#samostan sv. mihovila

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Evening in Sali and visiting the cliffs near Fort Grpašćak

What’s that? Scoll and read! :)

The evening came and so did Mirel's call. He picked me up and we drove off to Sali.

Evening at Sali

Since I took no photos in Sali the first evening, only tasted food, here’s a morning photo of the port...more photos in the upcoming post.

It took us  less than 10 minutes to get to Sali. The biggest town on the island located in the south-eastern part of Dugi otok with around 800 or more people. it's also the administrative centre of Dugi otok. Sali have a thousand years old tradition of fishing mentioned in the documents as early as the 10th century and are also known for the olive orchards in the fields that were important in the agriculture of the settlement. The town has a developed tourism based on excursions, sailing and sports. Being the largest town on the island they have a hospital, post and ATMs. Sali also have a notable library with books in several world languages but also a location where many interesting events take place.

Unfortunately, plans changed and I didn't spend much time around Sali so I can tell you only a few things of the personal experience. For instance, Sali and the island got their first night club which was opened maybe 2 months prior to my arrival. As you can guess the first thing that came to my mind was “Let’s do some salsa & bachata here!”...but didn't have time to go there...and the circumstances didn’t allow it (next post explains). The same goes for the library. Well, next time.

Back to our trip. The road goes in many curves up and down the hills where you need to be careful. As Sali is mostly in the bay the road goes down the hill to the town. The plan was to get to one restaurant in the centre of the bay for a pizza. To get down right next to the sea it might be tricky if you are not from there. You leave the main road close to this famous fish factory - Mardešić. Again, the road on this part is wide enough for one car so you have watch for the potential vehicles from the opposite direction around the corners. The fish factory Mardešić is right next to the sea and there we are - the promenade. Here you have a nice view over the bay and the port of Sali. 

The centre of the bay has several bars and restaurants. One can also find the store Tommy, the only one on the island, which offers groceries and other stuff such as Konzum, Spar etc. and the prices were similar to the ones in Zagreb, if not cheaper. I might have mentioned that it's a suicide for your wallet if you choose to buy food or anything at the small local private stores where the prices can be double or even three times higher than the average ones. The restaurant we wanted was full so Mirel took me to the bar of his friend. There we sat on the terrace and he ordered for us cheese and pršut (smoked ham) with spilled olive oil. The best thing to eat here and there, tasty and keeps your stomach full. As it was a bit windy and I didn't bring a jacket, this food helped keep my ass warm. After some time we decided to check other places. I will add more of Sali and Saljani (people) in the upcoming post to follow the timeline of the events chronologically. 

Night at the cliffs of Telašćica and the military base of Grpašćak

Military base Grpašćak to the left and the cliffs of Dugi otok. There is nothing to the right except for the open sea...and afterwards Italy. This was taken around 10pm in the evening - thank the full moon for no stars.

The next destination Mirel wanted me to see were the famous cliffs of Telašćica on the western part of the island. I visited them once 10 years ago but it's always a great experience. The night fell and we drove away from Sali. 

On our way to the cliffs. What it looks like going via local roads through the fields at night

After 15 minutes of going through some local macadam roads you wouldn't usually find, up and down through the olive orchards and fields with stone walls on each side, passing by the sea bay and... we came close to the military base and viewpoint of Grpašćak. 

Again the cliffs and the sea. Photo taken during the full moon night

The furthest you can go is till one small heliodrom above the cliffs. There we stopped and I was happy to get some night sky photos too. Didn't work though thanks to the full moon those few evenings. The edge of the cliffs of the viewpoint is protected with the wooden fence. Mirel took the stone and told me "You know how high this platform is?" and threw the stone down into the sea. You couldn't hear it. Apart from the waves though it was a relatively still night and the sea, the height we stood at was about 80m above the sea level.

