Croatia we love you

Rovinj

Istrian  Fuzi pasta with truffle

Ideal fertile grounds and a gentle climate contribute to Istria being such a food producing area, and it was great to have the opportunity to visit a couple of local producers who both have successful family run businesses.

First stop, Chiavalon Olive Oil.  Sandi was only 14 years old when his grandfather gifted him 10 olive trees - jump forward about 17 years and they have now produced an extra virgin oil thats been voted one of the top 15 in the world. It was a great education to listen to him talk about all things related and then sip some of the golden liquid out of a glass. Really fragrant, spicy and delicious, made more so by learning such an interesting back story. Kudos to the business for keeping it real when the opportunity to expand and export further afield than their current European base is banging on their door.

What a labour of love these trees are.

Olive Oil tasting

More delicious food

Truffle cheese and sausage and spread

And on our last day here we took a tiki tour trip on the way to Zagreb, heading inland to where we finally made it to Buzet (an hour or so late thanks to Gloria who struggled a bit on the country roads its gotta be said! ) to meet the Karlić family and go on a truffle search.

Istrian truffles - Tartufi,  are considered by some to be of the best quaility and the regional cuisines highlight, and again, this family seems pretty passionate about what they do. From the training of the dogs, the hunt with them ( who btw looooooove the tatse of truffles ), the harvest, the buying and selling of fresh and frozen truffles and the products they have launched from them - it was a visit full of interesting info about this wee gem.

After sampling a selection of foods with truffle - including cheeses, sausage, and an omelette LOADED with it, the family pretty much have them on tap and claim to eat them most, if not every day, however we felt a bit truffled out! Its a pretty rich delicacy to indulge in all at once. First world problems.

Wandered through their neighbouring forest with Blackie, their best truffle hunter to sniff out a few, they grow underground, symbiotically mainly with oaks. She found about 3! And was very close to scoffing one of her finds before it got taken off her :) 

Blackie the legendary truffle hunter

It has been an amazing trip through this beautiful varied country - chocka block full of history and culture and passion.
Can't speak for the continental area as we missed it this time round, but the coastal region is absolutely stunning. The food has been awesome, and the people too.



And hey Neats, did I tell you how stoked I am that we got to experience this time together?
Thank-you for your awesome left-hand driving skills, your flair for hair dressing, your desire to hunt out and eat delicious food and most importantly - your passion and adventurous spirit.
I guess its a pretty darn happy birthday then aint it!



Thanks for reading.

Love
X

Zadar - Plitvice Lakes - Istria

Zadar

ZADAR Friday 27 June -

Loved Zadar. Loved the laid back vibe, the cake shop we found and most importantly it's two unique attractions that stood out from the rest, (both designed by a local architect) the Sea Organ,'an experimental music instrument which plays music by way of the sea waves coming in and out of  tubes located underneath a set of large marble steps'. So it basically sounds like the sea is playing music so it's very cool. He also designed another creation right next to the organ, Sun Salutation. 'A circle of multilayered glass plates that colllect the suns energy during the day and produce a light show from sunset to sunrise thats meant to stimulate the solar system - and collect enough energy to power the entire harbour front lighting system'. (Thanks LP)
Both awesome!

There happened to be a touring 'Dangerous Beauty' snake exhibition in town for a 2 month stint so we got close up with about 19 different species of sssssssnakes - Anita closer than I as a python slithered around her hands and up her neck. Black mambos, cobras, rattlesnakes, rhino snakes....
As we were the only ones there at the time it was awesome to have the chance to chat to the owner of the snakes - she and they (plus a larger selection that couldn't fit into the space at Zadar) reside in Slovenia so it was 21 questions with her, all the while the python coiled around Neats wrists and snoozed on her warmth like an exotic looking bracelet. They tour only in Europe, traveling in a convoy of 3 cars, snakes in the middle car. Why's that? Because imagine if there was an accident she said - highly venomous creatures tumbling out and let loose. This exhibition would be a sell out at home and she would love to bring her collection to NZ one day - good luck with that we laughed. Probably only take her about 25 years to ssssssort it out with NZ customsssssssss.
They were absolutely stunning to see so up close so I gotta say I have a new found appreciation for the slithery little buggers.

