EUROPE | CROATIA
Ancient art of idling on Adriatic island of Hvar
On the peaceful Adriatic island of Hvar, people live like they're on a permanent vacation and relaxation is the order of the day.
FROM somewhere nearby come the voices of angels. I think it's my imagination, but I see my mother has stopped to listen as well.
We make our way through the night to a tiny plaza and church. Above us, windows are thrust open, and from the warm light inside the voices of choral singers fill the air with song. We sit for an hour absorbing the music until we can no longer hold our heads up. Then we make our way back through town and up the 156 steps to our beds, where we dream peacefully amid the scent of gardenias and orange blossoms.
We're on the island of Hvar, fondly referred to as the "Croatian Madeira." Instead of traveling to Italy, where the Americans run in packs and the euro's strength has made inexpensive travel prohibitive, we chose in May 2004 to visit the Mediterranean-like Dalmatian coast of Croatia. Dalmatia is the region along the Adriatic Sea that lies mostly in Croatia.
FOR THE RECORD:
Dalmatian Coast: In a map accompanying an article about Hvar, Croatia, in the April 23 Travel section, Dalmatian was spelled incorrectly as Dalmation.
Amid Hvar's tranquillity, it's hard to believe that a brutal ethnic war ravaged much of Croatia a little more than 10 years ago. More than 200,000 people were killed in the conflict over ethnic, economic, territorial and political issues.
In Zagreb, Croatia's capital, we bought bus tickets to the coastal city of Split. From there, it's only a short ferry ride to the island of Hvar.
On the bus, I serendipitously took a seat beside Vibor, a Croatian rock musician and keyboardist for the band Soul Finger. We talked about rock 'n' roll before I started grilling him on Dalmatia.
"It's absolutely gorgeous there but more expensive than other parts of Croatia," Vibor said.
"But isn't Italy more expensive?" I asked.
"Yes, but at least in Italy you get service," he said, laughing. "In Dalmatia, all they're selling you is the air and the sea."
In the town of Hvar (pronounced Huhwar), we step off the ferry into a small swarm of elderly women, who, like many others throughout Croatia, hope to rent us one of their private rooms. In the 80-degree midmorning heat, they are all dressed alike: long black stockings, thick cotton skirts and dark cardigan sweaters.
Mom (who's not yet 60) and I gingerly navigate our backpacks through the group of look-alikes. They call out to us in thick Slavic accents. "You need prrivate rroom? Verry nice. Verry clean. Gud vew
. Kom!"
We guiltily walk through the mob shaking our heads, "Ne hvala. No, thank you. Sorry," and head toward a young man named Sasha. His family's private rooms were recommended to us by a friend in Split.
We follow Sasha up those 156 steps through winding passageways, beneath balconies brimming with strawberry-colored geranium blossoms, between lines of fresh laundry hanging out to dry and past women bent over tending sun-kissed tomato plants.
Our room is above Sasha's aunt's house, and he hands us a large brass key that unlocks shuttered French doors on our balcony.
 The French built this place before the Americans took it over. There are a couple of big lakes next door. |
 A list of getaway destinations to help you tap the West's cache of sights. |
Theme park news: Animatronic Obama, Battlestar Galactica dueling coasters, Hong Kong Disneyland expansion
A roundup of my theme park Twitter updates for the last week:
* Prowler wooden coaster c...
Read more »
Users' Favorites
Taking restless Southern California on vacation
Los Angeles Times e-mail newsletter, delivered every Thursday
wherever it appears.