Impressions of Croatia in Travel Journals of Yore – Part 3

February 4, 2024 – In our last feature on the impressions of Croatia in the travel journals of the times, we left in southern Dalmatia. Now, where our travelers left for Montenegro, we will instead look for the North Adriatic.

As Nikolina Demark writes, this time, we are tagging along with A. Fortis (1770) and G. Marcotti (1890). To understand them better, it is worth reading their initial impressions here and here.

Why come back? Quite a few places were left out of the previous two pieces for reasons of brevity, so we make a trilogy to see what our protagonists think of the Gulf of Kvarner. It is a good deviation, but in the words of Fortis who expressed a similar sentiment in one of his letters:

It is a massive geographical leap to go from the island of Brač directly to the island of Rab which is one hundred and twenty kilometers away. But what can I tell you?

Exactly. But before we get to Rab and other Kvarner islands, let’s make a stop Mr. It is a coastal town best known for the magnificent Nehaj fortress, a historic Uskoks stronghold that kept invaders at bay. Fortis says:

A very famous city in the history of the Venetian Republic that had to formally wage a war against it and, unable to conquer it for a long time, suffered heavy losses in its possessions in Istria and Dalmatia; it was a subject of interest to a Venetian traveller. I wanted to meet the descendants of those fierce Uskoks who were admired for their courage and hated for their cruelty.

I wish I could learn their history as written by one of them, but uskoks fought heroically and dealt in ransom and collecting booty, and did not write historical accounts.

You don’t say.

With Senj ruled by Austria at the time, the Uskoks were indeed a source of headache for Venice; they defend the city, but also plunder the Venetian galleys along with most of the other merchant ships in the area. His conquests had a blessing from the local clergy, the monasteries received a tithe from generosity, and so the 16th century Senj developed essentially from piracy and looting. It’s no surprise then that its population might seem a bit, uh, relaxed to an outsider:

The people of Senj are superstitious and mischievous at the same time. It is said that the women of this city are prone to love; they are easy and in this respect they are not similar to Croatian women.

Uh-oh. Shall we start with caution? Fortunately, instead of bemoaning loose morality, Fortis turns this into social commentary:

And so romantic adventures are frequent, and sometimes followed by unpleasant consequences. The bishop and the leaders of the monastery who make up the court that deals with these matters issued a decree some years ago, which stipulated that if a celibate woman should give birth to a child, she could not sue her lover in court by marriage or possession. . This cruel ordinance has led to an even greater decay of morals, and every year, many unfortunates are sacrificed to misfortune for which there is no cure; it is heartless and outrageous barbarism.

A progressive stance for the 1770s.

To finish, a few of his thoughts on the infamous Senj bura:

The wind that comes from the barren mountains blows so fiercely in that narrow strait, there are times in winter that one cannot leave the house without danger, and it is even worse outside the city. Although they do not pass through the square where no sensible person appears at such times, but through the winding narrow streets, it often happens that children and fragile people are lifted from the ground and dashed against the wall by the wind When an urgent need calls for someone to go to the docks where the ships are anchored, despite crawling on their hands and knees sometimes they move away like straw due to the force of the wind.

Senj bura has lost none of its strength to this day, and Fortis was wise not to take it lightly.

***

Now, to Rabbi. Those who have read the first part of this series will no doubt remember that he shamelessly destroyed the poor population of the island of Pag, and it seems that Fortis has a real grudge against the islanders in general : :

The island of Rab would have everything it needs to support its small population, if only its agriculture were in the hands of less stupid and lazy people.

He continues:

However, [the island] it produces firewood, shipped to Venice every year on the backs of numerous donkeys, as well as grain, oil, excellent wine, brandy, and since ancient times – silk, the silkworms feed on mulberry leaves. Also exported are leather, wool, sheep, pigs and horses of good breed.

I don’t know, they don’t seem that lazy to me. There is more:

The sea begins to be useful, with salt pans maintained on the island that give an abundance of good fine salt. Also, despite the fact that fishing is done here in a very poor and sloppy way, the catch of tuna, mackerel and sardines is an important item in the trade of the people of Rab who (like the rest of Dalmatia) prefer to sell . his goods to foreigners rather than to Venetians. In spite of all these natural products, the island is far from being rich or making adequate progress, as uncultivated land and idle peasants are too common.

