Croatian / Hrvatski

dakanga · Post by **dakanga** » Sat Jul 09, 2022 5:08 am

Basic Phrases

The table I initially produced has been removed - as it is superseded in quality by the table :
viewtopic.php?p=21706-croatian-hrvatski#p21706 by @DmGabin

dakanga · Post by **dakanga** » Sat Jul 09, 2022 5:21 am

Grammar

Nouns

Croatian nouns are marked for gender, number, and case. The three are fused into one ending, as is the case in all Slavic languages.

genders: masculine, feminine, neuter

numbers: singular, plural, with some vestiges of dual

cases: nominative, genitive, dative, accusative, instrumental, locative , vocative; however only a few nouns have retained the vocative forms, and the locative and dative forms are almost identical.

Adjectives agree with the nouns they modify in gender, number, and case.

Verbs

Croatian verbs agree with their subjects in person and number in the non-past, and in gender and number in the past. They are marked for the following categories:

There are three persons: first, second, third; like all Slavic languages, Croatian is a pro-drop language, i.e., personal pronouns can be dropped because the verb ending makes the person clear.

There are three tenses: present, past, and future.

The past tense forms are pluperfect, imperfect, aorist, and perfect. Imperfect is considered to be an archaic form.

There are two forms of the future tense.

There two aspects: imperfective and perfective.

Perfective and imperfective verbs are formed from basic verb roots by adding prefixes and suffixes.

There are three moods: indicative, imperative, conditional.

There are two voices: active, passive.

Word order

The neutral word order in Croatian is Subject-Verb-Object. However, other orders are possible since inflectional endings take care of clearly marking grammatical relations and roles in the sentence. Word order is principally determined by topic (what the sentence is about, or old information) and focus (new information). Constituents with old information precede constituents with new information, or those that carry the most emphasis.

ref: https://www.mustgo.com/worldlanguages/croatian/

DmGabin · Post by **DmGabin** » Sat Jul 09, 2022 6:59 am

I take the liberty to amend your table:

Basic Phrases

English	Croatian / hrvatski	Cyrillic	hint
Yes No	Da Ne	Да Не	da neh
Hello	Zdravo	Здраво	z-DRA·vo
Good morning	Dobro jutro	Добро јутро	doh·BROH YOO·troh
Good afternoon (also before noon, when the sun is high)	Dobar dan	Добар дан	do·bar dan
Good evening	Dobro veče	Добро вече	doh·BROH VEH·cheh
Good night	Laku noć	Лаку ноћ	lah·koo noch
Goodbye	Zbogom Doviđenja	Збогом довиђе́ња	zbo·gom doh-vi-DJEN-yah
Please	Molim (vas)	Молим (вас)	mo·lim vas
Thank you (very much).	Hvala vam/ti (puno). pol/inf	Хвала вам/ти (пуно)	h-VA·la vam/ti (pu·no)
reply to thank you	Molim	Молим	mo·lim
You’re welcome.	Nema na čemu.	Нема на чему	ne·ma na che·mu
Excuse me.	Oprostite.	Опростите!	o·PRO·sti·te
Sorry	Žao mi je	Жао ми је	zha·o ME ye
Do you speak English?	Govorite/Govoriš li engleski? pol/inf	Говорите / говориш ли енглески?	go·vo·ri·te/go·vo·rish li en·gle·ski
Do you understand?	Da li razumijete/razumiješ? pol/inf	Да ли разумете/разумеш?	dali ra·zu·mi·ye·te/ra·zu·mi·yesh
I (don’t) understand.	Ja (ne) razumijem.	(Не) разумем	ya (ne) ra·ZU·mi·yem
What does (ovaj) mean?	Što znači (ovaj)?	Што значи (овај)?	shto zna·chi (ov·ay)
this	ovaj (Ova, Ovo)	овај	ov·ay
How do you …?	Kako se …?	Како се…?	ka·ko se …
- pronounce this	ovo izgovara	ово изговара	o·vo iz·go·va·ra
- write (ovaj)	piše (ovaj)	пише (овај)	pi·she (ov·ay)
Could you please …?	Možete li …? pol Možeš li …? inf	Можете ли … ? Можеш ли … ?	mo·zhe·te li … mo·zhesh li …
- repeat that	to ponoviti	то поновити	to po·no·vi·ti
- speak more slowly	govoriti sporije	причати спорије	go·vo·ri·ti spo·ri·ye
- write it down for me	mi to napisati	ми то написати	mi to na·pi·sa·ti
Cheers !	Živjeli!	жи́вјели	jeh-VUH-lee

Audio references from :

dakanga · Post by **dakanga** » Sat Jul 09, 2022 9:48 am

Thank you [mention]DmGabin[/mention] !

