Max's Croatian Travel Tips Part II

Ahem. I've been informed by my family that from this point on, I am no longer allowed to do multi-part blog posts... well, for fairly obvious reasons. I'll finish up the ones I've started (probably not Meet the Hirsches), but I'll try to keep away from those from now on. Now, I'd hate for anyone to think that Croatia was a bad trip... quite the contrary! I had an amazing time, and before leaving for a week in Istanbul tomorrow, I figure it's time to tell you all why. Now, then...

(Sidebar: For those who don't remember, you can catch up on the first part of the post here.)

The Five Best Things About Croatia!

Number Five: The Food and Drink

Surprisingly, Croatian wine is really quite good. During the better part of our disastrous trip to Korcula, we stopped off at a local winery for a tasting. We had already had several fantastic wines over the trip, so we weren’t surprised at how good the wines were. They also complemented some of the great meals we had over the course of the week. Living in Israel this year, pork products have understandably been at a minimum, so we took full advantage of the Dalmation smoked ham that was readily available. We also found a fantastic restaurant that I mentioned yesterday for our 6-month anniversary dinner, which had amazing seafood and one of the best steaks I’ve ever tasted. (Unfortunately for me, Allie was the one who ordered it!) Besides the big dinners, Croatia is apparently known for both pizza and ice cream, both of which lived up to the hype. It wasn’t uncommon to see crowds of people, both local and tourists, walking down the streets of the old city with a large ice cream cone in their hand. Great stuff!

(Chocolate soup!)

Number Four: The People

Something that really stuck out to both of us was how incredibly friendly almost everyone we met was. They were nice, accommodating, helpful, and this includes people who weren’t going to make a buck off of us! I love Israel, but it was nice to have a break from people who have absolutely no sense of other people being around them in a crowded space. (If any of my Israeli friends are reading this – sorry, but you know it’s true.) Really, there isn’t a whole lot to say here, just that Croatians really are some of the friendliest people you’ll meet.

Number Three: Montenegro

Not all of our trips were as bad as the Korcula visit! In contrast, our day trip to Montenegro really was a great time. We decided to take a trip to the country based on the idea that, well, when else would you ever go to Montenegro? And we didn’t regret it.

First off, as beautiful as Croatia is (we’ll get to that later), Montenegro is even better. In fact, some of the sights in Montenegro are simply some of the most gorgeous I’ve ever seen in my life. We stopped at one site just to take pictures of the sea and the mountains, and for a second I was actually speechless. Really spectacular stuff.


Second, one of the towns we toured, Kotor, had a pillar in the center of the town square that, in the olden days, was used for public punishments. You see, the town was small enough that when someone committed a crime, they were tied to the pillar so that the townsfolk could throw fruit and laugh at them. The name of this site? The Pillar of Shame. That’s right. THE PILLAR OF SHAME. The official name of the thing sounds like it came right out of a Monty Python skit! How awesome is that! No? Just me? Oh well…

(I am shamed.)

We also were taken to a great seafood place in the town of Budva… however, when we arrived, there weren’t any tables left! There were some outside, but Allie (understandably) was set on eating by the water? The solution? Take a table from inside and move it outside! In fact, why don’t we put them, oh, 5 feet from the sea?
That was taken from my seat at the table. Cool, huh? The food was great too, but the view made it. In fact, the views were really why Montenegro was so amazing. Which, I suppose, leads us into our next topic…

Number Two: The Views

I’m not kidding when I say Croatia is stunningly beautiful. It seems silly to talk about it, so I’ll show instead of tell…

Amazing, huh? Without further ado…

The Number One Best Thing About Croatia…

The Old City and the Fort Walls

Seriously, this old city was amazing. (Sidebar: No Kotel, but no one’s perfect.) Allie and I spent several days on the trip just wandering around and exploring, and it was amazing how many things we found. For example, we found the local synagogue, which claims to be the 2nd oldest in Europe! But the main attraction of Dubrovnik is easily its City Walls, which span the entire old city and take several hours to walk around. Seems simple, yes, but when you’re there you realize how great it actually is.

Allie and I spent about 2-2.5 hours walking around the entirety of the walls, stopping to look at every nook and cranny. My favorite part was when we found one of the windows without bars on it, allowing us to crawl inside of it (the wall was about 5-6 feet thick) and sit close to the ledge, looking out on the harbor and the sea. Really took my breath away – and not just because I’m scared of heights!

The walls were one of the first places we went, and they really set the tone for what was a great trip. Full endorsement from me! Now, next stop Istanbul…

So Kool and the Gang, What Is Your Perception of a Jewish State?

Happy Yom Yerushalaim! For those that don't know, today is Jerusalem Day, which was established shortly after the reunification of the city under Israeli control in 1967. From what I understand, many other places in Israel celebrate it, but obviously it's a pretty huge deal here. (Sidebar: For me, it means a day off of work! I'm enjoying my internship, but no arguing here.) Tied into the celebration is Yom HaStudentim (Student Day), which features a huge concert festival right by the center of the city during the erev chag (night before the holiday). How could we miss it? So, about 8-10 of us headed down last night to check it out.

We got to the park around 9:00, a little after the first band (Monica Sex) started. After finding a spot to claim on the hill, we were a little surprised to see Chris Barron of the Spin Doctors take the stage. I gotta say... dude looked OLD. It was pretty clear that most of the crowd wasn't really sure why he was there, and they weren't really into it. The funniest part was when Barron asked the lead singer of Monica Sax if they were going to come to his upcoming concert in Tel Aviv, to which he got a lukewarm "Yeah... sure we're going to be there..." Ouch. Not even the guys you're playing with want to see you anymore. They closed his set out with pretty much the only Spin Doctors song anyone still knows, which was kinda cool.

