Due to popular demand, pictures as well as observations on culture and cuisine.
Culture: I certainly won't pretend to be an expert, but it was interesting to hear George say, multiple times, It's like Greece in some ways and not in others. Geographically and culturally, Croatia is between Greece and Italy, though of course the language and people are Slavic. (I guess when I think of Slavs, I think of Poles, Russians, the northern Slavs, whereas Croatians, obviously, are southern Slavs.) Whenever there was traditional Croatian music being played, it sounded Greek to George, except for the language.
I don't think I can fairly comment on the people, given that we were in the most touristy place at the height of the season. Service and friendliness were in line with what you'd expect. It seemed to me "post-Communist." The attitude was, I'm doing my job, but I'm not getting paid to smile at you. That said, certainly noone was rude or unpleasant, just very busy.
The food tended more to the Italian - grappa, amazing ice-cream, risottos, pasta, espresso. Mostly, though, there were plenty of Mediterranean staples, like fish, tomatoes, salad and wine.
Below are pics from the day we took a boat to 3 islands off Dubrovnik. I will post more pictures, including Zagreb and Slovenia in the coming days.
Culture: I certainly won't pretend to be an expert, but it was interesting to hear George say, multiple times, It's like Greece in some ways and not in others. Geographically and culturally, Croatia is between Greece and Italy, though of course the language and people are Slavic. (I guess when I think of Slavs, I think of Poles, Russians, the northern Slavs, whereas Croatians, obviously, are southern Slavs.) Whenever there was traditional Croatian music being played, it sounded Greek to George, except for the language.
I don't think I can fairly comment on the people, given that we were in the most touristy place at the height of the season. Service and friendliness were in line with what you'd expect. It seemed to me "post-Communist." The attitude was, I'm doing my job, but I'm not getting paid to smile at you. That said, certainly noone was rude or unpleasant, just very busy.
The food tended more to the Italian - grappa, amazing ice-cream, risottos, pasta, espresso. Mostly, though, there were plenty of Mediterranean staples, like fish, tomatoes, salad and wine.
Below are pics from the day we took a boat to 3 islands off Dubrovnik. I will post more pictures, including Zagreb and Slovenia in the coming days.
Here is the harbor of that same island. This was our view as we had an afternoon espresso.
An artsy shot for you - burnt-down candles in a monastery church on the island of Lapad.
A view of the water and harbor from that same monastery on Lapad. The water was refreshingly chilly given that the air temp was in the 90s.
I couldn't help myself - another artsy shot. The monastery was under renovation and there were stacks of copper pipe lying on the ground under some low palms.
Thanks for the insights and beautiful pictures. Love the amazing blue of the water. Just gorgeous.
ReplyDeletePretty pictures! What a nice trip.
ReplyDeleteFunny those coastal Adriatic towns. Dubrovnik was of course called Ragusa for a long time, run by Italians, which might explain the risottos etc, though I'm sure Italian tourism helps too. Interesting about the music - a broader Balkan theme, sort of like the various Slavic Dances by various composers all sounding oddly East European.
Russians btw are Eastern Slavs, with the Belorussians and Ukrainians while the Poles, Czechs, Slovaks are Western Slavs.
Was there gulash in Slovenia?