The Final Croatia Story

Sunday, July 8, 2007
We spent a very lazy day in Omisalji today. We had breakfast on the ship, said our goodbyes and checked back into the hotel. We didn’t really do much today other than take long walks and float around in the water. We just came back from dinner and I am stunned that it was this morning that we got off the ship. It feels like yesterday! There is some strange time warp thing going on. Time seems to move much, much slower here.

Monday, July 9, 2007
Today was our last day in Croatia. I’m sad to see this vacation end and we are already talking about coming back. After spending yesterday leisurely lounging around, we decided to do and see more today. We rented a car and drove to the mainland. The first part of our journey was on that crazy road that snakes along the coast all the way down to the southern tip of Croatia. Karlo told me about this road carved into the side of the cliff with the ocean below. He always talked about taking a drive along the entire coast of Croatia. After being on it for 80 KM, it is officially settled. We are NEVER driving a motorcycle on it! I’m not too thrilled about driving a car on it either. These people here are CRAZY. I guess this place is too close to Itlay, and all their insane driving habits have spread into this country too. No thank you.

We made our way to Plitvicka Jezera National Park where we spent the whole day. Now we can add another National Park to our ever growing list of ones we already saw. (yeah) This place was amazing. We’ve been to several National Parks and I think I have to say that this was among the most beautiful. It was a series of lakes all at different levels with waterfalls everywhere. And the bluest water ever. It reminded me of the water in the lakes at the Canadian Rockies, but better because there were so many fish. I love watching fish swim! One of the few things that actually relaxes me. I think I’m going to have to reconsider having ‘indoor’ fish in Eastford. (sorry Karlo) We hiked the whole park and we even got to take a boat and scenic tram ride. It sure was a great way to end our vacation.

The most important part of the day, however, wasn’t about the beautiful scenery at the park. It was about the sights leading up to the park. We drove through several towns that had abandoned houses. The houses looked completely gutted, some without roofs, like they had been burned. I found it odd that there were so many, but I never questioned. Shortly after my pondering, Karlo explained that these houses were shot up and burned during the war. Now Karlo has given me so many history lessons over the years. He has explained the situation in the former Yugoslavia dozens of times . . . but none of them sunk in until today. I needed to see it for myself.

When this area was Yugoslavia, the Croats, Serbs, Bosnians and Slovanians all lived together in peace. If you can call being ruled under an iron fist ‘in peace.’ But after the dictator died and Slovenia broke free, all hell broke loose. The Serbs started killing the Croatians that lived in the Serbian sections, so therefore the Croats started killing the Serbs living in the Croatian sections. Entire villages were wiped out. We drove by so many abandoned and/or destroyed houses. Even houses that are currently occupied have bullet holes all over them. I just imagined the tanks driving down the street, aimlessly shooting up the houses for no good reason. Sickening. So many innocent civilians killed. And to think, this was only about 15 years ago – in Europe for heaven’s sake.

Now I finally understand why so many people were shocked when we said we were going to Croatia on vacation. It is such a pity that so many people remember that war and imagine Croatia as a dangerous place. Even after seeing all the post war destruction, I still think it’s the most beautiful place I ever saw.

This wraps up my very long-winded travel journal. If you’ve been reading, I hope you enjoyed it.

To see pictures from this segment of our trip please visit, http://picasaweb.google.com/paulasworld/CroatiaPart4