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beating the
crowds
--Grace; Aug 28, 2005
For the bulk of our trip, we’ve managed
to avoid regional high seasons, but alas, here we are in the peak
of the European tourist season. We were originally planning to
be in Greece this month, but we heard that the tourist hoards
there were especially bad, so we decided to visit Croatia instead.
Unfortunately, our stay included the specific week in August during
which an almost impossible number of Italians descend upon Croatia
like paparazzi on Lindsay Lohan. The week before and the week
after are crowded, too, but once you get outside those three,
it’s not so bad.
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the crowded
beach in Hvar Town |
We had been told to expect the worst for these
weeks. The buses would be crowded and stinky, the rooms would
be taken, and the ferries would be full. Since we had no hotel
or transportation reservations, we had to figure out the best
plan. Here’s how we managed:
First we spent a few days in Zagreb, the capital.
It was nearly empty since a big percentage of the locals were
at the coast on vacation (Zagreb is not on the coast). Ironically,
this was one time where we were a bit too successful avoiding
the crowds, but we really enjoyed a relaxing few days in Zagreb.
When a place is not crowded, not only is it easy to find a room,
but you can sometimes get an especially good deal. One downside,
however, is that a lot of restaurants were not open.
We further delayed our trip to the coast (and
the crowds) by hopping on a train for a short 5-night visit to
Ljubljana, Slovenia (see the previous update). Then we returned
via Zagreb and headed to the coast and islands. The first island
we visited was Hvar, and yes, the main town (Hvar Town) was practically
bursting at the seams. Upon our arrival, we managed to find a
table to grab lunch (no small feat) and then immediately muscled
onto an old bus and headed across the island to the “quiet
side,” where we stayed in a small town called Jelsa (which
turned out to be one of our favorite places on the whole trip).
There were plenty of people there, but it was MUCH less crowded
than Hvar Town. By the time we headed back to Hvar Town for a
few days, a significant number of Italians had returned home,
and it was much easier to find a place to eat (and sleep, for
that matter).
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one of many
not-very-crowded beaches somewhere outside of Vis Town |
In the end, we managed to spend only a few
days rubbing sunscreened shoulders with an infinite number of
incredibly well-dressed, attractive, and fun-loving Italians (sometimes
crowds aren’t so bad, right?). So the moral is: it IS possible
to avoid the crowds in high season. Of course there’s the
age-old wisdom of “plan ahead” (which really is good
advice), but if you can’t do that (and we couldn’t),
you can just figure out where everyone wants to be and go to the
town or country next to that one. Of course there will be other
people just as smart as you that have done the same thing, but
you can just raise a glass with them and toast your collective
smartness.
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