You can tell a lot about a place by one simple test. When crossing the street, do the drivers stop or do they accelerate?
In Croatia, they stop. I discovered this in Split, one of the country’s major cities and a huge place for tourists. In some places, you take your chances and try and use crosswalks as often a possible, but not even that guarantees safe passage across the street. Yet in Spit, they stop. Even the cab drivers.
That tells you all you need to know about the people of Croatia. They want to welcome you rather than flatten you.
The country reminds me of another Mediterranean destination that I love, Greece and especially the Greek Islands. Tho I daresay even there, crossing the street with people on mopeds zipping by and narrow roads that are more like alleys in the United States, you better have your wits about you.
Croatia has beauty in abundance, too. It’s natural treasure is its scenery. Mountain ranges can be seen from the sea. The coastline is stop-moving-for-a-moment beautiful. Yet any place can have beauty and Croatia manages to blend this with an caring attitude.
It is also not all that expensive. If you look, you can find accommodations for around 100 Euros a night in the cities all the way up to extremely comfortable hotels– in Split, the Birgg Boutique Hotel is one such example of the latter. Getting a good meal for 15-20 Euros is common.
Beers are cheap, at least by American standards. They are as little a 2 Euros for a large can that you can get from a convenience store and walk around with, tho just around 6 Euros in the bars and pubs.
This is my kind of place!