Last morning in Trogir, back to Zagreb, then Home!

I’m sitting on the balcony watching the day arrive. It was very quiet aside from morning birds until a few minutes ago when the church bells rang and a small boat began puttering its way across the water. I love hearing the robust voices of the men on the boat even from up here on the hill. 

While this is not my ideal place to enjoy the sea it is pleasant nonetheless, especially up here on our perch. I like seeing the water, boats, orange roofs, and surrounding hills (the big bare hills behind Trogir are dotted with wind turbines, a site that continues to trigger mixed feelings in me).

This area is a nice place to vacation if you are well-off and like swimming in the sea, but don’t prefer more natural settings. It’s pretty in a developed way, and the beaches and water are clean and convenient. It’s a good place for active families. But I prefer less developed places and as I wrote yesterday, the other side of the island appeals to me more. The only reason I didn’t book a room over there was I was not sure if the market and restaurants over that way are still open. When we took our walk yesterday it appeared the market is still open but I don’t think the restaurants are. In any case, given that we are where we are the apartment was a good and comfortable choice (despite having to pay an unexpected deposit). We like the exercise required to walk up the steep hill any time we go down for dinner or to the market. Somebody downstairs has been hacking (coughing) terribly during our stay. We think it is our host.

I forgot to mention a brief encounter we had with an older woman a couple days ago. We were walking up the hill behind a very tanned woman in a bathing suit. We assumed she was a tourist, probably German (Germans are by far the most dominant tourists here), but when I passed her I heard her talking to herself in Croatian. She had a big mole on her face with a long hair growing out of it and had a worn and eccentric look. She came close to me and handed me a small orange and green citrus fruit, I think a kumquat, and asked in broken English if I knew what it was. I knew I’d seen these before, and have eaten them, but couldn’t remember what it was. She said they are good vitamins, more vitamin C than oranges. When Jim spoke to her in Serbian (Croatian) she lit up and called him ‘simpatico’. We would love to know more about this woman who seemed out of place here, but perhaps has lived here since before  the area was commercialized.

When we travel over here I come back again and again to the issues surrounding development and its impact on local communities. I am not anti-development. I see and understand that there are or can be benefits to many kinds of development, and that development can bring many benefits to many people. I’m in favor of improving roads, bringing waste management options to places where people previously dumped their trash down hillsides or next to the road. I’m all for improving water systems that bring safe water to communities where the water sources have been ruined (due to mining, large scale farming, other development, or lack of waste treatment). I’m totally for developing waste treatment facilities. I’m for community centers, cultural centers, libraries and places for people to walk, gather and congregate. I’m for developing connections and infrastructure that help people get their meats and produce distributed (such as we read has occurred in and around Trebinje). I’m for aid that helps people grow and raise clean food. I’m for freedom for people to upgrade their homes so they can rent out rooms to travelers as a much needed source of income. I’m for supporting and encouraging small businesses that are more than just trinket or ice cream shops that cater to tourists and development that preserves and protects natural resources, lands and historic sites that can bring income to poor areas. But I prefer that all development be done thoughtfully and with long term costs and consequences in mind. And I do see many of these things done here in thoughtful ways. But I see much more development that has ruined places, not only in my opinion but in the opinion of locals.

I’m always in a quandary between wanting to support freedom, and wanting to support and care for natural resources and cultural richness and wisdom. I see the limiting downsides of strict rules, codes and regulations, but I also see the destruction that can happen when regulations are lacking or not heeded. There are no easy answers and I am acutely aware of this when we travel here, especially when I compare places that are poor and less developed with places like Trogir here in Croatia where much of the soul has been sucked out of community. Is life better here for the locals than it was 50 years ago when community was strong? Is working for 5-6 months a year without a break serving foreign tourists better than working hard raising crops and tending animals, or working in a factory for a decent wage such as many people did during the Yugoslavia era. Each person has their own answer of course. We talked with our host here who has 3 daughters. Six years ago they went into debt to build the house we stayed in on the family property where she grew up. The building has 3 nice apartments that they rent to tourists, plus a tiny studio where she lives in peak season so they can rent out their own unit. I have no idea where the daughters live during peak season. In any case she said that her husband works as a policeman and only makes 700 euros a month. This is what prompted them to build apartments. But they are exhausted from working every day and managing guests who are sometimes difficult. She said they had 1000 guests this season. Because they have debts, and because prices have increased so dramatically for food and everything in the past 2 years she feels they must rent their rooms as much as possible and even still don’t have much money. She did not directly say so but our impression was that their lives were better before converting their house to rental units. She shrugged and said, ‘what can you do?’ And went on to say at least they have their health and live in a beautiful place.

