Archives for June 25th, 2007

That’s Split in the distant background.

I’m back from the island of Brač. Some unorganized thoughts:

* I was stunned by the omnipresence of Slovenian beer Laško there. Someone at that brewery deserves “Manager of the Millennium” award, because in two separate locales I visited they had neither Karlovačko nor Ožujsko (two local brands) but did have Laško. And there is green-goat paraphernalia everywhere. (See picture above) I suppose one can be a Croatian patriot and still love Laško (see: Balkan Baby) but beer in this region is such a politically sensitive subject that I’m just amazed Laško is even available outside of Styria, much less Slovenia.¹

* Slovenes are the quietest tourists that ever toured. I think they’re on the polar opposite end of the spectrum as Americans, who seem to speak so that the entire beach can hear them. (Or at least so that Croatian women can hear them.)

* A brief visit to a real estate agency on Brač will cure you of the idea that Slovenian properties are expensive.

Asking price: €2,000,000.

* I decided to give up on caffeine for the holiday, just to see what would happen. Well, what happened is that I had a total system collapse. I couldn’t believe it. I always thought that the effects of caffeine were partly psychological, or that I had built up such an immunity to it over the years that it no longer affected me. But it hit me hard. I was constantly drowsy and unrested. On the third day, I had a three-hour nap in the afternoon; then went to bed at 8 p.m. because I couldn’t keep my eyes open. I had to give up after that because I was at serious risk of sleeping through the entire vacation. The withdrawal period apparently can take upwards of five days, so I might give it a go some other time. Still, it was an interesting (and depressing) thing to learn about myself.

* I still think about sharks when swimming in the Adriatic. I hope you burn in hell, Discovery Channel, you lousy bastards.

That’s all for now. I’m spending this week in Berlin (as promised) on a press junket of sorts, but if I can get to a computer I’ll try to write a few words from there. Otherwise I’ll be back soon.

1. On the subject of availability: I saw two Australians chugging Laško from 1-liter plastic bottles, something I haven’t seen here before. Another thing generally missing here: Croatian beers. Supermarkets will have a few foreign brands, but I’ve never seen Karlovačko for sale. The people at Karlovačka pivovara need to dump whatever losers are running the firm and import some of Laško’s managers. [back]