After a week in Bosnia - and having such an intense reaction to / love of it - Croatia is so starkly different that it was difficult for me to tolerate. Hands down, Croatia is the most touristy place I've been yet - and I mean that in a bad way. There were hordes of rude, photo-snapping people locked into tiny streets and overpriced souvenir shops in "famous" old buildings. I don't know. Apparently the Italians love that kind of thing - because Croatia is a big Italian vacation spot - but it just didn't do it for me. I keep wondering whether I would've had a different reaction if I'd gone to Croatia before going to Bosnia or Romania, but I'll really never know...
To get from Mostar, BiH to Dubrovnik (where I had "reservations" at a hostel service), I wound up taking a very bizarre route. The sobe gals who picked me up at the bus station in Mostar told me that buses to both Medjugorje (pronounced "med-you-gore-ee-ah") and Dubrovnik left at 10am the next morning. Okay. So, I get to the Mostar bus station at ~9:30am & try to by a ticket to Medjugorje with the intent to make it to Dubrovnik by late that night. No dice. The bus to Dubrovnik left at 7am; there was another one that would leave at 10PM (and arrive in Dubrovnik at ~2am). There was, indeed, a bus headed to Medjugorje (and then on to Split) at 10am, but I'd have to cross my fingers about getting a bus back to Mostar to make the late night Dubrovnik bus. I didn't much like that option, either. So, I decided...since I'm not Catholic...to skip the 2nd largest Catholic pilgrimage site in the world (oy vey!)...and head to Split and then down to Dubrovnik from there. It wasn't a very efficient approach (i.e. I wound up spending 10hrs on the bus), but I got where I wanted to go in the end; I also got what I choose to view as a Dalmatian Coast sightseeing tour on comfy air-conditioned buses for very little money. Yes, folks, travel is all about "spin" and perspective ;)
When I finally arrived in Dubrovnik at ~10pm, I tried to get in touch w/the hostel service where I had a reservation. No dice - just an answering machine. So, since it was late and starting to rain, I wound up going home w/an old Croatian sobe guy from the bus station. The next day around noon, he drove me over to the address of the hostel service (for free) so I could get things sorted out; however, the hostel service was closed (and only had hours of like 2pm-5pm posted on their door). Using his mobile phone, and talking to a neighbor of the hostel service, we tried calling 4 different phone numbers to get a hold of someone. Still no dice. We even left a note wedged in the door w/a phone number - and never heard a word. So...I stayed with Josef and his wife while in Dubrovnik, and had a beautiful ocean view from my bedroom. I can't complain too much (though I'll be angry if I still get charged by the bogus hostel service).
Ironically, I much preferred Split (the 2nd largest city in Croatia) to Dubrovnik; I expected the opposite to be true. I stayed with an old German sobe guy & his wife (who didn't speak English) in a "separate" bed/bath (ooh, ahh) within easy walking distance to the beach & ~20min walk to Diocletian's Palace. It was the most expensive bed I've had yet (@ 25Euro/night) AND the worst bed I've had yet. Go figure that one. I was also rather unceremoniously kicked out at a 9am yesterday morning...If I ever do go back to Croatia (which is conceivable if I make it back to Bosnia, which I hope to do), I'll make a point to island hop. I really wanted to go to Korcula and Brac, but there's just not enough time to do everything. C'est la vie.
Final thought on Croatia: As an outsider, there seems to be a single word there that's as popular and has as many different meanings as "Aloha" in Hawaii. The word "Dobro" was used all over - and seemed to mean things like "good / okay / yeah" and probably a few I'm forgetting.
No comments:
Post a Comment