Danielle Scherer got a little shiver every time someone said a phrase like “Dobar dan,” which means “good afternoon,” while she was touring Croatia in August.

Scherer’s grandmother, Mildred “Grandma Millie” Čunko Zelenski, was born and lived in Croatia until she emigrated to the U.S. at age 16. So the Croatian phrases Scherer heard during her visit beckoned her back to her childhood, even though the country’s language has changed since her grandmother lived there.

“Croatia adopted a national language after the end of the Croatian War of Independence in 2001,” Scherer said. “Because of isolating geography and a succession of foreign rulers, people living in different areas of what is now known as the Republic of Croatia speak dialects so distinct that those in the north cannot understand those in the south … The language I would be learning would not be exactly the same as what my grandmother spoke.”

Scherer, of Butler, went to Croatia with her friend, Amber Nelis, from Aug. 26 to Sept. 6. Scherer said she had always wanted to travel to her grandmother’s home country, even though she and her family did not know what city she was from exactly, only that she was lived in northern Croatia. According to Scherer, a family regret is that no one saved the letters or photos Grandma Millie received from the “old country,” and no one asked her the name of her hometown — or at least none of her children remembered it.

It was encouragement from Nelis that prompted Scherer to begin planning a trip to the central-European nation in January 2024.

“I don't know if I would have gone if she hadn't agreed to go and encouraged me. I'd probably still be talking about it,” Scherer said.

After landing in the Croatian city of Split on Aug. 27, Scherer and Nelis took off in a car they rented.

Describing the planning of the trip, Scherer said she was the big concept person while Nelis handled the specifics, and also took care of a lot of the logistics like booking rides and driving.

Still, the two joked that their first experience in Croatia was getting lost on the way to their Airbnb.

“All of the signs are a different language. It's metric, so you don't know the distance. We were in a pretty rural area, so there weren't a lot of landmarks to guide you,” Scherer said. “We finally got directions from a young woman at a café, because we were running into people who didn't speak English.”

Scherer and Nelis stayed first in Vis, an island in the Adriatic Sea off the southern Dalmatian Coast, near Krka National Park, which is renowned for its waterfalls. Vis is too small for cruise ships, so it doesn’t get crowded with tourists, Scherer said. They had to put their car onto a vehicle ferry to get to the island.

Although Scherer and Nelis knew about some of the major tourist spots in Croatia, like its most famous national park, Plitvice, and filming locations for “Game of Thrones,” their first trip to the country was aimed at hitting its more remote places. The two both said they enjoy being outdoors and hiking, so their philosophy was to plan around national parks.

“Our whole attitude towards this trip was to not do the big cities and the touristy things,” Nelis said. “We did do some tourist things, but overall we stayed in small towns, a small island.”

Scherer said she learned quickly that older people in Croatia, especially in the less traveled areas that she and Nelis visited, only speak their local dialect, not much English or even the official national language. She had been learning the language through a tutor website called Preply, and learned from a native named Viktor Bilan, who the two would meet in person during the trip. According to Scherer, Bilan was not only an excellent tutor, but also a fountain of information about his native country.

That was what Scherer and Nelis wanted first and foremost — a deeper look at Croatia through the eyes of locals.

“We wanted to enjoy the outdoors and just be in places where people congregate in towns,” Scherer said. “I was most curious about that, just seeing how people live their day to day lives.”

Aside from learning about the people, Scherer said she and Nelis wanted to see some of the natural scenery, which was not hard to find. Nelis originally decided she wanted to visit Croatia after seeing photos displaying the beauty of the seaside towns and the Adriatic Sea.

“Beautiful scene, beautiful foliage, beautiful countryside,” Scherer said of Croatia.

Scherer and Nelis would visit Skradin, the “the sophisticated city of Šibenik,” the small town of Komiza and one of the more populated cities, Hvar.

Nelis continued to drive everywhere they had planned to visit, which led Scherer to also notice how well much of the country was taken care of.

“It was remarkably clean, very well maintained,” Scherer said. “The roads we were maintained, the buildings were maintained, the exteriors were very modern and pretty.”

Nelis and Scherer also joked that they got a European experience when visiting the beaches, which were covered in pebbles rather than sand. They both expressed an appreciation for the material, which is more rare states-side, plus the wide availability of steps and ladders that led right into the water.

“They're not sand, a majority are pebble beaches; but the water was so clear forever,” Nelis said. “You could just see down to the bottom. I was snorkeling and saw an octopus and I had never seen one before. I was amazed at how the water was exactly how you see it in pictures.”

The food in Croatia was also “amazing,” Scherer said, and many of their meals consisted of seafood, but others were Italian-inspired dishes like risotto and other pastas.

It was pretty hot during Scherer and Nelis’ time in Croatia. One solution to help them cool down was to eat sladoled — Croatia’s word for “ice cream” — which was available almost everywhere the duo went.

“Every day, sometimes twice a day, sometimes three times a day we had ice cream,” Nelis said.

The duo made an overnight trip to Hvar, which Scherer said is a popular destination for travelers of European nations. While Hvar was an exciting “hip” town, Scherer said the duo’s short time there had them in agreement that they preferred their quieter stay in Vis.

“Hvar is smaller, it's very walkable,” Nelis said. “There's a lot of different local shops and restaurants. If someone is looking for that type of atmosphere, Hvar is the place.”

Months after returning to the U.S., Scherer compiled her experiences in a document, which she shared with the Butler Eagle.

While speaking about their reflections about the trip, Scherer and Nelis both said some of their fondest memories from the trip came from just the two of them driving around.

“Even though sometimes I complained about it, one of the highlights was just driving around together,” Scherer said. “Seeing things together even if we got lost, and once we finally did find it, it was really exciting. That was a lot of good bonding time.”

Nelis agreed, and said the trip strengthened her friendship with Scherer.

“Our friendship and how we were able to so easily agree on everything we wanted to do,” Nelis said. “That shared experience, that really meant a lot to me.”

Scherer said she is named for her mother; Danielle is an Americanization of Danica, her great-grandmother’s given name. Scherer added that even though she couldn’t be sure if she traveled anywhere that her grandmother would have been, she thinks her grandmother would be happy to know that she visited her home country of Croatia.

“Although I still haven’t found my beloved grandmother’s hometown, I like to think that she was smiling down, seeing me in her homeland and hearing me say, ‘Dobar dan,’” Scherer said.