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We left Trogir at 10 and aimed for Zagreb knowing that rain was predicted. Indeed it arrived right on schedule at 11. We saw a huge almost black wall of clouds approaching. The rain hit hard, so fast and thick that even with our wipers at full speed we could not see, so we pulled over onto the shoulder (twice) and waited a good 15-20 minutes the second time for visibility to improve. It rained the rest of the drive but luckily just ‘regular’ rain. The drive is beautiful regardless of the weather, first past a long series of various broad steep rocky mountains, then, once through the tunnel that separates two very different ecosystems, the landscape changes to rolling high forested hills and picturesque small villages.

We made it to Apartment Angelus, on the southeast end of Zagreb, the same place we had stayed when we arrived. We chose to stay there again because it is less than 15 minutes to the airport, is very clean and well-equipped, and has a specific parking spot in the parking garage. The only thing I dislike about the place (besides being a bit too stinky of fabric softener) is that check in and check out are contactless so we never got to meet the host.

Early Sunday evening we tried to go to the yummy restaurant we went to our first night in Zagreb six weeks ago but discovered that because it was Sunday it closed early. Many restaurants close early on Sundays and more are not open at all. We found a small place nearby, maybe a chain, that served pan-Asian food, 95% of which is ordered for take out and picked up by a delivery service (called Wolt). The food was actually excellent and fresh and a welcome change of pace from the more standard Balkan fare. As we were leaving Jim talked with the young guy at the counter who spent most of his time placing food in bags for the delivery guys. Jim said something like, you sure are busy but you have no people to see or talk to. The guy, part in jest and part in resignation said, ‘yes, this is the future thanks to capitalism’.

Monday morning we spent time sorting through our stuff, discarding some things, and preparing a bag of usable items to give to Morana, and trying to see if we could fit all the gifts and bottles of rakija we’d been given in the suitcase we had brought over all the gifts in.

We were surprised by how cold it was in Zagreb when we went out to walk to breakfast. The day before the temperature in Trogir had been in the mid 70’s when we left and went into the 40’s in the mountains on our drive and was only in the low 50’s when we arrived in Zagreb. We ate at the same (good) chain bakery (Pek Pan) where we had eaten our first morning in Zagreb. Even though it’s a local chain they make all their own breads and pastries. High prices have not reached that shop yet. For 11 euros we had two good omelettes and 4 pastries. I spent another 2 for fresh squeezed orange juice.

From there we walked another twenty minutes to a coffee shop to meet Zora and her friend Marija (visiting from Bosnia). On our way we happened to pass a hardware store and went in and bought duct tape for our third suitcase which had a tear by the zipper. We weren’t sure if the tape would help but figured it was worth a try (and the suitcase traveled fine with no problems on our return trip).

As often happens when we meet locals, Zora and Marija had dressed up nicely to go out, even ‘just’ for coffee. Jim and I were a little self conscious in our very casual travel clothes but the two women didn’t mind at all. They wanted to hear about where all we had visited and we shared a few highlights with them. They nodded in agreement about the differences in culture between Croatia and the other nearby countries, and said when they were young people in Croatia were more like they are in their neighboring countries than they are now. They also agreed that the shift to the Euro has been disastrous for the country. Prices are extremely high and wages have not risen at all. People were more ‘human’ with each other in the past. 

We walked home then met with Morana and her dog Lidija. Morana drove us to the well used park by the river where one can walk for miles on either side of the river. Lidija loves running freely and playing with other dogs she encounters. Although the sun came out at times it was much chillier than any previous day during our travels. My nose was starting to get stuffy again after finally clearing up (mostly) just a few days before. I was hoping it was just irritated from the wind and change in temperature.

