It was gorgeous
Though still full of shell holes. It's particularly evident when you walk round the walls of the old town and see builders everywhere repairing bits of the towers and suchlike. Similarly, I walked all the way up to the fort at the top of Mount Srd only to find a load of builders and a JCB at the top, working away to rectify the bomb damage.

But of course, it was only 15 years ago that the shelling finally stopped, and understandably, they're still very bitter about it. (For example, the final frame in the Maritime Museum doesn't really sum up Croatia's former shipping prowess, it just roundly condemns the Serbians for destroying it.) It was the first time I'd really seen a city that freshly out of a war, and it did seem odd to think that most of that damage was done during my lifetime.

EDIT: @Dirty - it's a lovely place, and I really enjoy the relaxed Mediterranean (well, Adriatic) lifestyle. The people are generally smashing, and I think they're mostly very grateful for the tourism (if nothing else, it's another two fingers up at the Serbians). They're also very flattered if you attempt to speak Croatian to them.

Though if you're going to go, you might want to give it a little while for the exchange rate to improve - alcohol isn't all that cheap out there, and I think that was made worse for me slightly by the weak pound.
(LongJohnBaldry, Tue 5 May 2009, 10:29, Reply)