Here you have two photos back from the 2009. The cliffs of Telašćica park and the Salt lake Mir (visible on the first picture). I never though I’d stand here again yet there we are.The second photo depicts even higher standpoint..as if this one was not high enough. Mirel and I were standing maybe 2-3 km to the north looking down at these place

After some time we left back for Zaglav. Well, more about the bay of Telašćica the next time we actually spend our time there. It was a good day with many activities and we made a deal for the upcoming morning. The deal was to wake up early and make a trip to the northern part of the island - exploring the area and finding locals in Soline, Dragove, Božava and Veli Rat. Before meeting the monks I went for a few more shots of the nature around the monastery. The monks welcomed me with the dinner they left for me and after exchanging the news each of us went to sleep. 

The still night at the monastery. Looking for more night sky photography? Check some photos of the night sky near Vodice and Tribunj

Back in the room - making sure to transfer videos, audio and photos to my laptop. Charging the batteries and off to bed. Coming up next are...Božava, Soline and Veli Rat. PS Sorry for the crappy photo resolution. I believe it hurts your eyes as much as mine...soon switching to new web but until then have to endure this bad tumblr theme.. Grgo

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VIDEO, FOTO: U požaru oštećen benediktinski samostan iz Eccova 'Imena ruže'

VIDEO, FOTO: U požaru oštećen benediktinski samostan iz Eccova 'Imena ruže'

Samostan svetog Mihovila, benediktinska opatija koja je nadahnula roman Umberta Ecca “Ime ruže”, oštećena je u vatri, izvijestile su mjesne vlasti. “Dio krova samostana sv. Mihovila oštećen je u požaru koji je izbio u četvrtak navečer. Vatra je stavljena pod nadzor u petak ujutro”, napisali su na Twitteru talijanski vatrogasci. Najveće je oštećenje pretrpio klaustar. [embedded content]   Trojica…

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Arrival on Dugi otok: The monastery and the locals in Zaglav

Zadar’s archipelago. The trip started in Zadar and ended up in Zaglav on the first day.

I took the bus **from Zagreb to Zadar **at 6am and planned to get on the first boat that goes for **Zaglav **afterwards. While almost missing the bus in the morning I managed to get there in time and bought the ticket for my catamaran. The ticket for the non-islanders was about 20 -25 HRK (around 3 Euros) for one direction. Soon enough I was aboard the catamaran whose trip to Zaglav took around an hour and 15 minutes. During the trip I had the pleasure to talk to one of the locals from Sali who shared some tips on the DOs and DON'Ts on the island.

On it’s way to Zaglav we went beneath the bridge that connects the islands Ugljan and Pašman passing by the town of **Kali **(another place on the list to visit). Then you find yourself surrounded with multiple islands I couldn’t remember the names yet the last one to the west had numerous hills, so long you couldn’t see its end. Of course it was Dugi otok (the Long island). I’ve never been so far to the west in this area and the inner Indiana Jones for exploring and adventures was waking up.

This was my printed map of the island. I removed the names of the wanted locals for the interview and where to find them in each place due to privacy.

Soon we reached Sali and headed then few minutes to the north to Zaglav. I took all the stuff I had and I had several bags and a luggage. Just before we reached Zaglav I had two phone calls from my local saviours. One was from friar Izak, the monk from the monastery, who was waiting for me and my stuff with his squad in his car. The other one was Goran, the guy responsible for delivering the bakery products across the island throughout the year in his van. He was the one who helped me with the vehicles by lending me his old car to use for four days. Just when I stepped on the island he was there at the gas station tanking it up fully. Yes, full till the end. I gave friar Izak and his fellas my stuff and met with Goran and his family to take me up to the monastery.

Here it was where I earned the name „The Baker“ in the next couple of days. It started with his wife asking me „So, are you a baker?“ and later on several locals who’d see me coming by car (as Goran does) would frequently ask me „Are you a baker?“. In the end I gave up and said „Yes, I am a baker“. The second name that followed me was “The Journalist guy”.

