Saturday, June 14, 2008

Croatia - The Trip of a Life Time

If you want to experience the feeling of Europe 30-40 years ago, go now to the beautiful country of Croatia. Freed from the communism of Tito and the battles with Serbia in the 1990's, this region of Yugoslavia is a land of plenty and a gem!

Miles of coastline along the clean and sparkling Adriatic Sea, the Dalmatian Coast has over 1,000 islands. Every small port has a ferry or a little boat to transport you from island to island with scenic coastline views and turquoise water from the limestone base. The beautiful walled city of Dubrovnik has a marble promenade with an underground water system built by the Romans. The water comes from two rivers, is plentiful, clean and delicious for drinking - no plastic bottles necessary! There are no neon signs or advertising; shop keepers use their windows to display their goods; cable and electric wires are underground, everyone has internet access.

In Croatia, you feel happy for the people; there is no poverty and people are prosperous and successful. The population is 90% catholic and the charming sound of church bells ringing is everywhere. There is purity in their culture. The Croatian people are open and trusting, polite, hard working and profitable, safe and happy. To encourage the birth rate, maternity leave is one year with full pay and on return to work; your job must be guaranteed. Everyone speaks English having been taught in school from a young age.

Tourism is growing and the Croats love to open their homes for meals and overnight stays to travelers. They take pride in producing completely homemade meals. They live self sufficiently growing what they need; groves of oranges, lemons, tangerines and grapefruit; proscuitto and salami, cheese from cows and sheep; brandy from cherries, herbs, walnuts and pears; wonderful olives and olive oil; terraced gardens of vegetables and potato fields; they grind their own capers; make their own wine; mill their own soap. Everything is organically grown and the food is amazing! The clean Adriatic produces delicious seafood - fabulous oysters, mussels, fresh fish of every kind, fresh anchovies and calamari, all grilled over wood fires. Trees are pine, cypress and oak.

Croatia has a cafe culture - the people work to live, not live to work. When was the last time you were served a souvenir cookie made by special traditional recipe wrapped in beautiful paper and tied with a bow on AN AIRLINE?!? Croatian Airlines with lovely polite cabin crews can take you to this special land via Frankfurt, London, Paris, and Vienna. Hurry, before the local currency, the Kuna, becomes the Euro!

0 Comments:

Post a Comment

<< Home