Morana dropped us back at our apartment and we then headed for the restaurant where we ate our first night in Zagreb, Batak Grill. It’s a small local chain but the food is excellent. It’s the only place we’ve encountered chicken čevapi which we love. We had a couple orders of rakija and I ordered a dessert (tiramisu). Once back at our place we did our final packing and got in bed early, hoping to sleep before our 3:30 wake up time. Sadly my cold got worse and I had to blow my nose every five minutes all night long. I did not sleep a wink and between being tired and sick I felt pretty awful. But we made it to the airport, dropped off our rental car and were delighted that, like last year, we did not get charged (the usual $100) for checking an extra bag. The clerk said, ‘it’s good for you and it’s good for us. Check as many bags as you want.’

The first flight, 2 hours to Amsterdam, wasn’t full and wasn’t too bad, except when the plane started to descend my right ear hurt considerably. After we landed my hearing in that ear was dampened but normalized (more or less) before our next flight. Meanwhile I continued to blow my nose a lot. When we checked in at the gate Jim and I both got flagged for special scrutiny. This happened last year as well. 

Our next flight, 10 hours, was miserable for me, my worst flight ever. First of all, our legroom was less than on our outbound flight 6 weeks ago, and it had the worst head rests ever, the kind that force your neck forward in a unnatural way. I hate those even when I’m feeling good. Second, the plane was full. But worst of all I continued feeling increasingly sick. It was torturous sitting in that tiny space, in a seat that hurt my neck, while needing to blow my nose literally every 2-4 minutes for the entire flight. Along the way I developed a fever. I don’t know what my temp was but I was very hot and my face red. My eyes burned and watered. There was no way I could read or watch the progress of our flight on the screen in front of me. Adding to my discomfort and sense of being trapped was that it is now standard for airlines to ask people to keep their window shades down in respect for people who want to sleep or watch movies. I hate this. One of the few delights of flying is being able to look out the window. Instead the cabin was dim, lit mostly by the harsh glow of the screens on almost everyone’s seat backs. Ugh!  Time inched by slower than usual. I’d check my watch thinking maybe 15 minutes had passed and instead I’d see only 3-4 minutes had elapsed since I last checked. 

But we did finally land in Seattle, on time. The Passport control line wasn’t too long and the guy who checked us through was friendly. Cedar picked us up and we made it home by about 1:15. I was in bed shortly after 5, soooo grateful to be off that plane and home in my familiar bed. 

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It’s Thursday now and I’m feeling a little better than I did the past few days, not great, but better. I’m looking forward to feeling healthy and settling in here for winter. I’m also excited about resuming my daily walks in our nearby park, checking in on the status of the beaver dams, and eagerly watching for the return of the salmon.

I plan to assemble a book about the trip like I’ve done in past years, and I want to get back to working on my book of Balkan inspired short stories. I don’t know if we will be able to travel to the Balkans again. We will if we can but if not that’s ok too. I am immensely grateful for all the trips we’ve made, people we’ve met, and places we’ve seen. I feel like I’ve been in a 6 week fabulous dream.

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One last thing I kept meaning to mention in past weeks-

Whenever possible I bring a pillow with me when we travel. This year I brought the small down pillow that my dad used to use until he died 23 years ago. When my mom died I somehow ended up with my dad’s old pillow. For years it sat unused in the massage room until a year ago when it occurred to me to try using it myself. I immediately liked it and have been using it ever since. Not only do I find it comfortable but  it helps me feel connected to him. My dad never traveled to the Balkans, but by bringing his old pillow on this trip I had a feeling I was sort of bringing him along with me. Of course I know he is not in the pillow (although I suspect some of his dna might still be in there), but the pillow reminded me of him every day. I know he would be delighted by my travels. 

Photos: Row 1: I will miss the almond pistachio yogurt. Our place in Trogir. Row 2: Storm coming, after the storm, dinner at the pan Asian place. Row 3: pre-packing, out the apartment window, ‘Eve’ is the main character in most of my short stories so I was tickled to see this sign. Row 4: Zagreb. Zora and Marija. Row 5: Morana’s van, Jim surpassing his goal of 100 pull ups over the 6 weeks, river path. Row 6: along the river path there are numerous sculptures. Morana. Row 7: Lidija, Last dinner in Zagreb, apartment elevator selfie. Row 8: Car return, Zagreb airport. Heading home. Row 9: Home! Kristina and Dušan’s baby, Maša, was born October 14 ❤️