Campsites,Yugoslavia #3of3

We stopped at the first campsite we saw, in Kuspari about eight km south of Dubrovnik. We would like to be closer so we could visit there by bus tonight, but we don’t know where the next campsite might be, and enough is enough for this day. We were told this is a Rest and Recreation center for the Yugoslavian Army, but we don’t feel any more secure.

The campsite near Dubrovnik seemed to be run by government bureaucrats. For a dozen campers (the large campground was almost empty), there were four levels of management, each with his own assigned office or area, and they were in addition to several people who were cleaning this and that. The main boss let us use his large office with nice furniture and two phones, to call our daughter. He told us to call and talk to her, then tell him how many minutes we talked, and he would charge, based on that. An interesting way to make an international long distance phone call.

We decided to visit Ada, near the border with Albania, where there was supposed to be a campsite. Well, at the end of the road near the border, there was a campsite, but since it’s a nudist campsite, a certain member of our party decided we weren’t going to spend the night. So we headed up the coast, to a campsite right on the beach, near Petrovac.

We took a walk around the campsite in Hvar, and walked past the large restaurant near the office. There is a small fancy yacht in the harbor, but only two tables were in use in the restaurant. Don’t think they could stay in business if the government wasn’t the owner. Many more employees than campers. As one man told us, “We pretend to work, the government pretends to pay us.” And with inflation as bad as it was at that time, he wasn’t kidding.

A few miles west of Split there was a campsite near the most delightful little town of Seget. On the shore at the edge of town several boats are being repaired. One was being built of oak or walnut or something that smelled like very good wood. This little Yugoslavian town consists of maybe 30 or 40 stone buildings, lining neat walking streets. Some buildings contain stores and restaurants, but most are homes. In the center of town is a little stone church, and the sidewalk surrounding the church is made of a more special stone than the other walks.