Sailing in Croatia

One of my major dreams is to be able to sail in Croatia.
Not that I'm a sailor! No. Far from it. Yet, something about the sight of Croatian islands brings out my hitherto repressed nautical soul. Sure, I could always take a sailing holiday in Croatia
and laze around with the other tourists but something about yacht or sailboat charter in Croatia appeals to me. If only I had the dough to get a fully skippered boat. Alas.

Private Rooms in Croatia

Whew. It's after the holidays and our thoughts turn to. . .SUMMER VACATION!!yeah. Ah, the warm, sunny Dalmatian coast. Not now of course but definitely later. Croatia is looking forward to an incredible holiday season with lots of new air routes opening up especially from London and Germany.

Lots of people of course want to know about booking accommodation in Croatia. Backpackers like the idea of showing up and finding a place on site. I can understand that. I prefer to travel spontaneously too and usually do unless it's the height of the season or I'm on business.

One controversial point in Croatia is the practice of ladies (and some men) showing up at the bus or ferry terminal and hawking their room or apartment. People who are trying to make a full-time living renting rooms or apartments legitimately hate this because those ladies are not paying residence taxes. They're fond of telling horror stories about backpackers unceremoniously shoved out in the early morning to make way for others or rooms that are way out of the way. Some just don't like the way it looks (and Croatians are very appearance-conscious) to have crowds of aggressive old ladies descending like locusts on people landint in town. A lot of backpackers have good experiences of course. After all, it's not for them to worry about the tax situation of Croatian municipalities!

Still, there's a lot of pressure on local authorities to crack down on the rogue operators and they have begun to do so, starting on Korcula Island. This of course makes other people very unhappy, especially those who supplement their meager pensions by moving in with the kids for the summer and renting out their house.

So it's unclear how this will play out this summer. Will backpackers be confronted by suddenly quiet bus and ferry terminals? Or will the ladies in black win and be out in full force? Stay tuned.

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Sorry for slipping up here friends and fans. Duty has called, i.e. work. Dubrovnik was gorgeous in November. I was only sorry I didn't bring my bathing suit. The hotel scene is ever-changing. Personally, I liked the new Hilton Imperial. I found it an excellent combination of traditional and modern styles even though there wasn't a big lobby. I love hanging out in big hotel lobbies. Dubrovnik traditionalists who remember the old Imperial weren't impressed however. Even worse is the half-finished Libertas (maybe it will be done in time for the 2006 season and maybe not). Currently, it's an eyesore clinging to the edge of a hill. Yuck. The Bellevue is also supposed to be finished by 2006 but who knows? Mysterious political/financial problems cling to both constructions like moss.

Some of the restaurants need to be slapped into line as well. Had an entirely mediocre meal at Dominos steakhouse and got into a huge fight with the manager when I demanded to sign the complaint book. By law, they must produce it but they refused etc. etc. It was the first time I felt ripped off in Croatia.

Locals are, as usual, fed up with the cruise ships but happy about the extra Jadrolinija lines chugging into the harbour come February. The new Saturday boat from Bari and an additional Split-Hvar-Korcula-Dubrovnik route should bring the kind of longer-stay tourists ready to spend a little money in town.

Jadrolinija's new coastal route

Poor Zadar. What did they do wrong? Why was Zadar dropped from Jadrolinija's coastal ferry route? Taking the ferry from Rijeka to Zadar used to be so convenient (even if it did land at midnight). Now, it's overland only from Zadar north to Rijeka and south to Split. I wonder why Jadrolinija axed them.

Here is one excellent argument in favour of Croatia's EU membership:

European Union Transport Commissioner Jacques Barrot told Merchant Marine Minister Manolis Kefaloyiannis he will be personally involved in efforts for the subsidization of Greek island routes which ferry operators find unprofitable to serve, sources said.

Read the full article here

Anyone listening on Rab or Susac?

Euroscepticism?

Croatia became a candidate for EU membership in June 2004, it has seen more than its fair share of ups and downs on the issue of European integration. But in March 2005 its latest down proved very low, with Croatia being bluntly told that it would not be able to enter the EU without dramatic improvements in its handling of the war crimes issue.

Read the full article here
Croatia was once desperate to join the EU mainly to show they weren't like the savage Balkans but belonged to civilized Europe. It's amazing how the tide has turned in 10 years. Gotovina is part of it, of course and I confess I don't see him on the same level as Mladic or Karadzic. As bad as the Krajina operation was, it wasn't Srebenica by a long shot. When the Krajina Serbs had the region, they made short work of the remaining Croats and were encouraged to do so by the unrelenting propaganda from Belgrade. Their secession was also actively encouraged by Belgrade which was behind them 1000% until. . .they weren't. They left the Krajina Serbs to fend for themselves knowing that Croatia was never going to permit the secession of that piece of territory. When Gotovina swept in as part of Operation Storm (with American backing, I might add), it was with recruits that were only too aware of the atrocities perpetrated against the mostly elderly Croatian residents who had stayed in the region. That doesn't in any way justify or excuse their own atrocities but to put Gotovina on the same level as the Bosnian Serbs is simply absurd. Britain and the EU are and always have been determined to see that conflict as "ethnic hatreds" rather than the Serbian land grab it initially was (until Tudjman lined up with the Hercegovina Croats to carve up Bosnia). The war was mainly (although not exclusively) one of Serbian aggression. Recasting it as a conflict where everyone was equally responsible is a means of excusing Europe's disgraceful passivity in the face of ethnic cleansing. Get over it, Del Ponte.

Croatian vs. Slovenian food

I'm not prejudiced (really I'm not!) but Slovenians just don't seem to have the same respect for food that you'll find in Croatia. The Slovenians do a lot of things well. Actually the main thing they do well at is make money. I'm thinking of the Celica hostel in Ljubljana. Whoa. Who would think of buying a prison with the idea of turning it into a youth hostel? Who? The Slovenians that's who! It cost the three of us €70 to stay in a miniscule room with shower and toilet in the hall. Of course they could get away with it because hotel prices in Ljubljana are sooooo outrageous.

OK. They know how to make money but couldn't the Slovenians demand just a little bit more from their restaurants? In Ljubljana I had possibly the worst meal of my life in a place called something like Csonka on Trubarjeva? It was ghastly even though the menu description made it sound good. It involved thinly sliced courgettes and peppers topped with melted cheese but I think the whole thing was cooked in a microwave because the vegetables were still raw ant the cheese barely melted even though it took forever to arrive. Then to add insult to injury, the wine was undrinkable and then they had the nerve to charge extra for the potatoes in this gloppy dish! I said I didn't order potatoes and he responded "Well, they're traditional with this dish" so he just added them and then charged for them! As if that wasn't bad enough, the waitress made a huge "mistake" in changing a €50 bill--in their favor of course.

I can't understand how a place so terrible could stay in business more than a minute. Food in Croatia may not always be stellar but I have never had a meal that you could actually say was bad in Croatia. I couldn't have felt more ripped off if they stole my wallet from my pocket.

Anyway, here is my favorite recipe for Brodetto Croatian style.