On the lookout post.: October 2009

We are very lucky to have amazing friends in New Zealand with strong family connections in Croatia. So when our friend Catherine suggested we should stay with her dads’ first cousin and her husband just off Korcula, we were ready for some family action.
Our instructions were to ring Stojan (pronounced Stoy-arn) and Tinka when we got to Korcula to let them know when we were coming. Stojan was a sea captain, so very precise with time and dates and would appreciate the efficiency of a timetable. So I called Stojan and had a very instructed chat about our visit. He insisted on date, time, intended further travel itinerary and family history before we moved on any further. I’m just kidding, he was very nice and insisted that he come over to Korcula on his boat and pick us up – which made us feel like family straight away.

After a short boat ride we made it to his 'pensioner paradise'. Straight away we were given a tour of the house and their amazing garden of Eden behind/in front of the place, and instructed to have a swim with him at the beach directly in front of the house. We were told that it was 12pm now and lunch would most likely be served between 12.55 and 12.58 ;) so enjoy a swim.

This is what you see hopping off the boat - The house awaits.

Above the garage is a perfect spot to catch some rays and look out to Korcula

The garden behind the house is terraced many levels above with fruits I have never even heard of or seen before.. but tasty they were!

Lunch itself was something out of this world. Stojan and Tinka had prepared a traditional chicken roast meal – but like nothing we have had before. They light a fire inside what looks to be a pizza oven, throw the chicken in a covered pan and then smother it with glowing embers and ashes (like a hangi I guess) .. after a while the chicken floating in its own juices is recovered and has potatoes added before being covered again for a second hour.. I guess you are getting the drift about how this is going to taste.

So lunch is now ready. Before we start we are encouraged to have an aperitif with them.. and of course this is home made. We are told to guess the ingredients, but who could guess the true ingredient of wild white roses (bottled in the sun for 50 days) with Grappa (residue of grape), this drink is called rosaline.. incredible and no doubt almost medicinal with the flower oils.. he explains that inventing these drinks gives them something to do in their days.. apart from fishing in a paradise, growing flowers that look like they could star in the ‘Orchid thief’ and generally passing the days by with rostered leisurely swims.
Sitting beside the Schnapps is a half gallon flagon of wine. Stojan has been buying his wine from a local wine maker for 15 years. It was so good that he told the wine maker he would only ever buy it from him, and it is this reason he believes that he receives only the best pure wine at 20litres per order.

Stojan explained that wine is consumed as a fruit juice – we are not to think of it as alcohol.. so drink as much as you can, and at dinner “we will do all of this again”..
Back to lunch. So the gorgeous chicken is served with these roasted potatoes that have absorbed half the chicken juices.. ahhhhh, and a giant garden salad and bread to the side. After course 1 I am told to have another course as this must all disappear by the end of lunch. I am satisfied by almost 3 courses and know this is far more than I have eaten in the last 7 months in one go. The plates are cleared and clean plates returned.. mmm… what is going on here? A rock melon and a bowl of home grown figs brought out. 3 slices of melon are put in front of me – “yes, you must eat this, it must be finished for lunch” OK.. then Tinka (who doesn’t speak English but understands it perfectly, and some how we understand her Coratian perfectly) runs into the kitchen and brings out some ice cream and a kind of home made alcoholic topping (called Melisa).. how could we refuse? It would be rude.

Next a photo album comes out – we are shown the family history and their lives it seems from a young age.. a fantastic history book. Our friend Catherine and her sister Lauren are in them and is fantastic to see their parents also.. Stojan and Tinka call people by names they find easier – so Catherine becomes Katay and her boyfriend Anders becomes Alex.. this amuses us as when we tell stories about them we refer to them with these new names.. kind of like a fictional tale.

I am lying back on my chair and praising these two fine people about their paradise in Croatia.. a smile breaks on Stojans' face, and I can tell he is proud of the home he has built next to the one he grew up in, which his cousin lives in now. He then chooses this moment to reconfirm our itinerary for the next 2 days in Croatia, .. and then states that he thinks now would be a good time for us all to take a nap for 1 1/2 hours, then we will go out in the car and explore the local village which was in ruins, but they are building into a museum styled replica of what it was 100 years ago. He then said perhaps we could come back later, have a snack dinner about 6.49 or 6.52pm with more wine and watch his satellite TV, but he is the only one allowed to pick the channels to watch.

This is too good – we are being spoiled on the last days of our holiday – it is like visiting your favourite grand parents, knowing you may eat yourself to death before leaving… if you can bring yourself to leave willingly.

Stojan took us for a ride up the hill – it was to be the start of a great afternoon journey.. but at the view point at the top of the hill we were looking out over the Adriatic sea when a cloud washed over us. This was no ordinary cloud – it happened to belong to the overheating car we drove in. Poor Stojan was sooo disappointed – he had lined up a grand tour with a museum visit the next morning.. but this was not to be. We did get to see the coast from above though, but we couldn’t convince Stojan that this was enough.

Lucky it was downhill as the poor car cooled down. The sunset was truly magical though.

Shortly after our return dinner was served. We were already told that this was more like a snack, due to lunch being like dinner in this culture. I’m not sure what snack means here, as another feast was on the horizon! Back home a treat would be to have a few slices of prosciutto with a cracker and cheese perhaps. Well, we walked out to a whole leg in a specially made wooden vice being carved.. he had this meat since July and it was still going strong.. I was told that Croatian prosciutto is the best in the world.. and I have no reason to doubt this as there were even photos of Stojan carving it in the family photo album.

Can you tell I'm impressed with this surprise?

Then a 1kg block of Italian cheese was chopped onto a plate and a beautiful corn salad with bread and another gallon of vino. Quote of the day again “we must finish this all now”.. I must say it was quite a challenge but a worthy one. We didn’t quite finish the massive plate of cheese and meat, but this played in our favour with Tinka preparing it as our take away lunch to compliment the 10kg of fruit we were also gifted.

Sorry if this has seemed like a long read, but we were just so blown away with the hospitality and idyllic end to the long awaited Croatia. The next morning after home made fruit tea and biscuits, Stojan loaded us onto the boat (which now sat very low in the water) and navigated us back to the starting point to bid us farewell.. with a tear in our eyes and a promise not to look back we wondered into the old town of Korcula to reminisce about our fine hosts of Peljesac.