Zadar

Sun Salutation doing its thing 

Spot the flying dog.

Plitvice NP

PLITVICE NATIONAL PARK Sat 28 June -

Who knew there were so many incredible shades of blue and green.  We had a day set aside to take an awesome walk around this Unesco World Heritage Site, crystal clear turquoise, jade and emerald waters. Bears and wolves, but alas (or not) none spotted. The lakes and waterfalls were enough.       

P NP

Pula market

Fresh sardines and anchovies

ISTRIA - Vovinj
Istria is a county in western Croatia,  Rovinj being one of the nine settlement towns and the regions 'star attraction', so we have based ourselves here for the last leg. 'Blue Istria' along the coast has all those typical touristy spots and interior 'Green Istria' is well known for it's acclaimed gastronomy - namely the award winning white truffles, wild asparagus, olive oil and wines. Holy. This was a must visit on our list for sure.

We spent our first full day here taking the short drive to the southern tip ending up in Pula - where we meet Goran who is a scientist by day, a passionate foodie at heart and one of the brains behind Taste Croatia - where we found him thanks google.
He meet us in a torrential downpour, (again!) confessing it was out of the norm this time of year. He runs cooking classes and wine tours of the area, us being the first kiwis to partake thank you very much.

The sun came out. Alan, the adorable Pina and Goran. 

Another colourful market visit to purchase bags full of fresh fishies and sample some goats cheese, then back to his partners home to meet the ADORABLE Pina (love her, wanted to bring her back to NZ with us). She so reminded us of our nanas, it was a treat to spend the day there cooking up a local dish of fish stew Brodet, and have a go at making pasta. Plying us with local wines, Gorans infectious enthusiasm and knowledge was inspiring. And also humorous without intending to be - 'These almonds for the cake come from our tree just out there by the window. These olives are from our orchard. Wheres this balsamic from? Oh, we have 5 barrells of this balsamic upstairs I can show you later. We made this oil from the olives over there.' He was being completely genuine but we just thought what a blimmin show off :)
It was a pleasure to share a meal together, one of those times when you find yourself in a foreign place but feeling connected anyway.


Today we drove inland to a recommended family run restaurant to eat Fuzi pasta with truffles. Spoilt as all hell.

Love us x

Pina teaching us to make the local pasta Fuzi.

Frying up our wee fishies

Home made Brodet

Our pasta we ate with the Brodet

Almond and orange cake to sign off. Stuffed

Trogir - Zadar

Cheese sampling -  Trogir

That rain last night did turn into a torrential downpour - complete with large chunks of hail. Luckily we were tucked up safe and dry inside a cute restaurant stuffing our faces with more cheese and pasta.



As we emerged out into the windy streets it became obvious that areas of the old city of Trogir have serious drainage issues.
A novelty for us to have to whip off our shoes in order to wade through the aftermath and make it to the cake shop - but the local business people looked frustrated and a bit helpless at the pools of water creeping into their doorways - sodden outdoor dining areas left abandoned and dripping.

Nut and caramel cake

 

Love the markets

Markets - Trogir

Seems to be a common thing - on our morning rituals to hunt out our health fuelled breakies of coffees and croissants, we inevitably come across the commotion of a local market bursting with colour and produce.

I guess the fruit balances out the pastry.
Maybe.

Church in Krka park

Krka NP

Todays mission was a visit to the Krka National Park on route to our destination of Zadar. The parks landscape is defined by beautiful waterfalls and we enjoyed a cruisey wander along the boardwalks through loads of different flora and fauna - didn't spot any bears, snakes or otters though. Must be feeling shy today.

