Croatian Adventure

Gallery: Jack Frost

sestak_family — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 05:09:00 GMT

Gvozd

Jack Frost

sestak_family — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 05:01:00 GMT

Nov 21, 2008

Jack Frost came to visit 3 days ago and we think it might be here to stay! As soon as the sun goes down it drops to below 0º and when we get up in the morning there is a frosty carpet over everything. If we leave the washing on the line only 10 minutes after sunset it freezes too!

But we are keeping nice and warm in our little cottage and the girls are learning the value of keeping the door closed… Although it can be quite difficult to get motivated to get out of the house!

Today we booked our ski holiday over Christmas in a small town, Flattach in Austria, which is very exciting and it means we can also start planning the last 6 weeks of our trip now we have fixed dates. The itinerary, at the moment, looks like Budapest, Ljubljana, Flattach, South of France?, Costa Brava, Granada, Barcelona, Brighton/Oxford & London.

I haven’t told you about the meat situation here. I think I told you that pork and cabbage is the staple diet – shame you can’t get soy sauce ‘cos it would be a great dim sim combination. Well, it’s now pig killing season. The pigs that have been fattened up since last spring are now for the chop. All over town, and the entire district it seems, there are families busily making sausage, boiling the fat for lard, hanging the carcass and carving up meat in their backyards. The girls were revolted at first but now it is such a common sight that they don’t even notice, except for the smell! There is no butcher in Gvozd and fresh meat only comes twice a week so having your own stash is pretty important, I guess.

Dec 8, 2008

We spent a day up on Petrova Gora last weekend. It was the most amazing monument to WW2 partisans built in the 50’s. It was used as a army hospital by the Serbs during the ‘homeland’ war and since then has been totally neglected by the powers that be and has been completely vandalised and ransacked. From the top you can see across to Bosnia and back to Zagreb and a 360 degree panorama of the area. It is hard to imagine how such a significant memorial could be left to crumble. On top there is also an illegal TV transmitter placed by the main TV station in Croatia who have locked up part of the monument for the control room but pay no fees/licenses, nada. Typifies the way things work around here. A nice backhander to a local somebody and jobs done. Of course if you can’t pay the backhander or are a different ethnicity to the person ‘in charge’ you have no chance. There is also the historic partisan village/hideaway on this mountain range, which was a museum before the recent war. It has also been left to rack n ruin - a very beautiful and moving place completely deserted and abandoned – shameful.

We are in Murter for the weekend, a small island between Zadar and Sibenik. To get here we drove across the mountain range that trails the coast through a howling storm on dark windy roads shared with semis. On some hair-pin bends we had to stop to allow the semis coming in the opposite direction manoeuvre around the corner. But the storm cleared and the weather here is positively beautiful and such a contrast from inland. It is about 10 degrees warmer, the sky is blue and we don’t need a fire! We have spent the weekend out walking, eating and drinking plenty and the girls have watched a healthy dose of TV. We are here with Maja & Predrag, the chiefs at Suncokret and Sheena, another volunteer from Scotland. The house belongs to Maja’s parents and is a haven for her and Predrag from the politics, strife and daily worries of running an NGO in an impoverished and divided community.

We had our first Thanksgiving last week and will be definitely introducing this feast into our calendar at home. YUM! And yesterday was St Nicholas’ Day. The girls woke to their shoes filled with lollies! St Nick rewards good children who keep their shoes clean with lollies but if you are naughty you get smacked with a stick! Thankfully Eva took this holiday very seriously and during the week lined up our shoes and cleaned and polished them all!

Last week a new big supermarket opened in Gvozd, (The old one went bankrupt just before we arrived here.) It was big day with a ‘kransky’ sizzle and more people than I have ever seen here lined up for a sausage. The new supermarket is very flash and sells things like butter and meat which you can’t get daily anywhere else. It also has a good selection of fresh vegies which Maja thinks won’t last as no one will buy them! At least we are well fed over our last 2 weeks here.

