a small group that moves quickly.              Western Korčula       Sure, I know what you're thinking, "But, I've actually heard of Korčula!" Sure, many people have or the mispronounced, "Korkula" as some sandy-beach-horny Irish girls I met called it. The thing with this island is that the people who go there, go to Korčula City. It's small, so a lot of them are day trippers. If you actually stay on the island, you'll find that there is a whole western chunk of it that isn't visited much. Somehow the damned Czechs have found any and all hidden beaches, but to such a smaller degree, that it's quite civilized. And, if you happen to be there just out of high season, the place is completed deserted. Oh yeah, that and they make wine :)

The Spaniards get a lot of crap for the midday break that they take. It's usually around two hours and because most people outside of Spain are there on holiday and don't have this system, they complain about it a lot. It's true that if you don't plan lunch carefully, you're screwed since the whole town shuts down during this time, but then again, they're open a lot later, which I'm sure most people enjoy. I for one happen to really like eating at 10 at night. Many people don't realize that the Spanish work day is at least eight hours long and sometimes much longer during the summer hours.       Why this gets criticized is beyond me, when you start looking at the coastal Croatian work hours. I've put some real gems down below showing they essentially take the same exact breaks, but in reality work considerably less hours. There is a good deal of common sense to this, since the middle of the day is ruthlessly hot along the Adriatic during the summer. My only issue is that no one should be pointing fingers when this is a pretty common practice all along the Mediterranean.

It may come as a shock to readers, based on several articles about driving in Croatia, but I have done a good deal of driving in Croatia lately. Naturally due to the fact I really don't like driving I don't really like this activity, but it was necessary to visit wineries and sites that needed drinking and seeing.       But, in driving around a heavily trafficked area in the height of holiday season, I have come to find groups (based on their license plates) who are slower drivers and more frustrating than others. Obviously this is not to say that all people from these groups are hell, just a great many of them. So here with go with the list:              The Dutch       Sweet lord they drive slow. They also love to drive in groups making it impossible to pass them. And then, toss in the fact that they always have caravans attached to their cars and it's all quite a package. On this trip, I was alerted to the fact by more than one person that the Dutch are the cheapest of the cheap in Europe, so it's no wonder that the caravans dominate the roads, since they allow heavy money saving in resort locations.              The Hungarians       I've liked every Hungarian that I've met. So, it came as something of a shock to see them putting along like they do. For awhile I actually thought they were the slowest drivers, until of course I was confronted by the aforementioned Dutch. Still though, they really don't go fast out there on the open roads and I feel like such a crazy American when I pass them doing the speed limit.              The Germans       This was the real shocker. I've known Germans who tear up the road. They drive ferociously fast in both Germany and from what I've seen, in the US. Amazingly, in Croatia, they just crawl along. While definitely not the slowest, they are among some of the slowest that I've seen. I think it must have to do with being worried about the police harassing them because they're German, but given their general attitudes in the towns where I've seen them staying, I refuse to believe that they'd be that cautious.

I love the A1 road coming from Zagreb out to the coast. That thing is amazing and I took the old road the last year that people had to take the old road, so I do indeed know the difference. Being able to cruise at whatever your car will allow, whether that's 120km (like my effin' Toyota Aygo) or 200km if you happen to have a Porsche and feel like getting friendly with the Croatian police, is some good driving.       There is another artery which is in Istria, called the A8/A9 or, the Istrian Y. The A8 stretch is rather good, despite the fact it is only four lanes intermittently. The A9 is another story. It has maybe 5km or four lanes throughout the whole thing, so passing on it is a nightmare. For most of the trip you're stuck behind old, Dutch or German caravans that put along at 80km. It makes what should be a half hour trip something more like an hour from the border to Pula.       This is an element that I can deal with, since I was driving during high season. It's the fact that the authorities in the area have the balls to actually charge for this that hurts my common sense. There is one toll booth in the middle of it that costs about $3 each way. It doesn't seem like much, but when you're making multiple trips, it adds up. Also, there is the fact that you're taking what feels like a relatively straight country road and being charged for this. The Bay Bridge in San Francisco costs $4 one way and that's a bridge! There was no simple bulldozing to make that happen. They had to span some serious stuff to get that bridge in there and it cost billions to build.       I don't know what's up with the Croatian motorway, but for those set to take it, I think that at certain points the old back roads are faster because you can avoid the caravans. Anyone moving slow on those old roads can be blown by quickly because they're just chasing butterflies.