Day 3 (July 14, 2017): A Rare Croatian Experience

Yesterday I explained why we had come to Zadar, and I ended by saying today held a bit of a surprise. Let me explain! Remember my friend, Ivan, from Zadar, who moved to Halifax? Well, Ivan's family lives here. Even though he is now raising a family of his own in Colombia, the plan was always that I would meet his family when I eventually visited Zadar. Today was the day!

Ivan's parents are Mirko and Marija, and they live with his grandparents, Huga and Anka, on an island off the Zadar coast, called Ugljan. More specifically, they live in a small village called Lukoran.

Here's the catch -- and here's what had us abit stressed (as I'm sure they were, too!): we don't speak a word of Croatian, and they only speak a handful of English words. How to spend the better part of a day together without a common language?! I'll explain how it all worked out shortly.

But first, here's how it unfolded...

We were at breakfast in the nearby square at 9:15, walked around the perimeter of much of the Old Town peninsula, and got to the pier to board our Jadrolinija ferry by 11:15 and set sail 11:30 sharp. As the ferry pulled into the dock in Preko (another village on Ugljan), we saw Mirko waiting beside his car, and Ivan's sister, Ana, had come from the city to spend the day with us, too!

The next six hours flew by. We went to see the tiny stone church where the deceased Dunic family members were buried, then we went to see Mirko's small vineyard. From there, it was on to Lukoran to meet Marija (who had been up til 2AM cooking 10 dishes!), Hugo (who is quite ill), and Anka. Mirko proudly wanted me to see his vegetable garden and fruit trees. The man can grow ANYTHING: he had fruit trees I had never even heard of! However, it has rained so little here in the last couple of months, that everything is stunted and withering. It was heart-breaking to see the drought's effects.

We had the first course and were stuffed. Then we realized there was soup. After which we were stuffed to the max. And THEN came the pasta with more shrimp than I knew the Adriatic Sea contained. And THEN a plate of dessert big enough for five people. Mirko's home-made prosek flowed throughout the meal. All washed down with Turkish coffee, of course.

With the help of Google Translate, hand gestures, a few broken English phrases, we somehow cobbled together enough communication to understand each other and to form a wonderful bond by the end of the afternoon. We were supposed to be on the 2:30 ferry, then the 4:10, and finally made the 5:25 by a hair! There were lots of hugs as we said good bye to these wonderful people who would give you the everything they had, if you asked for it. To have had the chance to see Croatian life in a rural setting and to experience such hospitality was a rare opportunity, indeed.

Having eaten enough for the rest of our vacation, we skipped dinner, toured the former aristocracy palace, and walked to the other end of the peninsula again for one last listen to the sea organ. It's an early rise in the morning, as we leave for the capital, Zagreb, to continue this Croatian journey.