Peaches and I went on vacation last week to Croatia. Yes, Croatia was part of the Balkan War about a decade ago. And yes, it was wonderful. It is a beautiful country that possesses one of the last remaining unspoilt sections of Mediterranean coastline. We had a blast.
That being said, however, there were a few subtle reminders that we were on a trip to former Soviet Bloc Europe.
For instance, as we got in line at the airport in London a ruddy lumberjackish man approached with his bags. ‘Is Rijeka.’ He leered at me.
It took me a moment to realize that his statement needed a question mark. ‘Oh. Yeah, Rijeka. This is the line for the flight to Rijeka.’ I responded.
‘Good.’
When we became the next ones to be served, we stopped at the STOP HERE mark on the floor.
‘Go!’ He pointed to the people standing in front of us at the counter.
‘No, I think it’s okay.’
‘Why.’
‘Well, because I know we’re next after those people right there and if someone tries to cut in front of us, I’ll say something.’
He tilted his head and I could see the Eastern Bloc crank turning. I was grateful that we were not in South Asia where they don’t even form lines. They just horde the desk in the shape of a large semicircle. Civilization… gotta love it.
The hotel we stayed at was wonderful. I would certainly recommend it. It was 2004 redo by an Austrian company of an 1880s Adriatic Villa. We had a large 45 square meter sea-view room with a separate seating area. Five-star bathroom with both bath and shower and a separate water closet. Balcony overlooking the sea. Generally a great physical set up although there were few items for the hyper-critical hotel professional to wail on.
The hotel was well constructed using expensive materials, but missed the mark on décor by about 10 years. In the lobby everything felt brand spankin’ new and had been well maintained over the past two years. But I was disappointed with the color scheme. The tiles were good quality but of a dated look (too many pastels). It felt a bit ‘1992’. And either there is a ridiculous infatuation with Austro-Hungarian heyday when Opatija was THE holiday area for the Habsburg era elite, or a local artist is an excellent promoter of his work. I know this because in a couple of hotels (one of which was ours) there were blue and white papier mâché people in Habsburg period dress. Someone should accidentally knock them over.
In our five-star bathroom with quality marble-looking vanity, someone had installed a lightweight cheap plastic insert for the separate corner shower. It unnecessarily cheapened the whole feel of an otherwise luxury bath.
The hotel staff were wonderful at rectifying earlier mistakes. Like having at least implied, if not outright confirmed via email that there was broadband Internet in our room. There was not.
I asked to speak with the general manager and explained that this had been one of our key criteria for any vacation hotel because Peaches had never before spent a single night away from Señor Frog since his birth. Persuading Peaches to take this holiday with me required abundant assurance that we would videoconference daily with him and his grandparents. The hotel general manager read my printout of my correspondence with her salesperson about this very item. After looking at it very carefully she made a phone call and had broadband internet access installed in our room! What a hero. THAT doesn't happen everyday in the hotel world. Peaches and I used SightSpeed every day to see our growing little boy, Señor Frog. Good thing, too, given that he really took to walking while we were away. We didn’t have to feel too guilty about being apart from him as he took this important step.
The food was great. However, our breakfast table looked different from the rest with a big jar of JIFF peanut butter. Señor Frog’s severe nut allergy prevents us from having any nut products in the house. I made sure that peanut butter was as much a part of our vacation as sleep. We went through two jars. Ugly Americans. I don’t care.
All in all, I have to say that I am a huge fan of Croatia, and I now understand why so much European capital is trying to find ways to invest in Croatian tourism. Opatija was wonderful. Next time we look forward to trying something further south near Dubrovnik, and I may even venture further south than Croatia into Montenegro.
