The Old World Part XI

Our next stop was the country of Croatia. If you have been following the news at all over the last 20 years, you probably have a picture of what Croatia looks like. I expected to see bombed out buildings and burned vehicles laying along side of the road. What we experienced was the most relaxing and enjoyable stop on the cruise. We spent the day in the town of Korcula (pronounced Core shoe la) and had a marvelous time.

The first thing I noticed was that the buildings were all neat and well kept. This was part of the former Yugoslavia and the communists were not big on building new or updating. The town was very neat and clean. There was also the lack of hustle and bustle that seemed to be evident in every port we had been to so far. I saw cars parked but do not recall seeing any traveling down the road. The second thing I noticed was the enterprise that was going on all around. There were open air markets, restaurants and an almost festive atmosphere. They appeared to be happy with their newly found freedom and what they could do with it. The third thing I noticed was the ornate architecture on the buildings. Everything was well detailed and although showing signs of age, still pretty cool.

We did some shopping and had an adult beverage at an open air cafe overlooking the Adriatic Sea. The beer was delicious and the view made you want to just sit and soak in the scenery. An interesting foot note was when we went to pay for our purchases. Croatia had not joined the rest of Europe and use Euros. They have their own currency and the merchants would not take dollars or Euros. So I had to go to the bank and exchange some green backs for Kunas. It was like 4 Kunas to the dollar. The bank had double doors. The second door would not open until the first door closed. There was a few second delay between one closing and the other opening. It was an eerie feeling being locked between two doors. I kept expecting gas to start pouring from the vents. I guess it is seeing too many Bond movies and an overactive imagination.

This was one stop that I would definitely make again.

Icool

Cobb