So, here I am back in Zagreb, after a few weeks of heavy traveling through Kvarner and Istria. My discoveries have been wide and varied.
I saw shepherds living in half-abandoned villages at over 900 metres above sea level in Učka Nature Park, making sheep cheese – at under an hour away from one of Croatia’s largest cities!
I ate a four-hour meal in a converted olive mill (Toklarija in Sovinjsko Polje near Buzet; call ahead at 385-052-663-031) on top of an Istrian hill, where every bite tasted near-divine – a ‘slow food’ ritual par excellence.
I stood on mysterious stone circles on a clearing in a forest near the town of Bale where your voice resonates as if in a vacuum – a potent echo I could not explain rationally for the life of me!
I visited an eco-art center in the wild near Bale, run by a shaman who traveled the world barefoot and now lives in this quiet retreat running workshops on happiness, laughter and permaculture.
I stopped by Eco Centre Caput Insulae in Beli, a hilltop village on Cres island, where endangered Eurasian griffon vultures are nursed to recovery.
And these are just some of the many experiences I collected along the way…
Sounds like you had a lovely time…
You are bringing back lovely memories of our travels in Croatia last year when we spent 46 days there. We actually found much of it very pristine and hope it stays that way.
We are on an open ended journey as a family and in Portugal now, so it will be interesting to compare notes there as well.
I really enjoy your blog and have added it to my link page.
Christine, I hope your trip-planning is going well. Good luck with the plunge in July!
Soultraveler, would love to hear more about your experiences in Croatia. Yes, parts of it are still quite pristine but I’m sadly finding it overdeveloped in sections too. Thanks for the link! Yours is going up in a sec.