I remember being intrigued by the seemingly disproportionate impact of politics in the Balkans on global history as early as middle school. I remember learning about the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferndinand and his wife Sophie in Sarajevo and the cascading events leading to World War I.
Later, when I lived with my Uncle Knud near Holstebro in Denmark during 1993-1994, I became more informed on the region. Knud was career military in Denmark and he was involved in international logistics operations supporting peacekeeping operations in the former Yugoslavia.
Many nights, at the kitchen table, we would debrief on what was happening across Bosnia, Croatia, and the rest of the region.
I’ve remained curious about the region since that time. As my life progressed, my dad found himself in some sketchy situations along the border of Macedonia, and I have been fortunate to make friends from the region.
And now, finally, my family took time to explore a small part of the region, across central Dalmatia. I wonder what Knud would think of how things have progressed since ’93…
As I was wondering about this, I came across this photo of Camilla and Holger talking with him at that same kitchen table, but in 2019, not 1993… and demonstrating magic tricks, not discussing military supply lines…
That contrast made me smile.
History
Croatia has a complicated history — it is much like Crete in its maritime history including influences at the nexus of various cultures. Unlike Crete, which is strictly an island, Croatia is pressed against a mountainous continental “wall” of sorts. For some time — my research is not clear on this point — the continental area of the region (i.e. “Croatia”) and coastal communities (i.e. “Dalmatia”) were viewed as orthogonal; It was roughly in the 11th century that these names were joined under a settlement involving Petar Krešimir IV, over which he served as king: Croatia and Dalmatia.
Central Dalmatia was home to Illyrian peoples, above all the Delmatae, the tribe that gave the region its name. Greek colonists founded trading settlements on the islands in the 4th century BC — Issa on Vis, Pharos on Hvar — before Rome absorbed the coast, finally crushing a massive Illyrian revolt and organizing the province of Dalmatia around its capital at Salona, near modern Split. Roman Dalmatia’s most famous monument came around AD 305, when the emperor Diocletian, a Dalmatian by birth, built his retirement palace on the coast; refugees from Salona later moved inside its walls and the city of Split grew out of it. Slavic and Croat settlers arrived in the 7th century as Byzantine authority thinned, and by the 9th and 10th centuries the coastal towns remained a contested zone between Byzantium, Venice, and the Croatian rulers.
Today, Croatia has been a member of the EU since 2013, euro-zone since 2023, and member of the Shengen Area. Growth is strong and the climate is lovely — in terms of weather, tourism, and social structure!
Ruins, Game of Thrones, and Mama Mia
Croatia has become quite a tourist destination — roughly 20% of GDP is in tourism. While we visited during the busiest season, perhaps the busiest week of the year, it did not feel as overcrowded as I feared.
I did not expect popular culture to be such a driving influence into its tourism. Between Mama Mia 2 (Island of Hvis) and Game of Thrones (filmed in Dubrovnik and Split), there can be no confusing the interest of tourists in seeing these places!
The Klis Fortress near Split explicitly includes stuff from GOT in one room; In Split, I think I counted three stores focused on the sale of souvenirs related to the HBO production!
Geography: Islands and Beaches
Growing up in the northeastern United States and visiting Denmark regularly, I became accustomed to sandy beaches. I remember my confusion at the first Greek beach I visited, a bit north of Athens, when I noticed the relatively rocky shoreline and smooth pebbles; They required water shoes in order to able to walk comfortably! Who wants that?!
It turns out — we do! The warm water and cool, round stones make for a distinctively Mediterranean experience. The colors also stand out; There were times where I pointed out to my family where I felt the colors, of the water, the stones, the sun, the moon, and the trees, seemed to be painted in pastels. I have never seen these types of colors anyplace else.
There is an interesting word the Croatian people use: Fjaka (pronounced fee-ah-kah) which describes, “a blissful, unhurried state of complete physical and mental relaxation. Far from mere laziness, it is the mindful art of doing nothing, where time slows down and you feel perfectly content just being.” I enjoyed asking locals about their view of this word, wondering if they would dismiss it or seem confused; Without exception, hearing me inquire about this word was greeted with broad smiles and agreement about the relevance to the Dalmatian culture. I enjoyed those conversations! Perhaps the word stands to Dalmatians the way hygge stands to Danes?!