I am ever so glad to have started this discussion, so that I have better material for myself to refer to.
And hopefully for others.
Including that it can be reviewed, held to account, and added to.
I am learning this language, and I appreciate the valued adding to resource that you have done !

dakanga · Post by **dakanga** » Sun Jul 10, 2022 8:37 am

Money - for Croatia

The Croatian currency is the Kuna (Kn) and divided into 100 lipa.

The plural form of kuna in Croatian is kune. (pronounced ‘koo-neh’) ref

The Croatian Kuna is still the official currency until the beginning of 2023. From June 2022 the Euro can be used, as well as the Kuna and all prices will begin to be shown in both Kuna and Euro.

Croatia is currently one of the states who are members of the EU committed by treaty to join the Schengen Area in the near future. Although Croatia joined the EU on 1st July 2013 it has still not yet joined the Eurozone i.e. Schangen visa. Croatia entered the ERM II (the ‘waiting room’ to join the Euro) in July 2020. Croatia is expected to finally adopt usage of the Euro on 1st January 2023. Croatia, Romania and Bulgaria are to formally become part of the Schengen area. The same shall apply to Cyprus once it has successfully completed the Schengen evaluation process.

References :

‘Kuna’ as a word means marten, a wonderful weasel-like animal,
whose fur coats were used as payment for goods many centuries ago.
![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/ ... s_crop.jpg)
ref: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marten

The word lipa means linden tree - genus Tilia. Lipa was chosen with the proposal when the currency was being set up as it is easy to pronounce and has its origins in the traditions of Croatian folklore, literature and history.

Lipanj means June in Croatia. Related to Lȉpa, thus denoting the month in which Lipa blooms.
ref : https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/lipanj

In Slavic mythology, the Lipa was considered a sacred tree.

Major credit and debit cards are accepted in most banks and hotels in Croatia. There are plenty of ATMs that accept standard international credit and debit cards.

Pounds sterling, US dollars and Euros are easily exchanged for local currency. Only exchange money at reliable places such as banks and currency exchange bureau.

Kuna denominations

10, 20, 50, 100, 200, 500 and 1000 Kuna notes.
1, 2 and 5 Kn coins, always in silver color.

ATMs mostly handle 100s and 200s

Lipa coin denominations:

1, 2, 5, 10, 20 and 50. All are silver color, except 5 and 10 Lipa which are golden.

The men illustrated on the Kuna

10 Kuna – Istrian bishop Juraj Dobrila
20 Kuna – Duke Josip Jelačić
50 Kuna – poet and Dubrovnik nobleman Ivan Gundulić
100 Kuna – Duke and poet Ivan Mažuranić
200 Kuna – politician Stjepan Radić
500 Kuna – poet and Split nobleman Marko Marulić
1000 Kuna – politician Ante Starčević

Motifs on the coins

1 lipa CORN STALK
2 lipa VINE BRANCH
5 lipa COMMON OAK BRANCH
10 lipa TOBACCO PLANT
20 lipa OLIVE BRANCH
50 lipa VELEBIT DEGENIA
1 kuna NIGHTINGALE
2 kuna TUNA
5 kuna BROWN BEAR

References :

Some shops and restaurants will accept euros, but you’ll get your change in kuna, and not at a very attractive rate.

How much do you tip?

Croatia’s tipping culture is more laid back than in other countries. Having said that, it’s customary to leave at least 10% in restaurants and for beauty and spa treatments. In bars and cafés, just round up the bill. Tour guides appreciate a few kuna at the end of a tour, and taxi drivers don’t expect a tip, but, again, if you want to round up a fare from, say, 22 kuna (US$3.15) to 25 kuna (US$3.57), it’s appreciated. If you’re filling up your car and notice a few students cleaning car windscreens, give them a few kuna, as they’re working for tips only.

