Split and Hvar

In Split I stayed at a woman’s house who rented it out to travelers. On the way in to town on the train I talked to a man who had lived during the war period and had his own questions about America and about Christianity.
We talked for a little while about the war, and he mainly stated that it was about nationalism, and that healing was an important thing. His view on the whole thing was that people were aware that these ethnic and religious lines were not worth fighting over, but some of the leaders were power hungry. –thus everyone should be better now. At the same time he talked about the Serbs as being vicious because to him they were responsible for the deaths of women and children which was unforgivable… the comment through me off –after hearing that he thought they should all live in peace. Unfortunately he was not able to clarify.
He asked what sport we like and told me a little bit about how soccer and basketball were popular in Croatia. He also asked about the role of women in the bible and in Christianity… he was worried that his new faith (born again?) did not give women the respect they deserved (part of his view that all people should be accepted and supported). I pointed out a few verse for him, and he thanked me.
The woman who I stayed with did not speak English very well, and I didn’t ever meet her other renters. Her house seemed like a sort of summer villa. Open to the air, and not much space inside. The streets in the neighborhoods of Split sort of wind and snake around each other, and it is easy to get lost. The two big spots in Split are Diocletian’s Palace and the Croatian Opera house.
The rest of the town seems fairly low key, though the main streets are very attractive and seem to speak of wealth. (the sidewalks looked like marble-probably weren’t, but had a look of money and time spent making things look nice)
The main strip of stores also had this sort of look. I think these few streets and the port were made to look good for the tourists, if you stray off the path a little, things start looking less wealthy.
Diocletian’s Palace is an old Roman building, now destroyed, but its remains have been built in to, and are used for churches, stores and the tourist office (I think).
The Palace has one large bell tower that you can climb (many stairs) and offers amazing views.
The Croatian Opera house where I bought tickets to the cheap balcony seats-tattered covers, no one else around –had a opera about the Turks invasion of Bulgaria. I couldn’t figure much out but the costumes were cute and the music was nice. On the bathroom door at the opera some one had put a “Just Do it” sticker.
There were also a couple movie theaters in the town I think, but none of them were showing English movies (probably because it was not the tourist season).
I guess one interesting thing, is that along the harbor they had a number of large stands where the vendors would sell sports team items and tourist stuff, and wallets and whatever, but they also had Teen Age Mutant Ninja Turtles… many of them, and it seemed odd because I wasn’t aware that the cartoon, comic book or movie had been so international.
I also saw a store that was selling t shirt in English, with similar –stupid slogans -a popular trend in the US now… like the “I’m with stupid” kind of shirt. But at this store many of the shirts were really sexual, or used a lot more profanity than we would in the US, and this was a high end (teen-young adult) store. Some of the shirts also mocked popular brands –or would say the brand name and include in captions (not fake).
Not sure what it means –just clearly they are aware of marketing trends, English phrases, and interestingly mocking high class (western European) brand names.
There was a boat show in Split while I was there. Speed boats. I couldn’t enter without paying a fee.
I often refer to Croatia as the place where Italians go to vacation, and I think that’s fairly true, one often hears Italian spoken, the styles and food are similar and the cultures of the two countries have obviously shared many connections.
That being said, I might be wrong, but I came to believe that many of the upper class, owners and buyers on the coast of Croatia have Italian connections or background.
Cant really back up that claim.

Hvar Island

On Hvar (a neighboring island) I spent a day (starving because the prices were high) and bored because most of the stuff was closed. I walked near a monastery, a castle, some random streets and what not… but didn’t find much till I was ready to leave.
On the way out, I stopped at store near the port to use the bathroom and inside found it to be another department store, but lower class like a K-mart –it also had an adjoining restaurant but I couldn’t identify where the kitchen was...

Then on the way back I met an interesting woman on the boat. We sat with a Japanese couple, and she made negative comments to me about them (secretly) while talking to them. She was Croatian and actually asked me to come back and live with her and grow lavender. It was from her I got the quote about people being stupid and wanting to think things were better just because they could call themselves Croat now rather than Yugoslavian. She was very cynical about most people, her neighbors, tourists, Japanese and all Asian people. But she was also extremely friendly. Near the end of our boat journey she asked me for money, which I wasn’t down for, but she then explained she was joking… sort of. Two houses and her own business and asks strangers for money… odd. She was definitely nostalgic for the Tito era, and was disappointed with the current situation. Felt the war was ridiculous and silly, but didn’t seem to care too much.

Anyway that was Hvar…