The Best Kept Secret in Europe

Before last weekend, I only knew a few things about Croatia:
1. It used to be part of Yugoslavia
2. It is the home of NBA players, such as Dino Radja and Toni Kukoc
3. It is not not in the EU
4. There was recently a war...

So, none of these reasons seem all that compelling to venture there, but let me tell you, if you want a cheap, beautiful, relaxing and less-American European vacation, you NEED to go to Croatia.  And you should probably go NOW because a lot of what makes the country great could change if they join the EU (which may happen this year or next).

Quick, visit now while it's still cheap!

A little history on this trip...you may recall we were suppose to go to Sweden to run the Stockholm Marathon.  Unfortunately, after B's horrific knee injury this winter, his surgery was a week before the marathon.  Certainly, he was not running, but it would have been nearly impossible for us to get on a plane with him one-week post surgery, so we cancelled those plans and decided to try for a trip that would require no flying and minimal walking.

No running, no swimming....

We stumbled on the island resort town of Baska (pronounced Baaash-ka) on the island of Krk (no idea how that is pronounced) in Croatia, a short 4 hour (and probably less if someone other than me is driving) ride.  Turns out this town is a hot spot for European tourists, especially from Austria and Germany.  The town is beautiful and had some of the strangest beach landscapes I've ever seen...

So strange, but beautiful

We had a lovely room right on the water and could hear the waves crashing on the pebble beach.  Since we were limited in the exploring we could do, I have no pictures of historical sites, churches or statues.  We did lazy vacation things....read books, got massages, attempted to walk by the beach (not so easy on crutches).

The view from the hotel room

Our one big outing ended up being an epic fail.  We signed up for the Sea Explorer Cruise, which was suppose be a three hour tour (cue the music) around the Baska harbor, out to an island where we fed birds and then into the aquarium below the boat where we watched a diver through glass windows.

Excited for the boat cruise...

Unfortunately, after only about twenty minutes, the slight ocean breeze picked up and caused waves to come crashing over the boat, soaking everyone on board.  The boat had to turn around and cancel the tour...and at least 50% of the people on board looked like they had jumped in the Adriatic for a swim, myself included.

Totally soaked!

Baska has become our new favorite place for a few reasons:


*Croatia is cheap.  They are still on the Kuna and 1 Kuna= 7Euro = About $5.  We ate lunch on the beach one day (Pizza, salad, beer, wine) for $20.  We had drinks while watching the Barcelona v. Manchester United game for another $20.  And this was a beach resort!  The only downside of the money situation was that a 10 Kuna bill was practically worthless and you needed a LOT of bills!  We made some local friends who asked us about America.  When we told them that a pivo (beer) could be about 45 Kuna in a city like Boston or New York, they were horrified.  Some pivo in Croatia was 10 Kuna (1.50 Euro!).

*There aren't many Americans.  Almost everybody spoke first to us in German, as they do not get very many American tourists.  We didn't even see anybody all weekend that remotely resembled an American.  This was a nice change from very many of the places in Europe where some foolish/loud/obnoxious/annoying Americans have given us a bad name. In Baska, it's a novelty and they assume you are something else because what would an American be doing on this remote island?

*You get your passport stamped if you drive there!  With a little picture of a car!

*Croatians (or Croats? not sure) speak English.  They also speak their native language, Italian, German and anything else.  It's pretty impressive.  Our waiter one evening, Ivan, was a former Croatian soldier who spoke four languages and worked as a bartender.  He asked us where we were from because we were speaking English and he knew we were not British or Australian.  We talked to Ivan for a while about his country and he asked about ours.  He had a decent understanding of the geography (except when he asked if Mexico was under Florida and if we could drive to Hawaii) and knew many of the NBA teams and cities.  When we asked him if he had been to America, he said no and that he had no friends to visit there.  He also said he was afraid that if he went to America, he would lose an organ because it is a dangerous place.  And this is from a man in a country at war in the last few decades....

So you should go to Croatia.  Namely, Baska.  You won't regret it.