https://www.lonelyplanet.com/articles/t ... to-croatia

LICA98 · Post by **LICA98** » Sun Jul 10, 2022 7:54 pm

Herzegovina not Hercegovina

LICA98 · Post by **LICA98** » Sun Jul 10, 2022 8:29 pm

btw Croatian is available on Drops

dakanga · Post by **dakanga** » Mon Jul 11, 2022 7:06 am

Hercegovina or Herzegovina

There seems to be some who prefer to use Hercegovina, rather than force the English "standard" of Herzegovina. (and possibly the German standard ... more to that story ;P ... and also deeply thank you to this modern Germany, for the current political powers, and also deeply, for the great personal individuals and German friends I have, they are respectful people I am glad to call my friend, those I know in person. )

If you convert the Cyrillic name of
Херцеговина to English, it is
Hercegovina.
with ц : c

Tse (Cyrillic) : ц

Tse (Ц ц; italics: Ц ц), also known as Ce, is a letter of the Cyrillic script. .. ...
In English, Tse is commonly romanized as ⟨ts⟩. However, in proper names (personal names, toponyms, etc.) and titles it may also be rendered as c (which signifies the sound in Serbo-Croatian, Czech, Hungarian etc.), z (which signifies the sound in Italian and German), cz or tz. Its equivalent in the modern Romanian Latin alphabet is ț.

ref: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tse_(Cyrillic)

I, as an Australian, have known much of how imposing some , including the empowered police of English correctness can be to make the world right in their chosen image.
Being especially those that consider themselves being the power over others.
And to use micro aggressions, especially such as this, to seek to enact their dominance over others.
Which is also a reason for my choices.

I am choosing to follow this standard, rather than imposing the English "standard" of forcing its terminology/spelling choices in this instance.
Especially as this contra to other standards. Other standards that I have also seen those that are in what they see as their right and power to affect over others - to others determent - that they consider that they make the rules on, and that they see they are in the right to seek to shame others about.
I leave this up to reader, the thinker, to make their own decision.
Hopefully respectful in our diversity, of our differences.
Connected in our respect and ability to communicate, and to learn.

I am in the debt and in honor of the peoples past and present, and emerging, in the lands of Hercegovina / Херцеговина

Other references

I remain answerable to this community, and in service to this community.
And in service to assist, as far as I am able to learning other languages, and with deepest respect to other communities.
Each one of us is welcome here to learn and connect.

dakanga · Post by **dakanga** » Mon Aug 01, 2022 6:22 pm

More on where Hrvatski (Croatian) is spoken :

As in the name of the language spoken in many countries, such as Croatia, Montenegro and
Standard Croatian is the official language of the Republic of Croatia and, along with Standard Bosnian and Standard Serbian, one of three official languages of Bosnia and Herzegovina. It is also official in the regions of Burgenland (Austria), Molise (Italy) and Vojvodina (Serbia). Additionally, it has co-official status alongside Romanian in the communes of Carașova and Lupac, Romania. In these localities, Croats or Krashovani make up the majority of the population, and education, signage and access to public administration and the justice system are provided in Croatian, alongside Romanian.

ref: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Croatian_ ... e official

Also note:

Hrvatska (first letter capital) is the native name for Croatia, the country.

ref: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hrvatski_(disambiguation)

Perhaps English speaking, and perhaps all of us (?), should consider changing their implied reference to this country to this name, of Hrvatska ?
Being the name that the people of Hrvatska call their own country.
What do you think ?

Post by **Stasia** » Mon Aug 01, 2022 7:47 pm

dakanga wrote: ↑Mon Aug 01, 2022 6:22 pm
Perhaps English speaking, and perhaps all of us (?), should consider changing their implied reference to this country to this name, of Hrvatska ?
Being the name that the people of Hrvatska call their own country.
What do you think ?

I think languages are too free to obey such rules... see as an (extreme) example: Germany (English) = Deutschland (German) = Alemania (Spanish) = Allemagne (French) = Niemcy (Polish)...

I think we will always bend the spelling and pronunciation of foreign names to our native languages, and diversity of names such as for Germany has historic roots. Germany is derived from Germanic tribes, Niemcy because we can't talk in our language (niemy means mute in Polish), and if I remember correctly Alemania/Allemande comes from a specific Germanic tribe.

So the diversity of names for the same places underscores human diversity - of our languages, of our cultures, of our histories.

dakanga · Post by **dakanga** » Mon Aug 01, 2022 8:12 pm

Great points.

Though do you think, is it not more respectful of the one we are talking about, and I hope choosing to connect with, to do what we can to call them the name they call themselves, and the name they choose to respond to and be know by ?

I understand the problem with the limitations of any language to pronounce the sounds of another language.
And the right for another person especially, to be able to express the reality that they find a truth in for themselves.