We went uphills. Now here is a thing with the most places on Dugi otok. The core of these villages is mostly on the hill, not next to the sea. People went down to the coast much later. The monastery was at the end of the road on the hill. Also, the roads are only for one vehicle at the time which was interesting as you had to be careful if someone from the opposite direction was coming from behind the corner and then one of you two would have to somehow the way to step aside. That was done either by going backwards or finding a quick spot to move aside. Not to say that many of these roads or streets were pretty narrow and at some points you were surrounded with the stone fence wall. All of this makes it easy to damage your car. In the beginning I was more careful with it but then grew confidence because simply the things like that are just normal there and you gotta accept it. Again, you can’t do this in Zagreb without bad consequences.

**The monastery of St Michael **

The entrance as seen from the center of the yard

Voila, there we are at the monastery. Somehow typical Dalmatian look or actually Mediterranean. Bell tower, local graveyard and the monastery with its yard and garden just at the end of the street. Soon arrived friar Izak and the other dudes. Passed through the gates in the middle of the wall and entered the yard. It was guarded by two cats.

The Franciscan monastery and the church of St Michael were built back in the mid-15th century by the Franciscan order of the Glagolitic monks. Glagolitic is one of the old Slavic scripts, somewhat similar to Cyrillic, that was preserved in Croatia mostly on the islands and some northern areas within the religious context and local or folk language. The monastery today is of course an expanded version of the original one.

The monastery and the church as seen from the bell tower

When seeing all these stuff inside the yard and this whole idea of being in the monastery I quickly returned in my head to Robin Hood games where you had to sneak and climb around monastery’s walls and hallways. It would have been awesome if I had visited it with my friends back in the childhood though even now it could serve as a cool film location. But the best impression of the monastery and its surroundings is surely early in the morning when it’s fresh and enjoyable to be outside, the shadows are soft, relatively quiet, you can hear the animals and prepare for the day with pleasure. I tried doing some exercise in the morning but failed.

The look from the entrance into the yard. My window is on the second floor in the middle.

When you say „a monastery“ you might think of the medieval buildings where they still use the candles but man, I got 5-stars room with my own bathroom. So there were now three of us residing in the building and each of us had our own room upstairs. Once you enter the monastery you are in the hallway where to your right is a small library. Straightforward you got one SOS restroom and then the stairs to our rooms. The hallway there was filled with some large paintings of religious content and Glagolitic engravings. Back downstairs, to the left, one enters the „living room“ where they can watch TV and turn on the oven when necessary. Few steps behind and you enter a modest kitchen with plenty of food. Oh yes, they said I just pick up whatever I want and they had lots of stuff. Even better, behind the kitchen in the basement they had a pantry. It felt like Goku being on King Kai’s small planet with whatever you want.

Some hallway paintings of…well… someone

The look from the windows on the other side towards the north. What you probably see are the islands of Krkata (the closest one), then Iž and maybe far away Ugljan or Sestrunj..or something else, who knows, so many islands…

One part of my room…the rest is in the mess but there’s a table behind me, the window and to the left is the small hallway with the wardrobe and separated bathroom

The view from my room taken in the evening

Soon enough I was welcomed with the lunch. They have a lady who cooks and cleans for them every day and this was also covered so that I don’t have to spend money aside. As you can see this all was really way more than I expected.

Friar Izak taking care of the stuff in the kitchen

This was probably the only lunch I had with them as I spent every next day somewhere else waddling around. We made some rules about breakfast around 7am and had dinner together in the evening. Even though they usually go to sleep by 10pm we used to talk about different topics until midnight.

The first photo is of the monastery’s yard. The second one from the Church’s interior

And what about friar Izak? He definitely is a guy with lots of energy and ideas. Born in Zaglav in 1936 but spent most of the time away from the island he is a a big church musician, conductor and a researcher of the Glagolitic heritage. He is also one of the founders of the mixed choir “Bašćina” (Heritage) and several years ago revived the real Renaissance Zaglav liturgical singing. He is fun to talk to and throws the jokes all the time. More about the conversations and his stories in the upcoming posts.

Zaglav: An afternoon in the bay of Triluke (Three ports). Meet the first locals.

