Croatia Musing

I never thought about going to Croatia. Ever. About 3 months ago when life handed us lemons, we decided to make lemonade. We would go on an adventure. Sell the big, old house, downsize and go abroad to Europe for the winter. We would be ‘off-season’ in Europe – thus cheaper and more deals on AirBnb. Croatia always popped up on the ’10 most affordable places to visit in Europe’ and we were intrigued. Kenny loved the idea of biking in Croatia as seemingly all ‘the cool kids’ did it.

I did some more digging and found an excellent deal for September in Croatia. Our house sold in a flash, so we left in early August for Europe. We first hit Copenhagen, Denmark for 2 weeks. Besides the AirBnb bed being hard and too small, Copenhagen was excellent. Then we went onto Croatia.

We found ourselves in a small village on the side of a mountain called Labin. In the old town section. There are four, sometimes five restaurants open in the evening. Only one spot is open for breakfast with a very limited menu. Frankly, all the menus are limited in Labin – pizza, pasta, salad, burgers or pork ribs. An occasional steak can be found too.

Families live here. Day tourists from Italy, Germany and Austria come in to walk the winding, Roman cobblestone alleyways and bike on the surrounding countryside. There are not a lot of Americans. The old town is weary. Crumbling buildings abut ‘remodeled’ tourist spots. The residents are not particularly ‘friendly’ as I believe the residents are burnt out at the end of the season and want their comfortable spots back. The tourist season ends September 30th.

The Adriatic Sea is gorgeous. The water is clean and sparkling. The beaches are rocky, not sandy. One must wear water shoes to play in the sea. We have a car thus we’ve been able to travel to other Croatian ports and Venice.

The energy of the Labin is heavy and tired. Kenny noted the other day, ‘have you heard anyone laughing on the town square?’ We haven’t heard a lot of laughter. Perhaps it is more the personality of Croatians to be reserved? Perhaps laughter is saved for behind closed doors? Maybe the coziness of Copenhagen spoiled us for a reserved village in Croatia? I don’t know.

We’ve had this apartment in Labin for 3 weeks and I am ready to runaway. A ‘deal’ isn’t always ideal I am reminded. We are grateful for this experience and I have zero interest in another Slavic country. I’m too American – I like friendly. I like laughter. I like more options. Tick-tock. Eight days to next stop – Colmar, France!