rethink croatia
--Susan; Aug 26, 2005

Like many Americans, when I think of Croatia, I think of war. The only exposure to Croatia that I’ve had (or remember) is through the news, and it’s all been about violence and destruction in their country. I feel upset about it because there is so much more to this country that Americans are not hearing about so now I take it upon myself to tell you – Croatia is WONDERFUL!

lots of little islands off the coast of Hvar island

	island hopping
	With 40 islands, it was difficult to choose where to go. Some of the islands have a few towns on them, some have only one, and some have none. Some are more touristed than others, but it’s not too difficult to find places where it seems like you’ve won the lottery and have bought your own little piece of paradise. Most of them are only a few hours ferry ride from the mainland, but the ferry schedules are a bit confusing (and change by season and day of the week), so it pays to plan ahead.
	We did some reading and asked some questions and picked a couple islands that sounded great (Hvar and Vis). They were great, in different ways. We very much wish we had time to see more of the islands and next time we will. On a lesser scale, we rented a little putt-putt boat one day on Vis and went tooling around. We played explorer and went to a nearby little island and found a quiet cove to spend the afternoon. Bliss. You can do this on Hvar, too, but it’s a lot harder to find a spot for yourself, depending on the season.

It’s certainly true that there was a lot of devastation in a lot of areas but they’ve done an amazing job rebuilding over the past decade. And if you get a chance to chat with the locals about the war, it is apparent that the emotional pain is still quite near the surface. But the people we spoke to say that tourism is on the rise again and that the locals are moving on with their lives. Looking out on the amazing coastline, it’s heartbreaking to imagine the horrible war they had here.

Anyway, like the locals, let’s move on. Croatia has a long coastline dotted with over 40 islands (see sidebar). The Adriatic Sea is clear and warm (enough) to swim in. The coastline isn’t the sandy kind we’re used to in California. It’s the pebbly kind which took some getting used to since it hurts a bit at first, but Croatians will argue that it is much better since sand sticks annoyingly to your sunscreen.

The locals are amazing hosts. Outside the major tourist areas, not many people speak English but in addition to Croatian they often speak Italian or German which covers the bulk of tourists to their country. Nonetheless, we were welcomed by the grannies that rented us rooms in their homes. They gave us fresh figs from their trees, wine they had just finished bottling, tomatoes off the vines and generally lots of smiles and hugs. Croatia is one of our favorite countries so far and Jelsa (a little town on Hvar) is one of our favorite towns. We hope to come back and visit our friends here again soon.