March 11, 2018 – we travel back in time with an entertaining glimpse into the history of tourism in Croatia, some 30 years ago
My Facebook feed served me with an amusing, nostalgia-inducing video earlier today: a 15-minute look into the lively town of Selce on the northern Adriatic. To be more precise, a 15-minute trip back in time, to the glorious 80s when Selce used to be a booming summer destination.
To be fair, Selce is still a well-known tourism hub, visited by locals and foreigners in equal parts. It’s located on the Crikvenica Riviera, some 40 kilometres away from Rijeka. Apart from well-kept beaches, hotels, plenty of bars and restaurants, and other similar content you’d expect to find in a town with 100 years of tourism tradition, Selce also houses a renowned clinic named Terme Selce, a facility which granted the town its prominent position on the health tourism map.
If there’s ever been a perfect visual representation of the iconic Croatian tourism slogan, the Mediterranean as it once was, this is it. The footage follows a couple of tourists on their way around Selce as they’re enjoying everything the town has to offer, discovering numerous facets of this authentic Adriatic destination. It’s all there: a quick look to Selce’s historical heritage and traditional crafts, a nod to local cuisine, a display of accommodation facilities, dreamy shots of the coastline and sailboats gliding around the bay… and, erm, more dreamy shots of topless beauties you’re not likely to see in promo videos anymore. Croatia full of life indeed.
While the video is set to a Croatian voiceover introducing the viewers to Selce, you won’t need a working knowledge of the language to appreciate the humour on display. Just look at the opening sequence with a beautiful dark-haired woman standing at a crossroads, all confused as she traces the route to Selce on a map of Europe, then sort of zooms in on a separate map of Kvarner.
This lady and this gentleman seem to be having some difficulties locating their destination, the voiceover says. Don’t worry! They’re very close. The gentleman in question turns out to be a young leather-clad stud who saves the day by gently pulling our confused tourist two metres to the left and pointing to a giant sign saying SELCE. Very close indeed! I was honestly getting worried for a minute. It’s no fun when your holiday gets ruined for failing to notice an enormous, glaringly obvious welcoming sign.
Our hero of the day goes on to lose the jacket and makes friends with a local fisherman. On the other side of town, our heroine takes a dip and proceeds to do her best Ursula Andress impression as she climbs up to the beach bar. The protagonists meet again! She slathers him in sunscreen even though he didn’t ask. He produces a goldfish in a plastic bag. Things stop making sense from this point on, but it doesn’t really matter – the following 10 minutes or so are both hysterical and charming, only serving to show that tourism used to be more fun in the 80s than it is today. Enjoy the video below:
