What a blast! 42 AMTA members traveled to Umag, Croatia for the 38th WMTS Congress. 22 signed up for the pre-trip, and we all met in Trieste, Italy on September 2. We stayed in a quaint hotel on the water and had a lovely dinner together on the terrace overlooking the Adriatic. Next day we took a tour of the Miramare Castle, built 1832-1867 by Maximillian of the Hapsburg family. We then had a typical Trieste lunch overlooking the Adriatic followed by a tour of their famous cathedral before busing down to Umag, Croatia. Between Trieste, Italy and Umag, Croatia, there are 2 border stops with passports. The road crosses Slovenia for about 5 miles!

Our hotel in Umag, called the Sol Umag, was next to the water and a 10 minute walk from the courts. Thursday, Sept. 4, 20 of us took the boat to Venice, Italy…more passports. Most had never been to Venice, so it was definitely a place to experience. We took a gondola ride through the Grand Canal as well as some of the small canals used as streets (see picture on right). There was a lot of walking, shopping, and trying to learn how to get Euros from their banks. The return boat ride to Umag is best forgotten…..long, and rough!

Friday, Sept. 5, 8 others joined us totaling 28 for some morning tennis and then the trip to the Brijuni Islands, the former home of Tito of Yugoslavia. It is now a national park. But first we stopped in a little town called Fazana for a typical Istrian lunch. All said Yum, Yum until we learned the delicious meat in gravy over pasta was venison. Deer run wild at Brijuni Islands! We then boarded a boat from Fazana to Brijuni and hopped on a little train, like Disneyland, to tour the island. We visited the wild animal park begun by Tito and we viewed Tito’s vintage convertible Cadillac on display, supposedly only driven by Tito on the island. Tito is said to have entertained 50 heads of state on the Brijuni Islands.

Saturday, Sept. 6, we played 3 hours of tennis on the tournament courts, and then greeted the rest of our AMTA group arriving just for the tournament. Opening ceremonies were on the #2 court at Stella Marris followed by a buffet dinner at the nearby restaurant. The Croatia meeting I believe was the largest ever: 480 total registered from 26 countries: 299 tennis players, 183 men MDs, 87 ladies MD, 25 ladies non-MDs, plus children and guests.

Sunday started the tournament with a bit of chaos, but eventually tennis organization improved. The tournament was played on 2 sites, very nice red clay courts. See tournament results for AMTA on the next page. Italy won Nation's Cup.

Tuesday, at 2:00pm, Croatia planned a bus trip to the mountains. They used 10 buses. We visited a farmer and his trained 2 dogs to sniff for truffle mushrooms, then on to wine tasting of Istrian wines. Next we visited their famous bee and lavender farm for samples. Then a memorable visit to Motovun, a hilltop Medieval town with narrow cobblestone streets for an experience visiting the past.

Friday night the Awards Banquet was held at a nearby hotel. Wonderful male singers entertained at the reception and a lively band played music at the dinner. Since most of us had to get up very early Saturday morning some 3:00am, some 5:30am, not much sleep took place Friday night.

To sum up our experiences in Croatia, everyone had a blast! At least that’s the feedback I’m getting in emails from participants. One of the perks of our Umag hotel was that breakfast and dinner were included daily, so we always had many companions for meals with lots of conversation and getting to know each other better. It was one of the best trips for group interaction and bonding. We sure did miss you if you weren’t there.