German tourist who has spent 35 summers in Croatia: “We have never felt so unwelcome anywhere”

A German woman who has spent more than 35 years vacationing in Croatia says she left this summer feeling more unwelcome than ever before. She shared her experience in a German social media group, according to Merkur.de.

The woman said she had visited Croatia since childhood and stayed in hotels, apartments and campsites. She had also traveled there on a sailboat. But this year’s holiday, she said, left her deeply shaken.

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We love this country and its people. We love the openness, warmth, hospitality and that wonderfully relaxed way of treating people that we have valued for decades.

“We were surprised by how easy it was for us to leave, and to be honest, we find that very sad,” she wrote. “We have never felt so uncomfortable and unwelcome anywhere as we did this time.”

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We have never felt so uncomfortable and unwelcome anywhere as we did this time.

She stressed that she did not want to speak badly about Croatia or its residents. “We love this country and its people. We love the openness, warmth, hospitality and that wonderfully relaxed way of treating people that we have valued for decades,” she said. But she added that those qualities were missing during this summer’s trip. “As a tourist, you sometimes almost had the feeling that you were not wanted,” she wrote.

Without giving many details, she said she exchanged fewer than three words with her landlord during a two-week stay. She also said someone entered the family’s boat without permission and that she faced what she described as a physical attack in traffic.

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As a tourist, you sometimes almost had the feeling that you were not wanted.