A very educational train trip in post-war Croatia.
For the entire trip we had been planning to go to Croatia, and it kept getting put off. Croatia seemed fascinating and had been highly recommended. Of course it was also a sensitive topic and many people overreacted when we mentioned it. We avoided even mentioning it to some people, to prevent worry.
We left Ljubljana Slovenia after only one day... we really liked it, but we were hurrying. We took a night train to Split Croatia, on the Dalmatian coast, the old domain of Venice. On the first leg of the train we shared the compartment with a Bosnian man who we had a fascinating 3 hour conversation with ALL IN GERMAN! On the overnight portion of the train we had 40 school kids in our car and only one seat between the two of us. However it was as hard to sleep on the floor as in the seat so it was no matter -- Cheryln had a wonderful time chatting with the Croatian 13 year old girls. They said the best thing i think i have ever heard, when asked about the war they said: "Everyone is happier now." From the mouths of babes come the deepest wisdom!
On the train from Ljubljana, Slovenian to Zagreb we shared a train car with a Bosnian Muslim, living in Zagreb (for 20 years) and working in Austria (for 6 years). It was fascinating to talk to him, and exciting to be able to carry on a 3 hr conversation ALL in German!
It was a stunningly gorgeous train trip through deep green river valleys with rushing mountain rivers.
He told us a lot of things, some of which was clearly propaganda, some was not... but the most important thing was that he told us that Croatia is now "Normal". That is how they phrase it... Everything is normal. The best expression of it came from a 13 yr old girl Cheryln spoke to ... she said "People are happier now."
We were not worried, but even less after that. We only changed trains in Zagreb...