After lunch I decided to go down to the village on the coast. Grabbing my camera and other stuff I took the path that goes to the bay. I had it in plan to meet with Zvonko – the young gas station owner whom I reached few days earlier. He knew I’d come and so he helped me to find the potential candidates for the interview. But what about Zaglav?

The road down to the bay of Triluke

It’s a village in the southern part of Dugi otok between Sali and Žman. The records say it was inhabited in 15th century and many of the locals are the descendants of people who flew before the Ottomans. The population of Zaglav is around 174 people though there used to be 300-500 people just few decades ago. I’d say today it’s even less than 170 but we will find out more in 2-3 years. People there mostly live from tourism, sailing and fishing with some small agriculture part. Some work in Sali or move to Zadar or other places on the mainland. Zaglav has a relatively good boat connection with other places and the mainland. Here used to be a ferry port before they moved it to Brbinj. I didn’t go around the whole village on the bay but down there you can find a few restaurants and the gas station also serves as a small store. **This gas station for the cars and the boats is the only one on the island. **

So while walking through this street downstairs I met Zvonko and his dog at the gas station and soon was introduced to the other local dudes who gathered nearby and enjoyed some drink. There I met my future companion and help for the upcoming days - Mirel. After receiving a welcoming drink and introducing myself Zvonko took me to our first star - his father who was repairing the fishermen’s net. Here comes the summary of the interview I had.

Mr Špralja the Sailor

As I approached hime while repairing the net he started explaining me the type of the net he uses and what kind of fish it can catch. He learned the skill from his father and grandfather. Being in pension for many years and not being able to move a lot his main hobbies are repairing and maintaining the nets plus doing some work with agriculture. Right now he had problems with the holes made by the dolphins but as he said - it’s gonna take him around a week to finishing repairing this net around 100 meters long.

His family came from Bakar to Zaglav and** Kornat island** which is the story many other locals shared.

He had spent over 30 years sailing around the world going twice around the equator and visiting all the continents and ports except for Australia and New Zealand. He told me the only experience he remembers most that scared him was during their trip aboard the Jordan Nikolov ship on the Atlantic ocean during the stormy weather where he had to go down inside the ship and make sure to have the gas ventilation closed. As he added “There are no good things on the sea, only the bad ones.”. Also, he believes the young sailors nowadays have it much easier as they don’t have to spend a whole year on the boat and vehicles (technology) is much faster and precise.

Speaking of the food and how it used to be back then he started with the meals they got on the ship. As there used to be 30-50 crew members they had two cooks and one assistant adding that the food was “solid”. On the island, back in his youth days, the main food was fish. The meat as we eat it today was not available and couldn’t be bought easily. You would use what you had of your livestock which included lamb, goats and mutton. In winter they used to fish for the smaller fish, 30-50 of them weighing around a kilogram. In spring there was more of the bluefish such as mackerel or chub. Cuttlefish or an octopus were also options. Dried octopus, he added. They didn’t have much of the potato and people mostly ate collard greens. Berries and beans were also popular. The problem was that the fields on the island were not as rich and potent for the agricultures as it is on the mainland and there has never been much of the freshwater. Those families who had some livestock such as goats or sheep would make milk and cheese. For breakfast you had milk and cheese, fish or some other meat for lunch and for dinner different types of greens.

Repairing the net where two bigger holes were made by the dolphins

What about games and how they used to play as children? The hide and seek obviously never gets out of fashion, no matter the generation. Among other games football was popular, played in the “Old village” upon the hill. However, there weren’t balls like today so they used the the ones made from rags. During the carnival and masquerade there is a custom of setting a fire etc.

And schools? He told me there was around 10 of them in the generation that went to school in Zaglav and Sali that had up to 7-8 grades. Those who wanted to learn a foreign language would have to go to Sali. There he learned a bit of German and his knowledge of English came through navigation around the world. In the end, he forgot almost everything since he returned to the island.

