I Love Croatia

Author: Tiffany (Mom)

The last couple of weeks we have been staying in an apartment at the family house in Čilipi. Family is so important in Croatia, the sons stay home and build on to the house to make room for their family. Its so wonderful and unlike anything I have seen in the United States.

It’s also interesting how many houses in the village are just abandoned. Many of the roofs are gone from the war bombing and all that stands is the walls with weeds growing all around. It would be such an interesting and challenging project to take one of those houses and re-build it. I have fantasies, but unfortunately, we would need to find a way to make money and there isn't a need for librarians here.

Marija, the mother of the family we are staying with, is a wonderful cook. We have been invited for Sunday lunch twice and each time has been wonderful. She makes the most incredible stuffed green peppers. The best is her salad. All that’s in it is tomatoes, red onion, olive oil, salt and balsamic vinegar. I have tried to recreate this myself at home many times, but cannot. It finally dawned on me….it’s the tomatoes that make it so good. I decided to ask and it turns out she gets them from her sister’s house and the plants have been in her family for generations. You just cannot get the same tomatoes in the United States. I told her how good they are and the next night we came home to a basket full of vegetables. I may have gotten an upset stomach from eating too many tomatoes. Brandon just laughed and shook his head. I’m going to miss her tomatoes. (I didn't take a picture and all the vegetables have been consumed). 

About a week ago we decided to stay through the World Cup finals in case Croatia made it . (They did, in case you haven’t heard! Go Croatia!) But we needed to move to Cavtat. This was a great decision. We are renting a small apartment off the main street. We have a balcony with the most amazing view of the water and church. I love sitting on the balcony to read, look at the red roof tiles or drink a glass of wine. The other odd tidbit is that to get to the apartment we have to go in and out of a restaurant, pass the kitchen and everything. I feel weird doing it every time, but the servers don’t seem to think anything is amiss.

Today we went kayaking and it’s much harder than I thought. Livi and I were partnered up. When we first got on the water we had ambitions to kayak to the end of the bay and back, but…well…we may have gotten dangerously close to hitting a few boats that were anchored and once we veered into a swimming area. It was nice being in the middle of the bay; it was a different perspective of the town.

What I really enjoy is swimming in the sea. It's so beautiful and peaceful. Today we found a nice little area that was warm, shallow for Luke to play in, and sea urchin free. I swam for an hour, got out for pizza and went back in for another hour. A perfect day.

A few other highlights:

- Croatian drivers are crazy. I have walked/ran on the main road in Čilipi and have had my life flash before my eyes a couple different times. However, complete strangers have stopped us more than once to ask if we want a ride. (Who seem to always speak English to us right off the bat). Apparently walking for fun doesn’t happen for the locals.

- I did finally run from Čilipi to Cavtat. It was a lot of fun. I loved it when I rounded the corner and saw the town. I took a picture. Tomorrow I hope to explore Cavtat by running in the morning.




- Being here for the World Cup is amazing. The fact Croatia made it to the finals is totally unbelievable. I have seen Brandon excited before but this is a different happiness I’ve never seen before.

- The other day we went to Brandon’s third cousin Lili’s house. She married last November and lives in the home of her husband’s family. The house has been in the family for over 500 years. It's an amazing house, where they have wine, vegetables, furniture that is 500 years old (basically a mini museum), ham that was cured and smoked at the house (and was AMAZING), baby chicks and a dog named Lucy. I feel very fortunate that they opened their house to our family. Unfortunately the only picture I took on my phone was of the sunset. The sunsets are amazing here, better than Hawaii (sorry Aunt Mita!)

- The house in Cavtat has a bunch of random books in different languages, including English. I decided to put the book I was reading aside and find a random book to read. It’s pretty good. I like the idea of reading what is available to you. Brandon even picked up a book to try and it’s a fiction title! I think he has almost completed his second book on this trip, a record for him!

We have done so much and we are officially past the halfway point. Time is flying! I cannot wait for more adventures. Even though we have thoroughly explored Cavtat, I feel like I discover something new every day and I’m not tired of it yet.

-Tiffany