| Dalmatia:
Croatia's Adriatic Riviera |
| article
and photos |
| by John Hurd |
| You can 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. 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. |
|
|
Offshore Resources Gallery
|
|
|
| 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 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. |
|
|
Offshore
Resources Gallery
|
| 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 house 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.
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:
-
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!
-
Financing is generally
unavailable in Croatia. You are on your own to come up with the cash.
-
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.
-
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.
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. |
|
Article
Index ~ Croatia
Index ~ |