Yet for entire countries, for also communities, to choose to disrespect another community and require it to be referred to by a name not of the choosing of the second / referred to party?

I do not see the intellect, the respect, in what that other community may be choosing to do.

In willfully, intentionally, and with broad strokes to do so.

It is, in my inexperience, an intention of another body to belittle and disrespect another. Unless it is said with kindness and endearment.
Though - as an official noun - naming word - of another country - I do not see even this is the case.

What do you think ?

dakanga · Post by **dakanga** » Tue Aug 02, 2022 5:01 am

We have experienced an interesting phenomenon here in the famous coastal city of Dubrovnik.

Yesterday, when we went for swim the water was cold. It was not pleasant to be in the water for any length of time due to the coldness.

For the waters to the north of Dubrovnik - the water was lusciously warm and comfortable to be in for a long period of time.

So - I went on a data search, and this is the most interesting and official site I have found.

https://meteo.hr/podaci_e.php?section=p ... ram=more_e

Here you will see the water temperatures for other towns.
And yes, this is in celsius, a standard used in MANY countries, including for this area, and also preferred by many industries.

i.e. for 1 August 2022
Station \ Local time 08:00:00
Crikvenica 24.1
Dubrovnik 17.2
Hvar 24
Komiža 24
Krk 24
Malinska 25.3
Mali Lošinj 24.9
Mljet-otvoreno more 24.5
Mljet-Veliko jezero 27.3
Mljet-Malo jezero 28.5
Opatija 23.9
Pula 27
Rab 25
Rovinj-Sv.Ivan n/p 27
Split 24
Šibenik 20
Zadar 25

According to quite a few resources for August in Dubrovnik surface water temperatures are :
Max: 27.8°C / 80.1°F
Avg: 25.4°C / 77.7°F
Min: 23.1°C / 75.4°F
ref: https://www.seatemperature.org/europe/c ... august.htm

This also makes this 17.2 a significant outlier.

Why is this relevant for a community interested in learning language ?
As for some of us, this encourages our interest in the area, and also to look for words and explanations for phenomena such as this. It increases our understanding, and also interest in the culture and language of a region.

There is known in this area a wind called The Bura, that can bring unseasonal weather.
I will write more about that soon. Or perhaps others may instead ?

However I have not found yet an explanation for the unusual difference in surface water temperature for Dubrovnik at this time, the end of July beginning of August 2022.
Can anyone assist with more information ?

Post by **Stasia** » Tue Aug 02, 2022 3:03 pm

dakanga wrote: ↑Mon Aug 01, 2022 8:12 pm
Though do you think, is it not more respectful of the one we are talking about, and I hope choosing to connect with, to do what we can to call them the name they call themselves, and the name they choose to respond to and be know by ?

[mention]dakanga[/mention], I understand your points. I think, however, that these concerns apply more to places like Deutschland and Magyarország whose names are so drastically different in other languages.

I don't know for sure, but I can understand how Hrvatska got changed to Croatia. The very Slavic "hrv" cluster of consonants must be very difficult to pronounce for non-Slavic speakers. Also the ts/tz (IPA /t̪͡s̪/ ) consonant is very foreign in English. I think it only exists in loan words/names, such as tsar or Horowitz, and in my experience native English speakers are not always sure how to pronounce it.

Even in Polish, which is a related Slavic language, we changed Hrvatska to Chorwacja (read: Horvatsya), because we needed to add a vowel to the "hrv" cluster, and also because the ending -tska feels unnatural in Polish for a noun (in Polish it's an adjective ending; -ska is OK for a noun/proper name, but not -tska).

So basically I think there is a difference between somewhat mispronouncing a name, and giving a complete name alltogether (Germany and Hungary from my first paragraph). Trust me, I know what I'm saying - I'm an immigrant whose name has been mispronounced in every way possible. I don't mind as long as you hit at least half of the sounds right.

Also, [mention]dakanga[/mention] - are you enjoying the new bridge to Dubrovnik?

dakanga · Post by **dakanga** » Tue Aug 02, 2022 4:47 pm

And on the top of that you also have the curiosity of how the English choose to label Netherlands.

People of the Netherlands call their country “Nederland”, their language “Nederlands”, and themselves “Nederlanders”.

Yet English speakers currently choose to often refer to the Nederlands as Holland, because two of the twelve provinces of North and South Holland are the ones that contain all the good (read: touristy) stuff.
And they call the people and language of the Nederlands Dutch.