Wine and Food
We enjoyed the food. Alot. Coastal cooking is Mediterranean: olive oil, garlic, parsley, wine, and whatever came off the boat, grilled whole over embers. The standard repertoire includes black risotto stained with cuttlefish ink, though none of us ate that! I loved the pašticada, meat marinated in vinegar and stewed with prunes and sweet prošek, served with gnocchi.
A favorite for us was rafioli — a classic Dalmatian celebration sweet. These are filled pastries, dusted heavily with powdered sugar, and various fillings including fig and chocolate.
The quality of Croatian wine was an amazing surprise. Interestingly, according to Wine Spectator, Zinfandel originates from Croatia, despite the contrary belief of many Californians! We spent a good bit of time with a few multi-generational family wineries and there was quite a bit of pride in the results of this determination by Carole Meredith from UC-Davis. You can read more about this topic here.
“Zinfandel comes from Croatia,” said Meredith. “The grape we call Zinfandel, and the grape Italians call Primitivo, are both Crljenak Kaštelanski.” …They first landed in Long Island, New York, in the 1820s, when they were brought over from the Austro-Hungarian empire by the owner of a nursery. A few decades later, after the grape was popularized across the Northeast, the vines made their way to California with a Massachusetts nursery owner.
It was interesting spending time with one of the daughters (fourth generation) of Bedalov Winery and Mateo (ninth generation) of OPG Mate Sladić. There is quite a history — and quality — to the wines in this area!
Trogir and Čiovo
We stayed in a VRBO in Čiovo, next to Trogir, for roughly half our trip. Trogir is a tiny walled town on an islet wedged between the mainland and Čiovo, connected to both by short bridges. Trogir is a UNESCO World Heritage site; The street plan is essentially Hellenistic-Roman, filled in with Romanesque, Gothic, and Venetian building. The centerpiece is the Cathedral of St. Lawrence and its western portal, carved by the master Radovan in 1240.
Čiovo has roughly 6,000 permanent residents. We loved the walk to and from Trogir each day — especially once we figured out a “short-cut” which avoided walking on the (very narrow) streets.
Two notable differences from Denmark are 1) many fewer bicycles and 2) many more motorcycles, vespas, and (incredibly fast) electric scooters.
Kaštela
We stayed in a hotel in Kaštela for roughly half our trip. Kaštela is the string of settlements on the north shore of Kaštela Bay, between Split and Trogir. The name is literal: seven fortified houses for prominent families built between roughly 1400 and 1600 by the nobility and clergy of Split and Trogir, each of which grew a small village around it. From east to west they are Kaštel Sućurac, Gomilica, Kambelovac, Lukšić, Stari, Novi, and Štafilić.
The Kaštela field behind the towns was a fertile, intensively worked coastal strip of mixed vineyard, olive and orchard cultivation, with grapes as its principal commercial crop, which is the context for the Zinfandel story!
Split
Split is the second largest city in Croatia — 160,577 based on the 2021 census. Besides the architecture and deep history, the locals take huge pride in its modern success in athletics; I wish I could remember how many people advised us about the per capita levels of Olympic success the country experienced, making it “the most successful city in the world.” Alongside anecdotes about the basketball team KK Split — European Champions Cups in 1989, 1990 and 1991 featuring Toni Kukoč, Dino Rađa and Žan Tabak — locals take a great deal of pride in this community’s history! It was funny hearing the Uber driver I mentioned previously explain the differences from locals in Dubrovnik, who are apparently less competitive and also less successful!
Religion in Croatia | Catholicism and Judaism
Croatia is deeply Catholic. One fellow explained to us that the country is 95% Catholic; He emphasized to us that, it isn’t that the country is just very Catholic, but that they are deeply observant. (He later shared a remark, when attempting to emphasize the importance of family in the culture — “Fuck me once, I will kill you; Fuck me twice, I will kill your entire family.” He smiled while he said it. I was unsure how to respond.)
Despite this anecdote, the 2021 Croatian census recorded these numbers: 79% Catholic, 3.3% Serbian Orthodox, 1.3% Muslim, with nearly 5% nonreligious or atheist. Weekly Mass attendance is cited around a quarter of the population — high by European standards, but perhaps a bit below the suggestion made by my previously mentioned friend.
The communist period was hurtful to observant locals; We heard a few stories from people about the need to have children baptised under the cover of night and the risks associated with public worship involving prosecution by the secret police. The history of this period was unrelatable to us. Dystopian.
When we visit new cities, it is very common for us to track down a local synagogue and learn about the history of Judaism in the culture. The Jewish presence in Croatia is old, geographically split between two very different traditions, and now very small.
