I can't recall exactly why i wanted to visit Croatia in the first place. I had always been longing to travel to Eastern Europe because of its richness in culture and it being less submissive to the tourist industry (as the industry is less developed there). For sure, not all western european countries are identical, yet with globalisation most of the cities are indistinguishable from each other with the same shops and same city planning around the high street, while tourist attractions are filled with tourists from all over the world who care less about what they are seeing than if they are able to take a self-portrait in front of the so called tourist spot. So I said to myself, I need to see Eastern Europe before it is corrupted by the mass of tourists.
And that's how Croatia came top of my "to go list".
Despite my excitement in materialising my wish, writing this piece about Croatia is the most challenging among all the 4 countries. Over the years I had been screening the pictures of Croatia for far too many times, that I know what to expect before setting foot there. So when I arrive at dubrovnik, there were few surprises - the place is just exactly the way as it should be. Having said that, it is often said that "devils in details", where the opposite is also true in many senses that it is the details which reveals how a nation is like.
Obliging to what Tripadvisor says that Croatian hotels are by and large overpriced while the apartments are of similar quality but much cheaper, we stayed mainly in apartments - which are usually run by local middle class who possess properties [much] larger than they need that they decided to make some profit out of it by renting it out to tourists. As residential units, most of these apartments are not in the city centre and fairly difficult to locate for tourists. Despite the one-off nature of these businesses, most apartment owners are more than willing to walk an extra mile when it came to serving the guests. The very nice grandpa in his 70s willingly drove us to the coach station early in the morning at no cost, which will otherwise take us at least 40mins worth of walking. The poker face mum at Plitvice helped translating the cooking instruction of our instant broth and let us into their flat to cook our dinner as the guest kitchen was under renovation. The breakfasts that she made each morning with ham and cheese, eggy bread and home made bread are also among the best meals that i have had during the 12 days. not to mention the apologetic boyfriend of the Zagreb apartment owner, who unintentionally double booked our room, showering us with tourist information during our wait and finally accommodated us at the city centre at their expense.
While enterprises in the developed economies continued to emphasis on "corporate sustainability" schemes, they are mainly form-over-substances-talks with limited actions taken. In Croatia, I see what sustainable development shall be, and glimpse what selflessness should be. standing at the jetty right outside of the Dubrovnik old town, the large cross standing silently on the mountain overseeing the whole Dubrovnik region spoke to me, with my heart given a poke and was deeply touched - God's unfailing love is shining over the place and unveiled via His people.
I left with a refreshed and moved spirit after a week of stay. What touched my heart is probably not the beauty of the place but the long lost integrity and kindred that I experienced.
No comments:
Post a Comment