Dalmatia:
Croatia's Adriatic Riviera
article and photos
by John Hurd
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feel it in the air, in the shining white yachts visiting the Adriatic harbors,
in the industrious village renovations by the local people, in the sheer
number and richness of the websites: something big is about to happen.
The tourists are returning, the German and Italian summer visitors whose
languages make up the second-languages of northern and southern Croatia.
More than that, there’s a feeling of widening awareness, rippling out from
this narrow band of Europeans. Only this year, the beauty and timelessness
of the islands got top story headlines in the New York Times Travel section
“Mediterranean Sun, Unspoiled Terrain.” And so in America too, in Australia,
and elsewhere, there stirs a brand-new interest in visiting the islands
of Dalmatia, in investing there, and perhaps even in retiring there. The
region is on the verge of a tourist-fueled market explosion.
My wife and I are Americans who have
fallen in love with the region. With the help of agents, Djani Lidjan
and Ljiljana Poklepovic, who have become our friends, and a good friend
from Bosnia, my wife and I have purchased a small stone house on the island
of Brac in the village of Milna. Milna is a uniquely positioned 17th
century fishing village just nine nautical miles from the mainland and
Split, Croatia’s second-largest city. Here, we hope to spend
several months a year after we retire.
Brac is the largest island of the
Central Dalmatian group, which includes Hvar, of Circe and lavender fame,
and Korcula, birthplace of Marco Polo. It lies in the Adriatic
Sea just south of Split, site of the incredible palace of Diocletian, on
about the same latitude as southern France and the Tuscany/Umbria/Marche
region of Italy. It’s about 40 kilometers long and about a dozen
kilometers wide. Brac boasts the highest mountain in the Croatian
Adriatic, Vidova Gora. At 778 meters high on the southern coast,
it commands a sweeping view of the coastline, of the village of Bol and
its famous peninsular beach Zlatni Rat (‘golden cape’), and of the neighboring
island of Hvar. |
 John
Hurd is a former aerospace manager and an amateur writer, painter,
poet. He is actively working on downsizing his life and enjoying
what's here and now. He and his wife live in the US Pacific Northwest
when they are not in Croatia.
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When you visit for the first time,
you will probably be most surprised at how essentially modern and European
things appear. This is not to turn a naïve eye on the deep-rooted
history of the region. Still one can easily imagine that you are
in southern France or just across the Adriatic in Italy. Of course
the history, architecture, art, myth, language and scenery are all Croatian,
which means Illyrian-Greco-Roman-Slav-Veneto-Austro-Hungarian! (Perhaps
this explains the seemingly cosmopolitan nature of many of the villagers
who have never left the village they grew up in.)
The Adriatic Sea is warm here, plied
by island hopping ferries and those big international boats hauling autos
and passengers to and from Italy and Greece. The sea color ranges
from a transparent aqua to a deep, almost purple. There are no tides
and no currents, only the seasonal winds stir the water.
After a one-hour ride on the local
ferry from Split, you’ll arrive on Brac in the picturesque village of Supetar.
Here you rent a car for a few days at surprisingly inexpensive rates.
Milna lies a couple of villages, some very narrow streets, and 20 quiet
kilometers down the road, snug in the best harbor on the island.
On the way, you will encounter the island’s two principle crops:
olives and rocks. Both
| are everywhere you look. These
rocks, however, are not the famed white marble that has been the islands
principal export since the Romans arrived in 200 b.c. No, they are gray
and nondescript and piled everywhere, on hillsides, valleys, flatlands,
by over 2000 years of women’s toil.
You drop into Milna from the pine
and karst hillsides onto its single narrow road that runs along the harbor
promenade. Unless you are delivering supplies, you park your automobile
just a few meters outside town by the World War II partisan memorial.
You walk along the clear turquoise waterfront with the bobbing fishing
boats and yachts, past the 17th century village church flanked by twin
palm trees, and past the first of several small markets and coffee bars
into a village of stone, stucco, and tile.
To reach our new home, you turn when
you see on your right the impressive marble terrace with Romanesque colonnade.
Climb its steps and continue straight up the stepped street, inlaid |
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with stonework and island marble. (All
building materials are brought into the old village on donkey-back.) Pass
the great house where, as local legend has it, the great English poet Lord
Byron spent several months in seclusion. You notice at once how clean
are the streets and town. Weathered wood and stone are everywhere:
a photographers delight. Take a left at the second brizak (spotlessly
clean alleyway). As you pass vacant lots and home gardens, you will
see kiwi, orange, lemons, limes, fig, and pomegranate. At the brizak’s
end you will find the arched gateway to our small stone home.
| Village life is quiet and timeless.
You arise in the early morning’s sun, draw back your homemade curtains,
and gaze out on the harbor. Perhaps a fisherman’s small boat is chugging
out for the day; perhaps a yacht is leaving for its next port. The
shutters are still closed on most of the houses below you. As you
gaze, the nearby church rings out the hour in subdued tones. After
a light breakfast of goat’s cheese and granola, you stroll down to waterfront
and sit in an outdoor coffee bar. If Djani happens to be in the village
that morning, you buy him schnapps while he shares the latest jokes about
the Americans in town. That’s you, and you laugh with him.
You have a morning cappuccino, then bid him good-bye and arise for a walk.
