Yes, it's okay to stare. Take all the time you need. As you look, what and where do you think of? When I saw this photo from a Croatian travel website, I thought it was provocative. But if not that, it at least had the potential to provide an escape, even if just for six seconds.
When I was in the second grade and living in Bratislava, Slovakia, my family took a week of vacation in Croatia (located in between Slovenia and Bosnia and Herzegovina on the Adriatic.) Due to my age and acute unawareness of reality, I remember zero logistics (like the name of the city we were in, for example) but what did stick with me were the vivid colors and sensations that defined, in my mind, Croatia to the core.
National Geographic Traveler recently highlighted the small, fairly unknown country in a series of photos. As photo journalism is just as important than written journalism, if in no more ways than its ability to influence the visual direction of an audience, I thought elaboration on my brief connection to the country was necessary.
Croatia is recognized most for it's coasts. They are very versatile, and this I know from comparing the Croatian beach of my distant memory to the beaches shown in the photo spread. Though very different, each one is breathtaking.
The city in which we stayed for a week had white sand beaches and extremely warm weather. No chance of rain. No chance of doing anything with your time that did not require you to let loose and relax. I remember waking up, slipping into my swim suit, walking down to the water's edge from our hotel room and not moving the rest of the day.
Not moving, of course, is not the only option while on the beautiful shoreline of the Adriatic Sea. The activities we took part in often involved ice cream and, unwillingly- as I had absolutely no say at the time- globs of sunscreen. The sun means business in Croatia.
Other than lazy walks and too many scoops of amazing gelato (we weren't too far from Italy, remember) the four of us rode to a nearby island for a day trip on a boat with 100 others, and enjoyed beautiful freshly-caught seafood along the way.
To cater to the young ones of the group (besides me, there was my younger brother who was six at the time) my dad took us on a Banana boat (a large banana-shaped tube that sits six people and drags behind a speed boat) and, the most unforgettable experience of all, para sailing (a para sail is a parachute with a harness that seats two and also gets dragged behind a speed boat, but this time hundreds of feet in the air.)
All this, and who knows how much more thanks to my failed memory, was enjoyed in just one week in a single small city in Croatia. According to the pictures from National Geographic, it seems a wise decision to plan for more than a week.
Joce: My goodnesss, you've gotten around! Good post with the combination of personal remembrance and research. That photo at the top is really arresting. For photos you post here, better to use fewer and make them bigger. Your frequent use of parenthetical comments is distracting. They can be a good narrative device but when overused, as they are here, they become annoying. If something is worth including in your post, just write it and skip the parens. Score = 9
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