CROATIA

                                           CROATIA
    The Balkans are an interesting part of the world.  My first trip included Slovenia and Croatia and there are several past post re: Slovenia where we had an absolutely fantastic time. We flew into Vienna and knowing I was going to buy my stash of Mozart balls I packed a small broken-down carton in the bottom of my suitcase. I made large address labels and tucked them with a supply of packing tape wound around a medicine bottle into my suitcase. I was after the chocolate, not any fancy packaging so I bought many plastic sacks of my favorite chocolate.      When we arrived in Ljubljana I put the box together, emptied the loose balls into it, taped it shut, labeled it and headed to the post office across the street from the hotel. With only minor language problems I sent my package home where they awaited my return. A really good move on my part!

      While in Slovenia we had a chance to sample some of their home brew which so many countries make. This was made from pears. And as usual a wee taste was enough for me!

      Croatia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Montenegro, Slovenia and Serbia, central Europe’s multi-cultural lands of unsurpassed beauty, were united after World War I as Yugoslavia.  These diverse regions at the crossroads of eastern and western cultures have co-existed for centuries in the heart of the Balkans.

     Croatia joined the Hungarian royal house in 1102.  When the dynasty ended in 1526 the Habsburg ruler of Austria was elected king and all Croatia, Slovenia, and Hungry were bound together. In the early 1990s Yugoslavia endured a civil war until the countries declared independence. When Slovenia seceded from Yugoslavia in 1990 Serbia tried to get Croatia to join them against their neighbor. When Croatia continually refused Serbia unleashed all its fury onto Croatia and in December 1991 Dubrovnik was in flames. Over 350 shells from Serbia and Montenegrin forces fell on hundreds of people. The world was shocked and in spite of protests from the European Union and UNESCO the fighting continued until spring.

      With restoration complete Dubrovnik has recovered and is a breathtakingly beautiful city. Streets are paved in marble, walls are rebuilt and churches, palaces, and monasteries restored. Today people live in harmony with three religions, Catholic, Orthodox, and Islam within nine ethnicities that include Croat, Serb, Slovene, Montenegrin, Albanian, Greek, Hungarian, Austrian and Italian. There are four alphabets: Latin, Greek, Cyrillic, and Arabic and a half dozen languages. Croatian, Italian, German, Greek, Albanian, Hungarian, with some Turkish, Arabic and Russian are spoken.  Slovenia and Croatia have different ethnicities and language, but share religion and writing. These two counties have always been the most cosmopolitan and cultural parts of the former Yugoslavia and are now self-governing republics for the first time in 1000 years.

      On the Dalmatian Coast sailors have three names for wind: Maestral, Bura, and Scirroco. A Maestral wind is a warm northwest wind that billows the sails. A gusty wind from the mountains to the northeast brings a Bura wind and it’s all hands on deck. A Scirroco is only a stirring breeze from the Sahara and it’s time to turn on the engines. Knowing the difference matters to thousands of fishermen who’ve plied the waters since the sixth century. For work, leisure and defense the sea has always been the heart of Croatia.

    Our historic hotel in Opatija, built 1903-1906 accommodated guests from aristocracy and

Historic Bristol Hotel

high finance. Renovated in accordance with the strictest requirements of a historical building it reopened in June of 2005. The hotel remains popular among guests who enjoy historical flair. The stucco façade is adorned with small wrought-iron balconies.

     A city of 12,500, Opatija was the fashionable sea resort of the Austro-Hungarian empire until WW I. The first hotel appeared in 1884 and many old hotels remain. The shady waterfront promenade stretches 12K (7 miles) along the Gulf of Kvarner.

      Located in an area known as the Kvarner Riviera, the pleasant weather and stunning location, with views overlooking the islands of Krk and Cres in the Kvarner Gulf, make it a popular vacation spot.   In the mid 19^th century a wealthy foreigner constructed the Italian-style Villa Angiolina. In the following years lush gardens were planted and flourished as the area became an elite resort.

