Travel to Croatia: An underdog story

by Shadab Hasnain (India)

Making a local connection Croatia

I still remember I was in school when I saw the first FIFA football world cup on my portable TV set. As I was beginning to take greater interest in football rather than cricket which is India’s most loved sport, I was following every game quite dedicatedly which surprised my parents; watching matches in the late night and then getting up for the school early morning. When the tournament reached Semifinals, it was the clash between France and Croatia. Till then that name was quite unheard of but that world cup introduced me to the name. Croatia played brilliantly in the semis but ultimately lost the game to France which then went on to win the world cup that year in 1998 under the captain ship of Zinedine Zidane. Since then it almost became a habit of mine to mention Croatia whenever discussion regarding soccer cropped up among my friends or family. I had secretly started liking Croatia because in that young age, it symbolized to me as an underdog which held itself against giants. Courage is what we all love! When I joined an IT company, soon I discovered that people had traveled to places like Athens and Prague on holiday tour. Till then, I hadn’t thought of going to Europe but started harboring the aspiration to bag pack myself to Croatia, my own underdog fighter. Soon, I saved money and took a trip to the Mediterranean country last year. When I returned, my family found me a bit changed and I was frequently asked ‘how was the trip?’ I replied every time’ wonderful! Inside the country Since the time I landed at Zagreb International Airport, it felt like taking a trip to some unknown fantasy land. Zagreb is the capital of Croatia and has an instant old European feel to it. I felt that I wasn’t so wrong regarding those feelings about Croatia since childhood when I came to know that it has recently found independence after the long fought Yugoslavian war. Croatia has been ruled by many civilizations (Ottoman, Nazi and Socialist) and only 25 years back has found its own identity and independence. Since much of the travel that we undertake also has to do with our own quest of finding something authentic in ourselves, the turbulent political history of Croatia perfectly resonates with it. Those two islands My next stop was to visit the two important islands situated in the northern Adriatic Sea in Croatian islands region. Rab and Losinj are the two famous islands and major tourist destinations in Croatia. Where Rab stands for the Cultural heritage and monuments reflecting the rich medieval architecture, Losinj is famous for its naturalism and scenic beauty. The mere contrast between the marvels of the human race and the marvels of the nature was something that really made me feel so fortunate to be able to witness that .Such is life. When we witness extreme beauty we are overwhelmed by its grandeur only to feel lucky in the end that we had a chance to experience it. Basically, it was my only chance to feel like the protagonist of Ernest Hemingway’s Old man and the Sea which I had read in the school and had fell in love with. Remnants of Roman glory Driven by my enthusiasm, I inquired locally about more places locally and the next thing I knew was taking a ticket to the Burnum. It is a recently discovered Roman town and whoever wishes to have a genuine glimpse of Past Roman must visit it. Burnum was a Hollywood movie to me and I silently wished that only if I could have been a Gladiator. Two of the Palaces which are famous for its unique Gothic and Renaissance fusion architecture are Sponza Palace and Rector’s Palace. They are so exotic that lot of Croatian filmmaker shot their films here. Finally with immense satisfaction I said goodbye to Croatia and promised to myself that I will come again here with my family. The day I took the flight back home, I was thinking that I will teach that to colleagues in the office and imagined how much of fun it will be!