ITB Berlin News 2019 - Review Edition

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BLOGGERS’ FAVOURITES
Sneak picks from a selection of bloggers at ITB Berlin
Roberta Rianna
Editor in Chief, L’Agenzia di Viaggi at Dugi Otok
Escape from the overtourism
in Dugi Otok
by Roberta Rianna, Editor in Chief, L’Agenza di
Viaggi, Travel Trade Newspaper
“Hi Pavarotti, singing in the shower? Do not do it, wash
quickly, here water is precious”. Maks and Dana welcome
us in their Stone House Buljanovic, a stylish b&b in Dugi
Otok, the land tongue of the Zadar archipelago, in Croatia.
A welcome that is the first and fundamental lesson of life
on the Long Island: respect the resources of the earth, food,
even money, because there are only a couple of ATMs here
and the connection is interrupted at the first drop of rain. It
is likely, if not certain, to run out of cash and find yourself
asking to borrow Kune to the inhabitants. Inhabitants soon
turned into friends.
Never heard of Dugi Otok
before coming across a
documentary: filmed by
drones of cobalt blue bays,
44 kilometres of steep curves
on the Adriatic, barely a
thousand dwellers. And then
the final invitation: “Come,
people, here you will find the
Maldives of Croatia”.
We arrive at the port of Sali,
sleepy mooring of yachts
and sailboats. Our house
is on the harbour, from the
window you can see the
sea: crystalline as in the
documentary. But the coast
is mostly rocky. Nothing
to do with the Maldives,
except for the white sandy
beach of Sakarun, the only
overcrowded destination of
Dugi Otok.
We decide to rent a scooter
and ride it across this Long
Island, and yet small. From
the park of Telašćica, green
and wild with its magical salt
lake, to the extreme north
where the lighthouse of Veli
Rat reigns. On the right, the
sea with the Kornati on the
horizon; on the left bushes
and shrubs. The whistle of the
wind and the buzzing of the
bees as the only soundtrack
of an island where Mother
Nature still commands
Transfăgărășan
Transfixed by Transylvania
by Rashi Sen, Editor,
Travel & Tourism News Middle East
Since I read Bram Stoker’s
Dracula in my early teens,
I have always dreamt of visiting
the mysterious Carpathian
Mountains of Romania, home
to spooky legends, Romani
gypsies and virgin, dark forests.
Seven days in the country and
we realised that rustic Romania
is all that and much, much
more. The Merry Cemetery in
Sapanta, the wooden churches
of Maramures and the stunning
Transfăgărășan were just some
of the places we were lucky
enough to visit.
My husband, my two-yearold
daughter and myself
started our road trip from Cluj-
Napoca, the unofficial capital of
Transylvania, from where we
drove to Sapanta close to the
northern border of Romania.
Sapanta is home to one of
the most unique cemeteries
around the world - most of the
tombstones are painted in a
striking blue colour, mirroring
the sky. The Merry Cemetery
gets its name from the poems,
paintings and stories that
are inscribed on all the 600
tombstones in this cemetery.
The paintings often cite a funny
anecdote from the deceased
one’s life, such as an angry
mother-in-law or a flirtatious
drunk.
This cemetery is not one to
miss if you are a taphophile or a
tombstone tourist – as the blue
cemetery is one of those rare
cemeteries that do not leave
you feeling blue.
Next on the cards for us were the
centuries-old wooden churches
of Maramures, eight of which
have been awarded Unesco
World Heritage Site status. As
darkness fell and as the last of
the tall dark wooden churches
faded into the horizon, we drove
south towards Transfăgărășan,
one of the country’s highest and
most expensive roads.
Transfăgărășan is, without a
doubt, the most stunning road we
have ever driven on, and we have
done all the top drives of Europe:
the winding roads interspersed
with stunning glimpses of Lake
Balea completely did us in but
the imposing fortress of Vlad The
Impaler looming in the distance
was definitely the cherry on the
cake
ITB BERLIN NEWS • Friday 15 th March 2019