Amor Za Hrvatsku!
Author: Brandon (Dad)
We all knew this day would come. It's our last full day in Croatia and while we are excited for the next leg of our journey, we're all sad to bid farewell to this special place. We're just lounging around a bit this morning, so I thought I'd take a couple minutes to share some anecdotes from the last few days...
While the World Cup final didn't go the way we hoped, it was still an incredible ride. Amazing to see the support and pride that has followed this group around. Following the semifinal win in England, there was an enthusiastic attempt to buy plane tickets to Moscow for the final. Of course, we had the same idea as many, many Croatians and the sites were crashing.
My cousin Ivan, the one who had been in Russia earlier, kept whispering something to me throughout the England the game. "You, me, we go (indecipherable)". I thought he meant, after we win, we'll go out and celebrate. No. Turns out, he was saying, "You, me, we go to Russia". Oh, well, it wasn't meant to be for me, though Ivan did end up going. We also spent the rest of the night - and part of the next morning - celebrating the semifinal win at one of the only caffe bars in Čilipi.
After the final, I had an interesting conversation with my cousin Mato. His English isn't good and my Croatian is nearly non-existent, but he mentioned that, if we were going to lose, he was happy it was to France, not England. I have picked up a resentment towards English people from just about every Croatian. Funny, because Cavtat is absolutely crawling with English people now. Amazing how the tourist season seemed to switch from June to July. So many Americans and Brits now. Like I said earlier, it's easy to spot an American... well, it's pretty easy to spot a Brit as well.
Anyways, I probed him a bit about why he, and many Croats I talk to, dislike the English. He says "Bleiburg". Took me a minute to figure out what he was saying. Initially Tiffany thought he was saying "blavor", the legless lizard that lurks on running trails. Turns out, Bleiburg was a war atrocity from the final days of World War II. If you want, you can read up on it here. It's always impressive to me how aware Croatians are of history. I've always been appalled at the lack of knowledge young Americans have for history (or geography for that matter). It's brought in to more focus when you're over here.
As we've mentioned, we needed to move out of the house in Čilipi on Friday and, with the team in the final, we knew we couldn't leave the area. A move to Cavtat made sense... seems like we spent most of our time in Cavtat, anyways. I found a nice little spot on AirBNB and after talking to the host, it made sense for us rent a little bigger spot she knew of, right nearby.
I noticed the name of the host (of the small place), Anita Mulja, and it turns out, she is the wife of one of my cousins. (Mary: She is Duro Mulja's wife; nephew of Niko, son of Mato Mulja). Small world over here.
The owner of the apartment we are staying at is a very interesting guy, too. Mislav Burdelez owns a restaurant on the main drag in Cavtat (Galija) and the apartment is just steps from the water. I told him my name and he says, "Yes, Bronzan, I know them. I have Bronzans in my family." Again, small world.
I recently got the rest of our trip figured out. We fly back to the States on August 7th, so we need to make it back to London-Gatwick by then. I think I have an interesting itinerary that will make for an outstanding conclusion to this summer of travel.
It is inevitable that, from time to time, our thoughts will drift to life back in the U.S., but I can safely say that neither Tiffany or I looking forward to it quite yet. We are trying to savor every moment of this experience.
Next stop: Ljubljana, Slovenia! On Wednesday, we'll take a one hour flight from the Dubrovnik airport for a four-day stay in the Slovenian capital.
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| "Love For Croatia" |
We all knew this day would come. It's our last full day in Croatia and while we are excited for the next leg of our journey, we're all sad to bid farewell to this special place. We're just lounging around a bit this morning, so I thought I'd take a couple minutes to share some anecdotes from the last few days...
While the World Cup final didn't go the way we hoped, it was still an incredible ride. Amazing to see the support and pride that has followed this group around. Following the semifinal win in England, there was an enthusiastic attempt to buy plane tickets to Moscow for the final. Of course, we had the same idea as many, many Croatians and the sites were crashing.
My cousin Ivan, the one who had been in Russia earlier, kept whispering something to me throughout the England the game. "You, me, we go (indecipherable)". I thought he meant, after we win, we'll go out and celebrate. No. Turns out, he was saying, "You, me, we go to Russia". Oh, well, it wasn't meant to be for me, though Ivan did end up going. We also spent the rest of the night - and part of the next morning - celebrating the semifinal win at one of the only caffe bars in Čilipi.
After the final, I had an interesting conversation with my cousin Mato. His English isn't good and my Croatian is nearly non-existent, but he mentioned that, if we were going to lose, he was happy it was to France, not England. I have picked up a resentment towards English people from just about every Croatian. Funny, because Cavtat is absolutely crawling with English people now. Amazing how the tourist season seemed to switch from June to July. So many Americans and Brits now. Like I said earlier, it's easy to spot an American... well, it's pretty easy to spot a Brit as well.
Anyways, I probed him a bit about why he, and many Croats I talk to, dislike the English. He says "Bleiburg". Took me a minute to figure out what he was saying. Initially Tiffany thought he was saying "blavor", the legless lizard that lurks on running trails. Turns out, Bleiburg was a war atrocity from the final days of World War II. If you want, you can read up on it here. It's always impressive to me how aware Croatians are of history. I've always been appalled at the lack of knowledge young Americans have for history (or geography for that matter). It's brought in to more focus when you're over here.
As we've mentioned, we needed to move out of the house in Čilipi on Friday and, with the team in the final, we knew we couldn't leave the area. A move to Cavtat made sense... seems like we spent most of our time in Cavtat, anyways. I found a nice little spot on AirBNB and after talking to the host, it made sense for us rent a little bigger spot she knew of, right nearby.
I noticed the name of the host (of the small place), Anita Mulja, and it turns out, she is the wife of one of my cousins. (Mary: She is Duro Mulja's wife; nephew of Niko, son of Mato Mulja). Small world over here.
The owner of the apartment we are staying at is a very interesting guy, too. Mislav Burdelez owns a restaurant on the main drag in Cavtat (Galija) and the apartment is just steps from the water. I told him my name and he says, "Yes, Bronzan, I know them. I have Bronzans in my family." Again, small world.
I recently got the rest of our trip figured out. We fly back to the States on August 7th, so we need to make it back to London-Gatwick by then. I think I have an interesting itinerary that will make for an outstanding conclusion to this summer of travel.
It is inevitable that, from time to time, our thoughts will drift to life back in the U.S., but I can safely say that neither Tiffany or I looking forward to it quite yet. We are trying to savor every moment of this experience.
Next stop: Ljubljana, Slovenia! On Wednesday, we'll take a one hour flight from the Dubrovnik airport for a four-day stay in the Slovenian capital.
 |
| Ljubljana, Slovenia |
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