(Just as a note, my Flip camera is having issues uploading to my blog, so the videos are from my regular camera. Just to explain the poor quality. Moving on.)

The festival was much more than just the main concert stage. There were a ton of booths in the back, including some weird "extreme sports" thing that was basically a few guys jumping off of things while holding a soccer ball. I guess that's Israel for you? One of the cooler booths was a huge painting that was being done by the crowd - the artist painted what it was supposed to look like, and then gave pictures of it to the "painters" to copy onto the big canvas.

Finally, around 12:15AM came the big event - Kool and the Gang! Yes, they were all in their 50s, but they still put on a great show. It was probably one of the most unusual crowds they had had in years, as a lot of the students clearly had no idea who they were. You'd think that they usually perform to American crowds that were fans of theirs back in the '70s, not Israeli students born in the late '80s! Still, it was easily one of the most entertaining concerts I've ever been to. I especially liked before the song "Joanna" when one of them asked the crowd, "Now, how many ladies out there are named 'Joanna'?" The five girls who cheered had to have been liars.

The clearest sign that a lot of people didn't know who Kool and the Gang were before that night was at the end of the show, when they walked offstage without playing "Celebration". Everyone seemed to assume the show was over, and most people seemed confused when the drummer stayed on stage and started a drum solo. Sure enough, however, they band returned to the stage to play their signature song, and the entire crowd loved it. I think Kool and the Gang might have a new Israeli following!

The festival was scheduled to go on until after sunrise, but after Kool and the Gang wrapped up at around 2AM, I and a few others decided to head back. All in all, a great night, with great music, and great friends. What more could you want? Happy Jerusalem Day!

Krembo Experience: Ben Yehuda Street

If you've ever been to Jerusalem, you know that Ben Yehuda St. is quite the interesting place. Less of a street than a strip mall, Ben Yehuda is right in the center of the city, and while often populated by Israelis, is a magnet for tourists looking for a souvenir. It can always be a fun (and sometimes frustrating) street to walk along, and since I started working at the Jewish Agency, I often find myself making the 2-minute walk over for lunch, a gift, or just to stroll around.

One of the defining characteristics of Ben Yehuda is that at any time, there are at least 3 or 4 street musicians serenading pedestrians in hopes of being tossed a couple of shekels. Mostly, they are your run-of-the-mill guitar players, but I've seen some pretty unusual musicians out there. Some examples include:

• A harpist
• A recorder player
• An accordian player
• A woman with a karaoke machine
• A man in full African tribal dress playing the drum (Sidebar: In case you were wondering, he was white.)
• A man in full Native American attire playing "Imagine" on the guitar and pan flute (Sidebar: Also white.)
• A full choir of about 20 Asians.

(Sidebar: That last one, for me, was when Ben Yehuda officially jumped the shark.)

On top of that, you can find any number of cheap "Israel" sovenirs, none of which you will ever see an actual Israel wear. (Sidebar: The single biggest giveaway that you're a tourist? Any IDF apparal. Just about every single person here actually served in the IDF, so none of them feel the need to buy a T-shirt.) Another popular item here are the novelty yamulkas (for the non-Jews in the house, that's a circle of fabric worn by religious Jewish men at all times, and by many other Jews during services) that can be found anywhere. They range from your favorite sports team (no matter what it is) to popular TV shows like The Simpsons or South Park. My personal favorite would have to be the "Obama '08" one, because quite simply, no one in Israel is going to be wearing that one anytime soon.

Since Birthright showed up a few days ago, the normal eccentrism of Ben Yehuda St. seems to have gone overboard into full-on crazyness. Once the hoardes of American college students descended, every single ATM on the street was out of cash (not an exaggeration), prices seem to have mysteriously gone up despite all of the "Discount for Birthright!!!" signs in the windows, and even more wacky street musicians have appeared. (Sidebar: If anyone on a Birthright trip is reading this, remember how you heard them playing your favorite Israeli dancing songs from summer camp? Yeah, they don't do that normally.) Allie and I made the unfortunate decision of going to get dinner at our usual little restaurant on the same night that seemingly every Birthright group was on the street, subjecting us to huge crowds, oblivious 18-year-olds freaking out that they can buy a beer at the convienence store, and the occasional Birthrighter's attempt at speaking Hebrew that was even more pathetic than my own. (Sidebar: And that's saying something.) And of course, the various vendors and panhandlers on Ben Yehuda were just eating it all up.

At the end of the day, Ben Yehuda St. is a must-see, especially if it's your first time in Israel. After all, it was even one of the first places I took my family to last December to get a shawarma for lunch. Besides, you never know what you'll find there - maybe you'll get a personal serenade from a choir of Asians.

The Wheel of Fire!

As usual, I seem to be neglecting my blogging duties. It's been a hectic couple weeks here, but I'll get the rest of the Croatia blog up in the very near future. Anyway...

So this weekend, Allie and I headed out to a town just outside of Tel Aviv called Rishon LeTzion for the holiday of Lag B'Omer. I'd tell you what it's about, but I still have yet to find someone who actually knows. What I do know is that we celebrate by making bonfires on the night of the chag, or as our friend referred to it, we destroy the environment. We were invited to this particular bonfire by one of our good Israeli friends, Moran, and we had a great time. Imagine a giant parking lot with about 20 fires going in all different spots - that's where we were. Anyway, towards the end of the night, Moran's boyfriend Inoy asked us, "Want to see a magic trick?" He then took a piece of steel wool, tied some sort of stick/rope/string/something to it, lit it on fire, and did... this.

Cool stuff, huh? You don't get a full sense of it, but the sparks were flying everywhere in a pretty huge circle - large enough that everyone around us saw it and cheered him on. I may not know what Lag B'Omer is about, but any holiday that involves a spinning wheel of fire is good in my book.