As our minivan maneuvered down the winding mountain road between the towns of Šibenik and Trogir on Croatia’s southern Dalmatian coast, I was taken aback—and back in time. “Wow, this looks so much like Northern Pakistan,” I thought. I couldn’t quite believe it as the twisting journey unfolded like a nostalgic reel of my childhood drives through the vast landscapes of Gilgit-Baltistan.
Central Dalmatia, known locally as Splitsko-Dalmatinska, lay before us—a jigsaw of fishing islands, ancient ports, mountains, castles, and a culinary scene as diverse as the region itself. It is renowned for its three UNESCO World Heritage Sites, including the medieval town of Trogir, and the rugged Dinaric Range, the highest in Croatia—a cinematic backdrop similar to the Karakoram mountain range I was more familiar with in Pakistan, the country’s highest and second highest in the world.
“This is exactly what the drives during my childhood looked like,” I said, swept away by a wave of unexpected sentimentality. I was struck by the phrase that we have more in common than divides us, even as I traveled through Central Europe, thousands of miles from my ancestral homeland.
