Back to the Coast...

Split, Croatia

September 23, 2007
N43°30.500
E016°27.210

After spending the last month in land locked countries throughout Eastern Europe, we finally set our eyes on the coast line of the Adriatic Sea. Don’t get me wrong, our time in Tihany, on the shore of Lake Balaton, was comfortable and quaint, but we really missed the site of open water.

I actually started getting a little grumpy over the past week. I didn’t really think about it much until we boarded the train for Zagreb and made our way to the coast; I think both of us missed being near the water. This happened to us once before during our travels—in Argentina—when we were in Bariloche and El Bolson—we felt a little crazy until we got back to the coastline.

Then I started to wonder if the distance from the coastline was part of the high suicide rate in Hungary. Annually, there are 60.1 suicides per 100,000 people in Hungary, most by hanging, compared to 15 per 100,000 in the UK and 20 per 100,000 in America. There are very few smiles and as we walked the streets through the remote areas of Tihany, we tried forcing a few hellos, but people just sat and stared at us, disbelievingly.

Regardless, we’re happy to be back to the coast and to the second largest city in Croatia, Split. We immediately recalled a great dinner we had at Eric and Jim’s house after they returned from Croatia a few years ago, an incredible mix of grilled meat. After finding our accommodations we decided to re-live this dinner and headed out to eat.

At dinner we ordered the small mixed grilled-meat platter and the mixed grilled-fish platter, plus two salads. It was such a treat to have fresh, tasty tomatoes and lettuce after our time in Hungary where fresh vegetables are hard to come by. They actually deliver 25 KG bushels of potatoes to your doorstep—I don’t think we could consume a bushel in a year!

The mixed grill plate of sausage links, beef patties and pork chops definitely brought us back to our meal at Eric and Jim’s. We talked fondly and laughed about the big barbeque they had at their house and now completely understood the theme of the BBQ. As we sat at the large wooden tables in the small, intimate room of Fife Bufe, we heard a group of young ladies talking. We could tell they were of Indian descent, but their accents told us they were from the USA, most likely California.

A few minutes later one of the guys in the room asked them where they were from and they responded California. After a few minutes, I made eye contact with one of them, from across the room, and asked them where in California they were from. They were three cousins traveling together—two from San Diego, one from LA.

The group, Sonal, Palka and Devi, were traveling for two weeks throughout Crotia, so far, without incident. We moved over to their table and shared some of the wine bought for them by a few unwanted admirers. We talked about what we missed most from home (after our families), which is, of course, food, our time in India and other stories from our travels.

As usual, it was nice to talk to a few Americans and hear some stories from home.