You pass the small markets, each
with their freshly baked bread, butchered meat, and diary. The old
men on the bench by the harbor have been there forever. While in your neighbor’s
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you saw them in a photograph from 50
years before. They watch you impassively until you approach and try out
your traveler’s phrase book Croatian. Then they become animated and you
hear seaman’s tales in broken dockside English of visiting America, France,
Sweden, Thailand, Hong Kong.
Goats with long curling horns plod
down the cobbled street. Children ride by on old bicycles.
You see agave and prickly pear cactus. As you hike the karst above
town, you meet donkeys, and even a horse in the pine forests.
| Olive trees are ubiquitous and picturesque
as you drive along the coastline roads, winding through pine and olive
overlooking the sea, feeling quintessentially Mediterranean. Stonewalls
and early Christian churches abound on Brac. You find crude carvings
of Hercules left by quarry workers from 200 B.C. Cypress trees brood
above cemeteries full of elaborate stone markers and photos of the dead.
The local Dalmatian wines are astonishing
in their quality and are inexpensively priced. They go well with
the seafood-in-the-shell pasta you have ordered. In season, the cafes
by the water are crowded and thick with talk and smoke and music.
Off-season, they are more quiet and contemplative, still serving their
espresso and schnapps. Near midnight, feeling very lucky indeed,
you climb the steps, which make up the street leading to your home and
pass in the darkness, Ivo, your neighbor and Ljiljana’s fisherman husband,
heading out to work. |
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The next day you are invited over
for fish soup, fava beans, bread and wine. After the meal, your host
brings out a battered guitar and sings Croatian songs of days past.
Like it?
I love it. My wife loves it.
Have we made mistakes? Yep.
Were we foolish and naive? Yep. Would we do it all again? You
bet.
I believe this is a very rare time
in Dalmatia in general, and in Milna, in particular. The outside
world is just beginning to re-discover the beauty and pleasures of the
region. Today, it’s true, you don’t dare mention “Croatia” to your
friends (they stare at you long and hard as if you’ve finally lost your
mind) and they’ve never heard of Dalmatia. I’m sure this will change
tomorrow and the place will be as fabulous and out-of-reach as the French
Riviera is for most of the world.
In the villages like Milna, with
a little luck, you may still buy lovely old stone houses for renovation,
or stone apartments on the harbor, for under $50,000 USD. Also at the low
end of the market price-wise are timeshares in houses fronting the sea.
Shares for 4 months a year, for example, may be purchased for under $20,000.
USD. Services to rent the unit out when you are not able to be there
are also available. Newer properties built with local materials offer
the swimming pools and amenities others want, for somewhat more money.
Comfortable, picturesque houses stand by themselves in the pines, or in
small communities on isolated, delightful coves, and are available at very
reasonable prices. Raw land on the water is there for future dreams.
The villages have all the expected utilities: city water, electricity,
sewer, telephone . . . even high-speed Internet access. All that
is missing is traffic, mass consumerism, and long lines.
Buying here at this time is not
for the faint-of-heart, however. Here are a few facts:
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Americans can purchase land here.
(As can citizens of any country with a reciprocity agreement with Croatia.)
However, foreign ownership requires Croatian Foreign Ministry approval.
This is standard practice, but it can take up to two years to obtain.
(There is no such requirement if you have formed a company in Croatia and
then purchase property, but this entails additional expense.) During
this time, you cannot build or rebuild your property, except perhaps for
some interior renovations. In fact, if you haven’t been lucky or clever
beforehand or have a very alert agent you may find yourself having to wait
the full approval period before you are able to connect to utilities!
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Financing is generally unavailable in
Croatia. You are on your own to come up with the cash.
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Prices are seeking the right level after
the recent war. Everyone who is selling is dreaming of pre-war prices
or greater. There are some real bargains and lots of good buys.
Still, prices have doubled or in some cases tripled since their low point
after the recent war. The prices can be startling for those who are
thinking perhaps of snapping up property dirt-cheap in a war-ravaged nation.
Generally, that is not going to happen. (Thank goodness.) But
the value is here and the prices are good. Think of the French Riviera
twenty or thirty or more years ago.
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Don’t take anything for granted or assume
that things are done just the way they are done in your country.
Be sure your agent has a local lawyer working with him or her and who is
knowledgeable in real estate practices.
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How to begin?
Do some research, make some inquiries, and find an agent that you feel
you can develop a rapport with. A good agent will help you understand
and avoid, or at least mitigate, the potential pitfalls on your way.
Establish a relationship with him or her. Get you and them to the
point of understanding exactly what you are looking for and what you are
prepared to pay. Sooner or later, make a trip to Dalmatia, connect
with your agent, and check it out for yourself. You will find rooms
to stay in ranging from $25 - $50 USD per night, depending upon the season.
I have had very good luck working
with two very different agents who I mentioned earlier, Djani Lidjan of
Adriatic Real Estate, http://telsat.org, and with Ljiljana Poklepovic of
Milenka Real Estate, www.milenkarealestate.com . Go to their websites,
check out their listings and advice. If you find something you like,
ask them to check on its current availability and price. Tell them
I sent you.
This is the time to buy in Dalmatia.
Whether you wish to buy for yourself, or buy for investment, this is one
of those rare opportunities in a fabled land. I worked with determination
to realize my dream. I’m glad I did.
I will be happy to answer anyone’s
questions about the region, the market, or specific properties. You can
visit my Dalmatia Direct website, or I can be reached at the email address.
My website and my email contact address can be found in the Additional
Resources Section at the top of this article..
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