Finally, he believe young people will have an easier life as there are much more opportunities than in his days. Tourism is the number one industry. The problem with the agriculture he sees is that it’s not enough today to earn for a living and many fields were divided into plenty of smaller parcels and those who own them stopped carrying for the land. He concluded again that only with the tourism he can see the youth prosper.

Afterwards we visited three more people whom I asked similar questions. However, I will share the story of the last ones – an old couple living alone in their home. The story of Marjan and Vera Špralja is one of the sad ones you are going to hear.

Life story of Marjan and Vera Špralja

I met them upstairs on their terrace enjoying the snacks and soft sunlight. Though at first a bit reserved and silent soon they warmed and opened up. Quiet simple and modest people who had experienced a lot. Both over 80 years old.

We started with the family background. They came to Zaglav from Kornat island though their ancestors came to these areas from the mainland around Bakar town. Marjan was the eight out of ten siblings and probably the only one who stayed on the island whereas the other went to different places and countries looking for the better opportunities. One of his brothers is living in Australia. They stayed here on the island as the simple shepherds and fishermen. They spent 20-30 years living in the Old Zaglav upon the hill before moving to the bay. They also spent most of their lives on Kornat island. Further on, they explained me the name of the bay – Triluke (Three ports) and the division between the village „up there“ and „down here“. Up in the Old Zaglav (S_taro selo_) there are mostly seniors living, not many of them…while the bay is filled with younger members of the community, families with children.

Speaking of the past they reminded me that once there lived around 400 people in Zaglav while today there might be not more than 50-60, he guessed. The school that used to be open is now closed. This also comes from the fact that families in the past were much bigger with 5-8 siblings. The same case was with my grandmother.

I wondered how the two of them had met. They happen to meet each other back in the elementary school. They said they finished only 3-4 grades and have the essentials skills for living – writing, reading, driving the car and the boat…and some knowledge about the agriculture. There were no teachers, they said. The one teacher used to come twice per week to teach the locals.

We moved to the stories of being on the sea. Marjan is an experienced fisherman and we would have needed an extra day to listen to all of it. The biggest enemy he’s always encountered was the stormy weather at the sea and the wind. One time, during such occasion, he was forced to jump from the boat into the sea in order to push it to the shore otherwise the boat would have been lost.

However, the biggest tragedy they have encountered is with their children. Their son died at the age of 19 losing battle to illness and their daughter (50) is fighting the similar battle laying immobile in the hospital. “Misery and sorrow, that’s our story.” Vera told me.

She moved on saying “We had the sheep on Kornat island, we were fishing, we had a vineyard…and I had been working at Mardešić Fish Factory in Sali for 26 years. And ill children. Nowadays people complain they have no time for anything. They have one child and still busy all the time.” - “Yeah, they waste their whole day trying to put on the make-up”, added Marjan. “We also got up earlier than people today.”

The house they live in was built by Marjan himself. They sold one house to a cousin who took care of them since they won’t have any heirs - otherwise they would keep it for their children. Vera is today suffering from several pains and the similar goes with Marjan. Apart from the cousin who visits them sometimes they have no one else on the island who can help them. The hard life and problems took toll on their health.

We came back to childhood they also described as a misery and famine. Marjan explained there was no such luxury as today to have smoked ham and cheese on your table along with other food we throw away recklessly…but dried figs mostly. Vera carried on pointing me the oranges, olives and lemons they have in their garden. They are happy as they get the fruits from those trees three times in a year.

We ended up our conversation with them asking me about my background and how come I ended up on Dugi otok. They thanked me for visiting them and I was thankful them having shared their time with me.

We are done with the interviews in Zaglav. I came back to the gas station where I met Mirel leaving in his car. He gave me a book about Dugi otok and NP Kornati. As I found out Zvonko had told him to watch over me and help me getting around. Sounds like Sam and Frodo thing. We made a deal to visit Sali in the evening and go for some pizza.

I returned back to the monastery and spent some time talking to the monk-dudes.

Dinner with cheese, bread and wine with my fellas from da monastery

More about the upoming evening in Sali and visiting the cliffs of Telašćica near Fort Grpašćak in the next post!

Grgo