There were Jews at Salona by the 3rd century and the archaeological evidence includes menorah-marked lamps and a probable synagogue built into an earlier structure. So the Jewish presence on this coast predates the Croats by centuries.
After 1492, refugees from Spain and Portugal settled in the Venetian and Ragusan port towns. Dubrovnik established its ghetto on Žudioska ulica in 1546; the synagogue there, in a building whose origins are traditionally dated to 1352, is usually described as the oldest Sephardic synagogue still in use in Europe.
Today, the community numbers roughly 1,700, with organized communities in Zagreb, Osijek, Rijeka, Split and Dubrovnik.
We poked our head up the stairs of the synagogue in Split and figured we would just move along. Then, an older man with frazzled hair poked his head out the door. “Are you Jewish,” he asked us. “Would you like to come in?” We did!
Albert shared a generous amount of time with us. He showed us the property, artifacts, and history of the property and Jewish community across Croatia. He had deep insights into the connections between pre-WWII antisemitism in Europe, the Holocaust, Zionism, and the nature of community building. (The synagogue has 100 members — not “member-units” or “households,” but actual members!) We really enjoyed spending time with Albert. It was a highlight of our trip.
Three books I read on vacation included Sharabi’s Hostage about October 7, as well as The Future is Peace, which is a hopeful book about peace in Israel, and Sam Harris’ The End of Faith. I was not consciously trying to explore a theme, but one might deduce that I was seeking confirmation of a viewpoint that is anti-organized religion. That would be understandable, but wrong.
I appreciate aspects of Sam Harris’ thoughts about religion, but I think he betrays a very important error in analysis when he, with unambiguous derision, offers the rationale for “belief today” as predicated on “belief yesterday.” He suggests that there is no other area of life — civic or private — where such a lack of evidence is accepted in belief; Not science; Not civics. Therefore, he claims, religion should be viewed in the future the same ways we view the practice of alchemy in history today — as another example of a dated and harmful construct used by people to cope with ignorance.
In the scheme of things, I think he misses a quite foundational aspect of “belief today” from “belief yesterday” acting as a thread through which we connect with our past; Whether we think about this privately as a source of comfort or from a civic perspective as a basis for culture, I believe these threads should not be carelessly dismissed. But he does.
*shrug*
I enjoyed reading these books on the beaches of Croatia! I am not sure the my reaction to The End of Faith would have been so severe without the conversations with so many locals!
Small Business
One of my favorite aspects of travel is meeting small business people and hearing their stories. This trip was no different and it offered so many great conversations; Bruno, a 32 year-old fellow who started a regional tour business; Mateo, the 69 year-old ninth-generation wine producer; A daughter of a fourth-generation winery — Bedalov; The Uber driver whose “day-job” is in import-export of textiles and dresses.
I remember my Uncle Jens telling me (twenty years ago) that his experience leading a family-owned business in Madagascar revealed that “family business is family business, whether you are in Denmark, the US, or Madagascar.” I think this generalizes more broadly to small business, as well.
I love how there are so many similarities across the globe in character and yet deep differences in context; speaking with Croatian small business people about markets, inventory planning, and pricing sounds very much like a conversation with somebody in State College or New York City… except for the parts of the conversation that involve past refugee status (Mateo), coping with Yugoslavian policies around faith (Uber driver), and other impacts of the revolutionary war (Bedalov).
Economics and Development
During the visit, I retreated to my computer a few times to compare economic and demographic details in Croatia to other countries; I am particularly curious about the comparisons to the USA, Greece, Denmark, and Albania. It also caused me to revisit some old coursework from NYU with Professor Zin on macro economics. I was especially curious to recreate the Total Factor Productivity measures for Croatia and these other countries. Take a look below for the analysis! I thought it was all quite interesting.
I never got around to exploring the personal and national debt levels of Croatia in detail. I talked with a few folks about the role of domestic real estate, including investment into short-term rentals, being disproportionately large; I am unsure if that is true. I asked one of my OpenClaw Agents — Albert (unrelated to our host at the synagogue!) — to compare interest rates and costs of mortgages between Croatia and the USA and this is what he shared. Interesting!
In Summary – We will return!
We all enjoyed our time in Croatia. Holger ate so many burgers! Camilla loved the sun! Becca and I both felt safe, enjoyed the wine, and treasured talking with the (incredibly friendly) people of Croatia. I think we will return again next year.
