Quirky Things in Croatia

Menus come in at least 4 languages (thank goodness we’re close to Brittain!) But sometimes things get interpreted in a most interesting way. We went for breakfast and there was a menu item called “Hemendecks” and nothing else – no language break out. I asked the waitress and she looked at me like I was crazy…then said it fast a couple of times…try it…has something to do with pigs and chickens and a breakfast item.

Service…well, actually, there isn’t much. We’ve learned to not have expectations. I think most people like to just sit…and sit…and talk…and sit…and drink coffee (or beer)…and sit and talk.

Anchoring – in many bays/harbours here one has to pay for anchoring. Yes…anchoring! Not just using a mooring ball, which makes sense to have to pay for. We’re getting used to it but still find this a bit over the top. We’ve learned from locals that most Croatians on the coast (it’s different in big cities like Zagreb), want to make enough money in the summer to not work the rest of the year, hence paying for anchoring and pretty high prices on fish and meat (pizza and pasta are very reasonable though…yay for us!).

Parking – the people of Croatia park…ANYWHERE! I mean on the sidewalk, on the garden area between the sidewalk and the road, in the wrong direction, on the meridian, on the road blocking the cars parked off the road AND the traffic. It’s like, hey, I need to go the bank, I’ll just drive up to the door, park and go in. Haven’t seen anyone give out tickets yet…

Helmets – there are lots of scooters and motorcycles and 70 percent of riders don’t wear helmets at all, 20 percent toss on a helmet and don’t do it up, straps dangling (we love that one!)…and about 10 percent (likely tourists) actually wear a helmet. We saw a scooter, with “dad” driving and his two kids riding one in back and one in front of him, no helmets, no shoes, no shirts…nice.

And of course…Banana Hamocks and Nudity. It’s EVERYWHERE! Trying to convince Ross and Matt to don a hammock for a photo op – no success yet. An incident of note, we have a plastic ball we play volleyball with on the deck (and whoever lets it go overboard has to jump off and retrieve it) which went AWOL unbeknownst to us. Kids left it on deck…go figure? So I hear a whistle and look up…a rather large man in his dinghy is driving up to the stern, ball in hand, wearing nothing but his Ray Bans (should have been Dirty Dogs!). A big smiley thank you and a nod and smile back and off he went, butt crack and all.

And that’s a wrap!