As said by Attman Kar in https://www.quora.com/Why-do-they-call- ... ople-Dutch

“Dutch” is an English word. It is used as a demonym for someone from the Netherlands. “Dutch” in English also refers to the language spoken in the Netherlands.

... It is the English, and ipso facto everyone who speaks English, that call Netherlanders Dutch.

If you want to be correct, call the Dutch people “Netherlanders” (singular “Netherlander”). You will never offend any Dutch person by calling him/her so.

For a country to do this to another country and its people is - in my opinion - a type of bully boy attitude. That surely we as a community of English speakers should choose to correct.

On this issue other references:

https://dutchreview.com/culture/history ... he-answer/
a very good and amusing read.
https://www.dictionary.com/e/demonym/
Explaining the word of demonym in English - worth checking out.

Just because someone else chooses to do something inappropriate is not justification for an individual to choose to continue to support this type of thing.
And it is worthwhile for us as individuals, in respectful ways, to contemplate this, including the disrespectful effect of this on others, especially the people, and the communities and countries in person who are being mislabeled.

I appreciate your point of view. And if you are trying to pass an exam or some sort of review by another authority, then I understand why you may choose to do this. However - to do this without this necessity, and to not allow discussion on this offensive mislabeling, is to support abuse of others.

Thank you again @Stasia. For ensuring aspects of this issue are discussed, including putting up another point of view for people to consider.

dakanga · Post by **dakanga** » Tue Aug 02, 2022 5:02 pm

Your other valid point is that there are sounds that are unique to certain languages, and not existent in others.

This is true.
Yet I do not see that this should also be problem, especially in this day and age.
I need more time to be able to express this.
Thank you again for this discussion.

dakanga · Post by **dakanga** » Wed Aug 03, 2022 3:21 am

I think we are going a little off topic here, though it is a very interesting topic, the names - including the different names people call other things.
And - at some other time, I would like to see another discussion made to address this issue, rather than in this discussion about the language of Hrvatski (Croatian), and the culture and learning around this language.

So I went and googled some more information on this difference, and discussions on the Etymology of this.

While currently in the English speaking world we generally hold an understanding English speakers use the word Croatian to refer to this language, this does not make it the correct and respectful decision.

This is the best summary I have found for why this has previously come about :

Victor Martens : Lives in Dubrovnik, Croatia ref: https://www.quora.com/Why-does-everybod ... or-Martens

Well the language that had a major influence on English and other European languages was Latin. And the crucial reason to “Hrvatska” becoming 'Croatia' is just adoption of the name in Latin.

Croatians' roots are Slavic; the language is Slavic, just as Russian is. Or Polish.

Thus you'll find in many Slavic languages similar name to the native “Hrvatska”. In Czech it's “Chorvatsko”, in Russian it's “Horvatiya”. In the recent past Croatians called their country “Horvatska”, as the initial Slavic version was “Horvat”, not “Hrvat” as it's now.

It wasn't much of a problem for other Slavic languages to come with the name for Croatia, as they are in the same language family with Croatian. They do have same sounds, similar endings for countries and such.

Latin was never Slavic and it works differently. It does not like the “h” sound, which is silent and not pronounced. But it would be silly just to omit “h” for “Hrvatska”, wouldn't it? So it needed to transform “h” into something similar but more with accordance to the Latin system. Then the “ch” came, gradually becoming only “c”.

In the system of Latin it was also unimaginable to pronounce “v” after “r”, which is easy for Slavic speakers. Latin needed a vowel after “r", so it transformed “v” into a vowel “o”.

Now the initial Slavic “Horvat” became “Croat” and the country got the usual Latin ending for Slavic countries (-ia), becoming “Croatia”.

There's a lot of interesting examples on how differently languages refer to the same ethnicity. It's a rather simple geohistorical component having influence on the creation of the name.

One example would be Germany. In Denmark it's Tyskland.

In Finald they call their country Suomi… It goes on and on.