Country roading it

As we crept further north it was awesome to end up on real country roads for a change. The landscape changed, the dominating cliffs and mountains that have been a constant receded further into the background and the land flattened out, vast fields now sprinkled with hues of gold and yellow. And olive trees of course. The rural villages were lined with crumbling stones houses, and we finally spotted a bit of livestock! The friendly wee fellas emerged one by one from their barn to get their photos taken. True professionals.

A whole day hanging in Zadar tomorrow.

Love x

Seafood and eat it

Dinner by the blue

Wednesday 25th -
Writing this now instead of out there exploring because its pississssing down - thunder is rumbling off in the distance and although its only 2pm, its dark and grey out. Is that hail? Just massive drops of the wet stuff.

Can't really complain though as we've had some pretty boomer weather days - hot and just humid enough to stick your top to your back and make you crave that cool glass of rosė with lunch. All to aware that holidays must come to an end eventually so making the most of it :)

Spent our last day in Dubrovnik lazing by our wee local beach, a different set of huge cruise liners berthed in the port this time.
The water is invitingly warm.
And again, not to sound like a broken record, but we have been eating like Queens and feeling very grateful for it. Fish is too hard to pass up being so near the sea at most of our destinations - so menus always offer a big selection - anything from sea bass, black cuttlefish risottos, oysters, shellfish and fish platters to share, oysters, grilled fish, sardines, octopus, squiddly diddly, crab, yellow tail, mackerel, did I mention oysters....

Love Boat

burr burrrrr ANOTHER ridiculous view to eat beside - Dubrovnik

Our accommodation in Korčula

                                                                             
Tuesday it's goodbye to Dubrovnik, have car, will travel - my god stunning, past the numerous oyster and mussel farms of Mali Ston, and mountains towering above in places and then flattening out to reveal olive groves and vineyards galore.
A short ferry ride across to the 6th largest Adriatic island of Korčula, said to be the birthplace of Marco Polo.

It's another picturesque wee town knotted with marble streets, alleyways and blooming hydrangeas. According to the LP the town has a fascinating fishbone layout that was cleverly designed for the comfort and safety of the inhabitants from the strong westerly and northeasterly winds. Clever duckies. Picture perfect in places.

Korčula

 

Korčula   

We really enjoyed sampling a lunch time Dalmatian platter of salted and marinated anchovies, olives, local edible 'seaweed' samphire, capers, fig jam and finally the infamous Pag cheese we were curious about - made so delicious thanks to the sheep that free range off the barren land of Pag, grazing on salty herbs and plants and voila, the flavour is in their milk. Very tasty indeed.

Tucked away in a street of Korčula

Promenade of Split

Lunch by the blue - Korčula

This blue, I tell ya. Korčula

Our room overlooking the marina in Korčula

Anitas store in Split

So an early start this morning to make it back to the mainland, first stop Split.
Thats if Ms GPS Gloria can help us to find Split?
We somehow ended up on a back country, one-way dirt road wedged amongst vineyards and feeling most dubious, suspecting that Gloria had put us wrong.
Saw a local.
Is this the way to Split we asked hopefully
Ah, no.
Signalled the universal sign for turn around and go back from where you came ladies.
So we turned around.
He lead us back out to the main road. Bless.
Thanks Gloria.



Gotta say, its probably our least favourite place to date this Split hoopala. Sure, we may of got lost once more and ended up on a highway to god only knows where, and yep, got some attitude from the rude parking man - but all that aside, this second largest city in Croatia felt a bit nahyea. To be fair, we popped in to the heart of the city, ate a sandwich and decided to pop on out again. Lots of other tourists and just not feeling it much today. So maybe under different circumstances....it may deserve a better chance.


We are now in Trogir for the night - and if the rain decides to ease off, we will venture in (I mean, we have to eat) - its meant to be another gorgeous, tiny place set within medieval walls.

I'm still on the hunt for some cake to write about.

Until next time.

Love us
X