Croatia. The land of the unexplored beauty.

 

We landed in Pula Airport in the picturesque Istria region of Croatia. Unlike Dubai International Airport, it was a very small one with not many people. A car picked us up and dropped us to the Luna Hotel, located at a town called Rovin, just a walking distance from the sea and home to some very welcoming people. We soon realized that they were perhaps not the smartest people, but very friendly indeed.

 

We soon discovered that Croatia was a serene and quiet country with a host of things to do. We went riding through the forest across the narrow pathways, green fields and olive trees. The fragrance of nature, accentuated by the wild white flowers we saw, hung in the air in all its breathtaking glory.

 

We then drove up to Motovon as we heard that they had the best Truffles in the world. This was the first time I heard about Truffles. They are available naturally only in some parts of the world and Croatia happened to be one of the few. There are various kinds but the most well-known are the white ones which are very expensive, however, the black ones are expensive too. They use boars to hunt them; naturally boars feed on them so they keep them hungry and then they go to hunt. They use dogs as well which are specifically trained for this. After the dog is trained, it can reach a price of AED 10,000! Man-made Truffles are available now, but of course they are not the same.

 

So we wanted to go and see what this Truffle is all about. After a 40 minute drive through the rain and across stunning scenic landscape, we entered the best restaurant for truffles. It came in a covered plate but as they opened the cover, it smelled so pungent that we asked them to close it. The food was expensive but naturally we wanted to try it. To be honest, it was the worst meal I have ever had, but I guess different people have different tastes – some people love it and some don’t.

Later we drove to Pula to see the amphitheater, built around 1000 years BC, where the gladiator fights where held. I thought it was only in Rome that amphitheatres like this existed, but learned that this was a part of the Roman Empire. It is really interesting when you imagine how it all would have happened with gladiators coming out from those paths, and beasts going in to small passageways to eat the gladiators who were fighting them. Throughout my walk, my mind kept imagining what it all would have been like in those days.

 

The Plitvice lakes was said to be so beautiful that the pictures didn’t look real. We drove about two hours and what we saw simply took our breath away. It was truly a paradise on earth. The waterfalls were stunning and the hike through it for four hours was an exhilarating experience.  The beauty of nature gives you a reason to live, and many people don’t know about it.

 

Venice is just on the border, so we hired a boat and sailed for two hours to that beautiful city of romance. I had already been to Venice twice - once when I was a baby - I don’t really remember anything about that trip – and next, was on a cruise, when my brother decided to break my nose. The city was very crowded with tourists, but beautiful all the same. We took a Gondola and went through the buildings by the waterways. It was truly amazing how they turned those few islands to a busy city that only use boats. Later we walked around enjoying the city, had lunch, and then sailed back to Croatia. 

 

Another country at the border is Slovenia, a magnificent nation. We drove down and it took us a few hours to get there. We went to the caves, the biggest in Europe - took a train to get in the cave then walked inside for an hour and a half. All those structures hanging down and coming out of the ground looked very nice, but the amazing part was that for 1cm of the structure, it took 100 years to build up. So you can imagine how long they have been there. There is a part within the caves where you can see animals that live there and amazingly, most of them are blind. It’s wonderful to see how God created different creatures that don’t have vision to live, hunt, find a mate and survive.

 

Around few kilometers away were the Lipica stables where the Lipicianian horses were bred. These horses have been bred to be quiet and strong for wars since 1805 from different horses around the world including Arabians and warm bloods. These days they are used mainly for shows and dressage as they can jump up with all four legs of the ground. After and exciting day of discovering new things, we drove back to Croatia.

 

Another day, we walked from the hotel to a town close by to have dinner at a sea food restaurant, where after dinner, the waiter joined us and began chatting with us. He turned out to be the owner of the restaurant, who was a lawyer and a musician as well. My question is, if this was in the gulf, will the local guy work as a waiter in his restaurant? No! Because he would be worried about what his friends would have to say about that decision. So they get an Asian person to work there. 

This is what’s traveling is about. Seeing the world through other people’s perspective and discovering the difference between cultures.  

Another day, we walked for many hours through a small village between very small passageways that was many years old and amazingly kept in its original state.