LICA98 · Post by **LICA98** » Wed Aug 03, 2022 4:21 am

dakanga wrote: ↑Mon Aug 01, 2022 6:22 pm
More on where Hrvatski (Croatian) is spoken :

As in the name of the language spoken in many countries, such as Croatia, Montenegro and
Standard Croatian is the official language of the Republic of Croatia and, along with Standard Bosnian and Standard Serbian, one of three official languages of Bosnia and Herzegovina. It is also official in the regions of Burgenland (Austria), Molise (Italy) and Vojvodina (Serbia). Additionally, it has co-official status alongside Romanian in the communes of Carașova and Lupac, Romania. In these localities, Croats or Krashovani make up the majority of the population, and education, signage and access to public administration and the justice system are provided in Croatian, alongside Romanian.

ref: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Croatian_ ... e official

Also note:

Hrvatska (first letter capital) is the native name for Croatia, the country.

ref: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hrvatski_(disambiguation)

Perhaps English speaking, and perhaps all of us (?), should consider changing their implied reference to this country to this name, of Hrvatska ?
Being the name that the people of Hrvatska call their own country.
What do you think ?

makes no sense, like Croatia isn't even demanding to be called that like some countries do (for example Ivory Coast wants to be called Côte d'Ivoire or Ukrainians want everyone to write Kiev as Kyiv)

do you also think Croatians should change their language and call the English speaking countries what they're called in English?

LICA98 · Post by **LICA98** » Wed Aug 03, 2022 4:30 am

Stasia wrote: ↑Tue Aug 02, 2022 3:03 pm
dakanga wrote: ↑Mon Aug 01, 2022 8:12 pm
Though do you think, is it not more respectful of the one we are talking about, and I hope choosing to connect with, to do what we can to call them the name they call themselves, and the name they choose to respond to and be know by ?

@dakanga, I understand your points. I think, however, that these concerns apply more to places like Deutschland and Magyarország whose names are so drastically different in other languages.

I don't know for sure, but I can understand how Hrvatska got changed to Croatia. The very Slavic "hrv" cluster of consonants must be very difficult to pronounce for non-Slavic speakers. Also the ts/tz (IPA /t̪͡s̪/ ) consonant is very foreign in English. I think it only exists in loan words/names, such as tsar or Horowitz, and in my experience native English speakers are not always sure how to pronounce it.

Even in Polish, which is a related Slavic language, we changed Hrvatska to Chorwacja (read: Horvatsya), because we needed to add a vowel to the "hrv" cluster, and also because the ending -tska feels unnatural in Polish for a noun (in Polish it's an adjective ending; -ska is OK for a noun/proper name, but not -tska).

So basically I think there is a difference between somewhat mispronouncing a name, and giving a complete name alltogether (Germany and Hungary from my first paragraph). Trust me, I know what I'm saying - I'm an immigrant whose name has been mispronounced in every way possible. I don't mind as long as you hit at least half of the sounds right.

Also, @dakanga - are you enjoying the new bridge to Dubrovnik?

apparently hrv is too much even for Polish but the R there is a syllabic consonant so it is 3 syllables rather than 2 (same way for example in English the word rhythm is 2 syllables even tho it contains only 1 vowel)

dakanga · Post by **dakanga** » Wed Aug 03, 2022 9:47 pm

Regarding the lovely new bridge in Dubrovnik, for the short stay I was there I did admire the bridge.

You can see and read more about it such as from here : https://www.google.com/maps/uv?pb=!1s0x ... ip6BAh0EAM

And I consider it is very elegant and functional. And for my stay, I think it was substantial in reducing the level of traffic where I was staying, and made it more pleasant to ride a bike.

We found the many main freeways well made and many looked very new throughout Croatia.
The food was good, as well as the climate at the end of July. Though it was very hot in the afternoons. We choose to only go riding in the mornings.
The people were very patient with me, with my very very limited ability in their language, and very welcoming.

Our favorite town of the few we had a chance to visit was Šibenik. There are though many others that have a long and fascinating history chock full of buildings from centuries ago.

The size of Dubrovnik old town is impressively large, though felt much more like a tourist town, despite its impressive history. Which is spectacular that it has survived so well through the turmoil of history, and has the feel of an amazing continuous planning and management. Yet now does not have the feel of a city that is lived in, and is more of what others have described as having a Disney world feel and the precinct of tourists.
Do though not be put off by this if you get a chance to spend time there. It was also a highlight I feel honored to have been able to visit.

I suggest part of the trick of getting to enjoy the old town of Dubrovnik old town is to try to plan your trip when the large cruise ships are not in town. Quite a juggle and gamble to do that ....

Also, each of us are different, enjoy different things and experience different things.
I can not recommend enough, if you get a chance, you will be rewarded by the gift of special memories in visiting the spectacular country of Croatia.

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