Croatia Trip...Part 2

Bok! (Hello!)

The weather here continues to be hot an sunny. Perfect excuse for a walk to the gelatto place! 

Yesterday (Saturday) we met Darko for coffee again around 10. This seems to be his daily habit. (He is kin and a kindred spirit in this regard:) Our plan for the rest of the day was to drive to a nearby village, Ostarije, to meet Marica (pronounced Mareetsa). She is Darko's aunt...Darko is my mom's 2nd cousin...I still need to see this all on a family tree to make perfect sense of all these relationships. 

Marica is in her 80s and lives in a very small, old, rustic home. Her kitchen/sitting area is smaller than the smallest bedroom in my home, which is 9x10. There is a tiny, single corner sink, a short countertop, an ancient wood-burning oven, and across from that a single burner gas stove. The other corner houses a 4 foot padded bench and a very small kitchen table. There are two other assorted chairs and a covered stool for extra seating. Mom, Jim, Darko, Darko's father Mato (Mauto), Marica, and I all gathered, somewhat cosily, in this space. She served us homemade strudel and Kalaces (a nut filled pastry) and made some rather strong coffee which I sipped slowly as I also recorded family names and information. Besides just coming to see Marica, my mom came with lots of genealogy questions as well as pictures of relatives that needed identifying. You have to visualize this delightful old woman with her loose fitting dress, leaning forward with cane in hand, feet nestled in house shoes, ankles quite swollen. She has short cut white hair and eyes that squint with an adorable twinkle when she smiles. As Darko would translate Mom's questions she would rattle away in Croatian. Darko might ask her another question to clarify and then she would raise her voice and start speaking even faster while waving her hands wildly. (So apparently the "talking with your hands" thing was passed down from the Croatian as well as the Italian side of my family. This explains so much!) You would think that she was yelling at Darko, but not so. It was very amusing to watch all this...and try to take notes at the same time, all the while attempting to spell the Croatian names correctly. 

While all this took place, Darko's father disappeared into the backyard and came back with a cluster of large, juicy purple grapes. Truly purple...and with a taste that reminded me of purple Kool Aid. I had always wondered where that "purple grape" taste came from. Now I know. So now, full of pastries, which were offered several times, and thick brown coffee, I attempted to also eat these sweet grapes. Once Mato saw that we liked the grapes, he picked some more! Mama mia! We politely asked if we could take the rest of them back with us. I will not again eat lunch before going to Marica's house. She has already told us to call ahead before we visit again so she can bake us a cake. :)

After this visit we all piled into Darko's little rust orange subcompact and made our way up the road to visit my mother's first cousin Tony, who my mother did not get to meet on her visit last year. He and his family live on his father's land in another nearby village called Skradnik. (This is also where my grandmother was born.) Tony is renovating his father's original home and is also building a brick dwelling just behind it with a ground-level garage and living space above. There is a make-shift kitchen in their garage that they are using while they finish remodeling. This was a time of sharing pictures, getting to know one another, and enjoying some fresh homemade cherry juice. We came to find out that Tony's teenage son was going to be coming through Ogulin the following day (today) on his 1962 motorcycle in what was being called the "Old Timers Race." (I was born in 1962...hmmm) So, of course, we all had to see his "sweet bike." It truly was pretty awesome, painted red, and immaculately clean and restored. We took many pictures, which I hope to share when we return. We made plans to be sure to see the race on Saturday. On our way to a nearby lake, we also stopped to see the church that my grandmother was baptized in and attended as a child. 

After resting up a bit, we decided to have dinner in the hotel restaurant. (Hotel Frankopan) We each enjoyed a delicious $25 dollar meal, by American standards, for less than 25 Kunas each, which is about $5. Food is very reasonable here. When we finished we joined Darko and his girlfriend Ivanka for refreshments at a sidewalk cafe, then wandered across the street for a short time to listen to a blues band play at a local club, which also had outdoor seating. There are umbrella-ed sidewalk seating areas all throughout this little town - even outside our favorite gelatto place. Having ordered a small coffee while listening to some great blues tunes, I stayed up for quite a while last night finishing my novel (thanks Nancy!). Yes, I am now a night owl on two continents! 

Today was the day for the Old Timers Race. There would be many old restored motorcycles driving right by our hotel, so after breakfast we grabbed a table on the street-side hotel patio and waited for the bikes to come. Finally we heard them, grabbed our cameras (of course!) and headed toward the street to take pictures. There were perhaps 50 bikes and riders of various ages (the bikes and the riders). So fun! Two of them had side cars and most were from the 40s, 50s and 60s. They stopped on a large paved area right in front of the hotel to get a group picture. We got to say hi to our cousin Thomas who was there with his sweet '62. This whole event was such a treat! Soon they were all off to tour through the surrounding villages.

It was very hot, so we headed off for gelatto soon after the racers left, then spent some time sitting in the shade of the lovely park across from the hotel discussing, among other things, healthcare, education opportunities and difficulties, and the recent American and global banking issues. No small talk for us! We had a lovely lunch in the hotel and were persuaded by our waitress to try the ice cream sundaes with warm "forest fruits." (a mixed berry sauce). Good thing I ordered the green salad for lunch! I am still full...and Mom and Jim are napping. Now that it is 5:15 here, I should probably wake them up. 

We, obviously, did not head for the coast today. That is in the works for tomorrow through Wednesday. We will be headed about an hour away to some nearby coastal towns and an island called Krk that is accessed via a loooong bridge. (Oh joy! Some of you know how much I love "looonng" bridges.) 

While we are enjoying time with our Croatian relatives, we are also enjoying each other's company. Jim and I are both jokers and we're doing our best to keep Mom, and each other, entertained. We're also getting the chance to have more personal visiting time, which doesn't always happen when we are home. Tonight, Darko will take Mom and Jim to watch part of a soccer match. He is president of the local sports club and is also a sports writer for a local publication. I think I will stay behind and rest a bit for whatever we decide to do later. I will not, however, be staying up till 3am reading. My novel is done. I hogged it all in one night. Oh dear! Such a tragedy! I guess I'll have to resort to sleeping like a normal person. 

That is all for now. 

Love and dovidjenja (goodbye). We are having fun,

No Foolin in Ogulin