And an anecdote:

In the past, there was a bishop of Rab called Ottavio Spaderi; it occurred to him not to allow his relics to be displayed for public veneration on the feast of San Cristo, seeing that he doubted their authenticity. The people rebelled, wanting to jump into the sea from the top of the mountain on which the cathedral is located, and the riots did not stop even after the moment had passed. The government was about to send a ship of war to rescue the prelate from danger, and the pope considered it his duty to grant him a more subdued congregation in Italy.

Feisty. Fortis is lucky he didn’t get thrown off a cliff either.

***

Later, Marcotti writes about what you can find Losinj island:

A hunting association, a branch of the tourist club, a forestry and landscaping company. (…) There is no shortage of foreigners: Mali Lošinj has the Vindobona hotel, three special trattorias, five guesthouses. There are two other guesthouses and a resort for convalescent children in Veli Lošinj.

Visit Cres island, he notes:

In general, sheep farming is difficult on the Kvarner islands because of bura; large juniper trees, cultivated and natural in the form of canopies from the frequent pressure of the wind, provide shelter to the itinerant bands.

***

We Rijeka, the largest city in the Kvarner gulf, visited by our two travelers. Fortis first:

Croatian is the native language. Refined people of both sexes speak Italian well, imitating the Tuscan way of speaking; surely they should be praised much more than we who butcher our beautiful language, but mock all others who endeavor to speak it, unless they were born in Tuscany.

The people of Rijeka are mild-mannered, and their company jovial, although it is marked by moderation.

Marcotti also spends some time in Rijeka and does not leave us. Two of the most important things in any destination: where to eat and how to move!

Numerous trattorias and even those that operate in part of the hotels; breweries of the main Austrian factories. Scampi are delicious, especially served in a risotto. [There are] because services, omnibuses, public valets.

… the latter being a somewhat vague translation, referring to a particular profession: a person stationed in a public place ready to help you with any need or errand. Think concierge, tour guide, messenger, personal customer, delivery service all in one. Looking for directions to a certain location or maybe need a hand with those shopping bags? The public valet has your back.

He continues:

The appearance of the city is really beautiful, its architecture of Italian character, although it offers little of note when it comes to art.

Ah well, you win some, you lose some. At least there are good scams.

And for a final thought, a line used time and time again, a variation of which is probably currently displayed somewhere on the pages of the local tourist board:

The panoramic view of Rijeka and the Kvarner gulf seen from Trsat is truly magnificent.

***

Opatija it became a full-fledged tourist destination at this point (late 1890s), and a health resort at that. Marcotti reports:

There are a good number of nonagenarians in perfect health who live on this riviera.

Its most sheltered and most pleasant place, Opatija, is advertised by the company Südbahn (Southern Austrian Railways) as a place of health for the winter and seaside in the summer. It has developed tremendously and can hardly accommodate the large clientele that is arriving, especially those from Austria-Hungary and Germany.

The entire facility cost the Südbahn no less than 3 million guilders. There are milk, honey and egg treatments, massages, gymnastics and health walks.

Some interesting insight into the early days of prosperity, followed by a brief summary showing how quickly Opatija gained a reputation as a place to be:

Starting from 1885 (when Archduke Rudolf and his wife Stéfanie stayed here for the first time) visiting and staying in Opatija became a highly esteemed pastime, very fashionable in court circles and among the aristocrats and diplomats. This is from the 15th of October to the 15th of May: in the other five months, bourgeois society visits to bathe in the sea. The Empress of Austria, several archdukes and archduchesses, members of the royal family of Serbia and Romania were some of the guests of Opatija.

***

With tourism becoming an industry, this seems like a good place to end this feature. Of course, when it comes to travelogues that paint a picture of the Croatian coast in ancient times, we’ve barely scratched the surface in our three-part series. Countless travelers have chronicled their adventures in the Adriatic, and provided you have the time and determination to peruse ancient texts, it is a fascinating body of work to study. We have kept the goal small so as not to turn this into a dissertation, but I hope you have appreciated the reviews of our travelers anyway. Just keep in mind these are opinions of individuals from past centuries, and not necessarily a current representation of what Croatia is like – lazy folk, loose morals and local superstitions includes.

Sources for Part III:

Giuseppe Marcotti, The eastern Adriatic, from Venice to Corfu (1899)

Alberto Fortis, Travel to Dalmatia1774 (Croatian edition: Put some DalmatiansGlobus, Zagreb, 1984)

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