    The city, with its Mediterranean climate and palm trees, is known as a health resort. The city is very hilly with narrow winding paved streets.

    One evening we walked along Opatija’s lovely waterfront promenade. We also walked the park-like grounds of the Angeolina estate to the seaside restaurant Bebana.

More Dublin Sites

     National Gallery, established in 1854, but was not built until ten years later. The gallery houses 3000 pieces of the national collection of Irish and European paintings. The old Victorian building just keeps going from one gallery to another. In fact we did get a bit lost and had to ask a guard to show us the way out! There was a sold our concert that evening in the gallery, but we heard a good part of it as we wandered around looking at paintings. We also stopped for a snack in the gallery café.

Next door is the Natural History Museum, referred to by locals as ‘the place of dead animals’. Housed in another Victorian building, all the specimens are displayed in lovely old Victorian cabinets and showcases. The museum has a huge collection covering  four floors. A graceful staircase leading from both sides of the building meets at a middle landing on the second floor.

      Dublin Castle represents 700 years of British rule and now is the symbol of Irish statehood and is the heart of historic Dublin. More a palace than a castle, it stands on a strategic site at the juncture of the River Liffey and its tributary the Poddle, where the original fortification may have been an early Gaelic Fort. Later a Viking fortress stood on the site. The Drawing Room in the Bermingham Tower dates back to 1411 and was rebuilt in 1777. The Record Tower is the earliest of several towers and is the largest remaining relic of the original Norman structure. The clock tower now houses a library. The south range houses the magnificent State Apartments, which were built as residential quarters of the vice regal court. Now they are the venue for presidential inaugurations, state functions and entertaining  heads of state.

    O’Connell Street, previously known as Sackville Street, is the most famous thoroughfare in Dublin. The 150-foot wide street changed its name in 1924. After the devastating 1916 Easter Uprising. The street had to be almost entirely rebuilt which took until the end of the 1920s. At the end of the street there is a large monument dedicated to Daniel O'Connell erected in 1854. Seated winged figures represent courage, eloquence, fidelity and patriotism. The four ancient provinces are represented by their coat of arms. O’Connell is wearing a glove on one hand, as he often did in real life as a self imposed penance for shooting a man in a duel. This is a busy street with lots of traffic and pedestrians. The focal point was the Nelson pillar that was destroyed in 1966.

     One morning we started out for our most distant point which was City Hall where there is an interesting multimedia display of city history. In 1867 there was a proposal to move a marble statue of O’Connell inside the building as it was not considered to be weather proof. It still stands in the refurbished rotunda. In the center of the marble rotunda floor is a 1898 mosaic of the coat of arms. The ceiling is beautiful. In 1915-19 frescos were added to the ceiling. Repairs due to dry rot were made to the building in 1926 and a wonderful restoration was done in 1998. Outside, the front façade still shows some bullet davits from the civil war.

      One afternoon we rode the bus to the far side of the city to Phoenix Park to visit the zoo. Covering 1760 acres, the park is the largest enclosed public park in Europe. Livestock graze the pasturelands and deer roam the wooded area. The Presidential Residence is on the park grounds. Ashtown Castle sits next to the visitor center. Dry rot demolished the castle and now it is a fully restored modern house. Easily viewed from the main street is the large white cross commemorating the pope’s visit in 1979. A large obelisk marks Napoleon’s defeat by Wellington.

     The Dublin Zoo, three kilometers from the city center, was established. in 1830. It is the world’s 4^th oldest public zoo. Set in 60 acres of attractive and colorful gardens within Phoenix Park, the zoo has a large collection of exotic animals. The lion used in the MGM logo before each picture was born at the Dublin zoo. We wandered all over the zoo. It was not the best zoo we’ve ever visited, but it was a good one. The Amur tigers from Russia and China were huge beautiful animals.