That is where I was for most of the latter part of May. A few notes:

1. Travel in the Internet age is amazing. An interesting question is which countries/regions/towns will benefit most as travel becomes easier and more affordable. We only stayed in one legitimate hotel, but all of our accommodations were clean, comfortable, friendly, and well-run. We put over 1000 miles on a car. I did not bring my computer, but Internet access was easier than it is when you travel in the U.S. Free WiFi seemed to be everywhere. We did not use any tour group or travel agent. We relied on friends. One friend was “Rick,” meaning the guidebook written by Rick Steves. Another friend was tripadvisor.com, which we used to double-check (and occasionally override) Rick. Another friend was “Bonnie,” our English-speaking navigation system in the rental car from British firm Sixt. Bonnie did not always choose the most obvious routes. Once, when we were trying to connect up with a major highway, she took us down a narrow lane through a vineyard that dumped us onto a road that indeed took us to the freeway entrance. Another time, however, she kept trying to get us to the highway using a route that simply was not operable, and we had to ask for directions.

2. Another interesting question is what happens if/when English loses its dominant role as everybody’s second language. In a place like Croatia or Slovenia, we see that Russians, Germans and Asians have to speak English in order to communicate with one another and with locals. But the presence of native-speaking English tourists is relatively low (more Brits than Americans). What if China becomes the largest source of tourist revenue? What if translation apps on cell phones become good enough to enable one to order a meal, register for a hotel, ask someone to take a picture, or ask for directions in any language?

3. Yet another question is what is the optimum currency area? I think that many economists nowadays doubt that the eurozone is an optimum currency area. But is Croatia? In any event, the dollar has lost its role as tourism’s medium of exchange or unit of account. Do not expect to get anywhere by offering to pay using greenbacks. In Bosnia, Montenegro, and Slovenia, you transact in euro. Croatia has its own currency, but prices for tourists are often quoted in euro. Given the importance of tourism, should all these countries simply adopt the euro?

4. On the European Union (Slovenia is in, and Croatia is in any day now), we had a very small sample of opinion (one person in each country) . Our sample thought that being in the European Union was more likely to inhibit trade than to help it. For example, Bosnian farm exports to Croatia will now be subject to costly regulation. Our sample also did not like the undemocratic nature of EU policy-making. Our sample complained of being “sold down the river by our politicians.”

5. It is very sobering to realize that this region was torn apart by war just two decades ago. What does the bitter post-Tito breakup of Yugoslavia tell us about, say, Mark Weiner’s thesis? Arguably, NATO replaced Tito as the hegemon required to keep the lid on ethnic hatreds.

6. Now that they are separate states, at least some of the countries are thriving, but I can imagine them doing better with more integration. If one could get the ethnic groups to remain peaceful with one another and at the same time avoid excessively statist economic policies, I imagine they would have to better off if they were federated in some way. If nothing else, it would get rid of a lot of wasteful border crossings. However, given the historical reality, perhaps the Balkans are better off…Balkanized.

You travel to Croatia for scenery, not for food or stylishness. If you have only 7 nights to spend, I would recommend 3 in Dubrovnik, 2 in Trpanj (on the Peljesac peninsula), and 2 in Plitvice. Dubrovnik feels a bit too much as if it has been turned over to Disney, but it is worth seeing and is a good base for visiting some of the Dalmatian islands. Incidentally, we felt sorry for people (including someone I know) who toured the Dalmatian Coast by bicycle. The hills are formidable. People who go on those tours either do not know what they are getting into or have a need to prove their courage and endurance that exceeds their desire to relax and enjoy beautiful scenery. On the other hand, taking a kayak tour of islands near Dubrovnik looked relaxing and fun, although we did not put it on our schedule.

We did not stay in Trpanj, but it had one of the better beaches (“better” being not very appealing by U.S. standards) and, more important, seemed like an excellent base of operations to use to explore the peninsula and nearby Korcula.

The waterfalls and lakes at Plitvice are very much worth an entire day, and given that they are a bit out of the way I think that two nights there are required. Don’t let Rick talk you into rushing through this park in a few hours.

We had 17 nights, so our trip was relatively leisurely. On Rick’s advice, we took side trips to Montenegro (very close to Dubrovnik), Mostar (in Bosnia) and to Rovinj, in the Istrian north of Croatia. I would not recommend those side trips if your stay in Croatia is less than 10 days. Montenegro was the best of these. It seemed a bit run-down, although it will be interesting to see if their economic liberalization policies pay off in 5 years or so. Mostar might be most notable as a dramatic site of the war in Bosnia. Perhaps Rovinj is popular because of its racier nightlife, which we did not explore.

Our other excursion was to Slovenia. I think that for us the highlight there was Ljubljana, which is a very pleasant city, with clearly more interesting food options than in Croatia. Bethesda or U street could use a dessert/coffee bar modeled on the one in Ljubljana called Cacao.

Our appreciation of the scenery of Slovenia may have been dimmed both by comparison with Croatia and by bad weather. Snow nearly kept us from taking a popular road through the Julian Alps. Word that the road was re-opened came just as we were proceeding on our tour. This was the one occasion where we took a tour bus, knowing that my wife would not have enough confidence in my driving for either of us to enjoy a route famous for 50 hairpin turns. I imagine that with normal weather it would be very enjoyable to hike around the area near Lake Bled and the rivers that flow through the Julian Alps. However, we encountered some torrential rain and daytime highs that were 25 degrees (F) below normal.

One of the weirdest incidents on the vacation took place in Dubrovnik. We heard some loud stomping and music outside our window. I went out to investigate, and it turned out that a professional folk music and dance troupe called Lindo was playing in a theater that happened to be in the courtyard of the apartment where we were staying. From our winddow, we watched and listened to the whole performance, for free.

Oddly enough, this took me back to my freshman year at Swarthmore College, where I befriended several classmates who got involve in Balkan folk dancing. My friends learned to sing in the style that I heard in one of the Lindo songs. And I remembered learning a dance to one of the tunes Lindo played. In the U.S., I believe that it was Conny and Marianne Taylor who used the phrase “mixed pickles” to indicate a rhythm of step, bounce-bounce which constitutes part of the dance. So, over 40 years later, I found myself mumbling “mixed pickles” while listening to a Balkan folk tune.