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Published: September 9th 2022
I heard an airplane passing overhead. I wished I was on it. - Charles Bukowski
And tomorrow, we will be on it! We are so happy to be travelling again, on our long-delayed trip to Croatia. We booked our Croatia trip early in 2020, only to have it cancelled shortly after because, of course, Covid. We are finally able to go, and the timing turned out just perfectly because we are now are able to meet my brother Ross and sister in law Beth in Italy, where they will be travelling, when our Croatia trip finishes.
We start our travels in England, visiting Susan's cousin. We'll be staying in Eastbourne, on the south coast, and we'll also have a night in London. The area around Eastbourne looks really lovely and we are looking forward to doing some explorations of the area. Then we fly to Dubrovnik to join our fellow travellers on Intrepid's "Highlights of Dalmatia" trip. We will spend a couple of weeks travelling around the beautiful Dalmatian coast, up to Zadar, then finishing back in Split. From Split we will fly to Brindisi, Italy, where we'll meet Ross and Beth, and explore the Puglia area in Italy
from our home base of Lecce, capping it off with three nights in Rome.
Here's some basic information on Croatia (mostly gleaned from my Lonely Planet guidebook): Croatia is bordered by the countries of Slovenia, Hungary, and Serbia in the north, and just touches on Montenegro in the south. It shares a very long border with Bosnia and Herzegovina. Croatia has been a member of the EU since 2013, but uses its own currency - the Croatian Kuna. Most of its population are Catholic (about 86%), under 5% are Orthodox (the Serbian population), and 1.5% are Muslim. Croatians mostly identify with western Europe, not with their eastern neighbours in Bosnia, Montenegro and Serbia. The coastal areas (where we'll be) have a Mediterranean character and strong Italian influences (I expect there will be quite a bit of pasta and pizza available). Speaking of food, while Croatian food definitely has a lot of meat dishes, there will be lots of fish and seafood available too. Croatia has various wine regions and we plan on enjoying lots of Croatian wine!
Croatia's history is complicated, with many different civilizations and empires seeking control and influence: Rome, the Byzantines, the Venetians, the Hungarians,
Ella on her cooling mat
We had a pretty hot late summerthe Ottomans, and Napoleon, just to mention a few. Venice, in particular, controlled and exploited much of Croatia for almost 800 years. So there are lots of Roman ruins, and Venetian architecture, in Croatia. Interestingly, Dubrovnik (then called the Republic of Ragusa) maintained its independence for much of that time, until taken over by Napoleon in the early 19th century.
After the first world war and the collapse of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the "Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes" was established (the name was later changed to the "Kingdom of Yugoslavia"). During this time, however, some of Croatia was under Italian control. In 1937 Tito became leader of the Communist Party, and led the fight against the German invaders during the second world war. In 1945 the "Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia" was created, with Tito as the prime minister. Croatia was one of six republics, along with Macedonia, Serbia, Montenegro, Bosnia and Hercegovina, and Slovenia, which made up the federation. Tito tried to unite the various rival nationalities and ethnicities, but ethnic tensions remained. Following Tito's death in 1980, and the rise to power of nationalist Slobodan Milosevic in Serbia, these tensions boiled over. In 1991 Croatia declared independence, leading to what Croats refer to as the Homeland War. In 1992 the UN brokered a ceasefire and Croatia was recognized by other countries and was admitted into the UN. However, the fighting continued in the neighbouring Bosnia and Hercegovina, including civilian massacres and the horrific siege of Sarajevo (there were also civilian massacres in Croatia). I have just finished the excellent novel "Girl at War" by Sara Novic, about a Croatian girl's experience of the war. It is quite harrowing, but I highly recommend it. Peace accords were eventually signed in December 1995, and in 2013 Croatia joined the EU. Croatia has enjoyed a thriving tourist industry for some time, particularly the Dalmatian region, with its beautiful coast and islands, fascinating walled towns, and excellent food and wine.
Across the Adriatic (and south) from Croatia is the Puglia region of Italy (the "heel of the boot"). We'll be staying in Lecce, a town with numerous 16th century buildings I'm sure we'll be checking out. We'll explore the surrounding area, then finish our trip in Rome. We are looking forward to lots of excellent food and wine in Italy!
Our flights from London-Dubrovnik, and Split-Brindisi are booked, but Susan has flight benefits from her time at WestJet, so we are flying standby with WestJet on our Vancouver-London, and Rome-Vancouver flights. So far there are lots of seats on both flights, so we are hopeful we won't have a problem getting on. Travel is much less complicated now than it was last fall when we went to Amsterdam and Kenya, when there were so many Covid related restrictions in place. We don't have to anxiously await Covid tests this time!
We have a house/cat sitter staying in our condo while we're away, so we don't have to worry about Ella; we know she will have company and will be well looked after. Thanks very much Sarah!
Well, I hope you enjoy reading the blog and travelling with us once again. If you would like to receive an email when I post a blog entry, you can subscribe to this blog (click on the subscribe button above), or you can follow me if you are a member of TravelBlog. If you didn’t want me to add you as a subscriber, or if you no longer wish to subscribe please unsubscribe - via the link in the email from TravelBlog. I will post as regularly as I can, but there may be some delays as wifi, and time, may not always be available. I appreciate all comments on the blog, but I may not be able to answer while travelling. But know that we read and very much appreciate all your comments.
See you next in England! 😀
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Tuula
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Happy travels!
So looking forward to following along through your blogs!