The region of Lika still looks neglected, with part of its territory consisting of abandoned fields on which stand houses destroyed during the fighting in the early 90s. Almost no other traces of the war remain in Croatia, writes Gazeta.Ru. Instead, the atmosphere is one of absolute serenity and the triumph of reason. Croats live in complete harmony with nature, and the country's ecological situation is one of the best in the world. Maintaining it is one of the strategic tasks of the country's development.
Having grown a bit tired of the heat back home, we decided to go to the northern Croatian coast — the Istria peninsula, where the Mediterranean climate is considered the mildest. The Istrian coast consists entirely of resort areas, and in most of them living conditions are practically the same. Nevertheless, a selection criterion was found: we learned that from the small coastal town of Poreč you can sail to Venice in just a couple of hours.
Poreč turned out to be small, cozy, pine-covered, and incredibly clean despite the large number of tourists. The Adriatic Sea is twice as salty as the Black Sea, and probably hundreds of times cleaner. Blue UNESCO flags fly over the Istrian beaches (they are given to beaches where the water and shore can be considered perfectly clean). The beaches, by the way, are free. They are mostly rocky or concrete; sand is found only on the islands. Renting a sun lounger in Poreč costs about $3 a day, and some hotels provide them for free.
In the city itself and its surroundings, there are several dozen hotels, mostly three-star. There are no more 'starred' hotels there yet; most of them date back to socialist times, so from the outside they often look not very attractive, but inside they are quite decent, albeit without excesses.
Among tourists, the largest numbers are Germans and Croats themselves, many Dutch and Italians, while there are still few of our compatriots and very few representatives of other countries. The 14,000 population of Poreč is half Croatian and half Italian. The latter have lived on the peninsula since it belonged to the Venetian Republic (the last time in the 18th century). Therefore, Istria has two official languages — Croatian and Italian.
Almost all service staff in Croatia speak German well and English somewhat worse. However, you can go to Croatia without knowing a single foreign language. Almost no one speaks Russian there, but if you speak slowly yourself and pick synonyms for words unfamiliar to Croats, you will be understood, because our languages are related. Croatian has many words that are considered obsolete in Russian, for example, grad — "city", putnik — "passenger", izvolite — "please".
The cheapest way to go to Croatia is with an all-inclusive tour package. Typically included are the flight, accommodation, and two meals a day — a buffet with European cuisine.
Standard tours to Istria cost $700–800 per week, which implies a three-star hotel with two meals a day, private facilities in the room, a TV, and a hairdryer. For $300–400 per week, you can stay in a two-star hotel with facilities on the floor and also half board.
Besides swimming and sunbathing, Croatia offers many other entertainments, mostly water-based — jet skis, motorboats, yachts, surfing, diving. True, all this costs about twice as much as similar activities in Turkey or Egypt: 15 minutes of riding a jet ski is about $30, a yacht with a helmsman for a day is about $150 (prices vary somewhat).
Some tourists, including our compatriots, prefer to come to Croatia without a tour package, rent a car, and travel around the country, stopping in cities they like. True, this will definitely be more expensive than buying an all-inclusive tour. In Poreč, for example, renting a car costs $40 to $100 per day, a motor scooter $20 to $50 per day, and a bicycle about $3 per hour. At the same time, Croatia really has something to see. Various parts of it have many times been territories of other states, so they have preserved imprints of different cultures.
Among modern attractions, the first to note are the nature reserves. The most famous Croatian reserve is the Plitvice Lakes, which form dozens of stunningly beautiful waterfalls. True, there were so many tourists there that I never managed to feel like I was in a reserve. The cost of sightseeing excursions to cities and reserves from Poreč ranges from $20 to $90 per person.
Among Croatia's other attractions is Hum, the smallest town in the world. Seventeen people live in Hum. As the smallest, Hum is a twin city of the largest city in the world, Beijing. The town has a hotel, post office, school, administration, a mayor elected annually, and many other indispensable urban attributes.
Another unusual town, Grožnjan, is located on a mountaintop. You can walk around it in a couple of minutes. Grožnjan is inhabited by 66 people, but during the day you don't see anyone on its streets: almost all residents commute to other cities for work. However, artists and musicians come to Grožnjan to work and study. Almost every house has a gallery where you can buy paintings, dolls, and various cute handmade trinkets for quite real money. Grožnjan also has a music school, so from early morning live music plays and spreads throughout the town.
It turned out that Croatia is the center of world naturism. Naturism was officially recognized here back in the 60s of the last century, and now hordes of nudists from various countries flock to Croatia every year. There are even special hotels for them here, where only staff may wear clothes. Small nudist beaches are found in almost every resort area. For some reason, they are especially popular with retirees. Many nudists stay in campsites, of which there are several dozen along the Croatian coast, and the Solaris campsite in Lanterna even holds an annual carnival.
In Croatia, the idea of a healthy lifestyle is very popular, and many vacationers catch it. In Porec, tourists, despite the heat, run, cycle, play volleyball and tennis almost around the clock. Buying cigarettes there is almost impossible, and beer is sold only in shops, cafes and restaurants. In bars it costs from $1.5 to $2.5 per mug. Prices for soft drinks in bars and restaurants are similar, while in shops juices and sodas are sometimes twice as cheap. Prices for vodka and other strong alcoholic drinks in restaurant menus are usually indicated (attention!) per 30 grams (from $3). The traditional drinks of Croatia are moonshine called rakia and plum brandy ("slivovitz"), but in my opinion, only tourists drink them, and only as a taste. Personally, the biggest impression on me was made by 40-degree "biska", similar to both whiskey and cognac (a bottle costs from $10).
Croatian cuisine overall is characterized more by heartiness than refinement. Traditional dishes: minestra - a vegetable puree soup with dried meat (about $3), spit-roasted suckling pig or lamb (portion - $5-10), various meat rolls and simply prepared seafood. Portions in restaurants and often in cafes are very large, so there is no way to eat a full meal. In Istria, thanks to Italian influence, they make good pizza (from $5).
In addition, in the area of the town of Motovun in Istria grow the most expensive and delicious mushrooms in the world - truffles. Truffles are sold whole in glass jars at a price of about $35 per 100 grams of black truffles and about $200 per 100 grams of white truffles, which is somewhat cheaper than, for example, in France. Truffles are not eaten raw, so right in the shop they offer recipes for their preparation, as well as more affordable truffle pastes, ground with porcini mushrooms, olives or champignons (about $8 per 100 grams). You can taste various combinations in a specialized truffle shop completely free of charge.
Prices for non-edible souvenirs in Croatia start from $10. They are not particularly special, and in my opinion, the only thing worth mentioning is the very beautiful multi-layered colorful candles with intricate patterns, which are made by hand. The smallest ones cost $6, the largest - about $20.
By the way, Croatian money is called kuna. For our good old $1 you get about 6.4 kuna.