We are travelled home from Murter through 2 tiny towns, Donji Lapac and Donji Srb, where Maja supervises 2 more community volunteer projects. They are in a spectacular countryside, surrounded by enormous mountains and even though they are only a couple of hours from Zagreb they are incredibly isolated. Both towns were mostly Serbian before the war and only the elderly have returned. The appear to be almost deserted and would make a great set for a deserted town in a western movie. We took a shortcut through Bosnia to get back to Gvozd which was fun especially when we couldn’t find our papers for the car! Thankfully, the border guard said it was OK as we were travelling with children (!?) and only passing through Bosnia!

This is our last week of volunteering. It’s gonna be a big one with a quick trip to Zagreb with our girls and 2 girls from the centre to see High School Musical 3 on Wednesday afternoon – yay! Big plans for our last night – the screening of 2 short films by Ruby made in Gvozd and karaoke! And get this – Ruby asked if we could stay an extra night so she could have one more Saturday night standing out in the park in –2 degrees to hang out with the local kids!!! May wonders never cease. It’s going to be very sad leaving here and we will definitely be including a visit to Gvozd in future travel plans for sure.

Gallery: Kiša Pada

sestak_family — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 03:17:00 GMT

Gvozd

Kisha Pada

sestak_family — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 03:08:00 GMT

The rain is falling and falling and falling! Soon we will have to build an ark to float away in. The ground has turned into a big sponge and mud oozes out as you squelch along. We need a 4WD to navigate our driveway (now outabounds). The rain is not heavy, more of a drizzle really. You can walk outside and not get soaked but it just didn’t stop for 2 full days. A novelty for us! The novelty will wear off quickly though as the open drains outside are filling and our toilet rises now instead of going down when we flush! When the sun comes out it should smell great! Yesterday we had a massive fog – all day – which kinda felt a bit like walking in the rain and was really spooky driving home last night from Slavsko Polje (more about that later…). And although we seem to be surrounded by water we can’t drink the water from the tap! It got contaminated – not sure how or with what but we have been waiting a week now for the ‘tests’ to come back and tell us it is OK to drink. The local shops keep running out of bottled water and the council has supplied a fire truck in the town square for people who can’t afford to buy water and apparently it’s OK to drink if you boil it. Anyhow, we are all fine and I haven’t heard of any illness around town from bad water so we shall wait and see – there is a lot of ‘wait and see’ around here.

We have settled in well to our little life in Gvozd. Our cottage is cosy, a kitchen, 2 bedrooms and bathroom with a woodfire in each. For the first 3 weeks we only had the fire in the kitchen going but now have all 3 flaming just to keep the damp out. There are also a couple of sheds and big grassy yard and pergola with grapevine but none of these are much use to us now summer has officially ended and autumn (Listopad – leaves falling) is also almost over.

Our days are really busy – believe it or not! We start the day with about 2-3 hours schooling with the girls, which takes my undivided attention – they all always need help at the same time! Then we have lunch and head into Suncokret (pronounced sawnce-o-kret,which is sunflower in Croatian), the community centre where we are volunteering for 2 months. Suncokret Centre for Community Development is a local non-government organization run by two wonderful people, Maya and Predrag. They both work tirelessly and for not very much, to improve the opportunities for the young and support the community. They are amazing people and have quickly become good friends. If you would like to know more about Suncokret I’ve put some details at the bottom of this blog.

And so our day continues… If anyone of us needs to use internet, check emails etc we try to go in at 11am when the centre opens and use computers before the kids start arriving usually around 1pm. The internet is also available for all the locals to use for a small fee. The internet is itself an exercise in learning patience and tolerance as there is only dial-up and it’s sloooow, especially if others are using it too. It’s taken us all this time to make the adjustment to waiting, waiting, waiting. (We play solitaire on the computer while we wait but even that gets pretty boring after awhile.) Of course, if you have never experienced ADSL or beyond then dial-up is brilliant – it’s just us spoilt westerners who complain!

And for those of you who think Croatia is a ‘western’ country, think again! It’s not quite 3^rd world but it’s pretty borderline. People live here with no glass in their windows, concrete floors (not polished!) and only turn on the water heater on Sundays. The staple diet is pork and cabbage and not much else, (green vegies come mostly in tins or the frozen section). They all, with hardly an exception, smoke like chimneys (we call it ‘the Croatian salute’) and beer or wine is cheaper than lemonade! And don’t get me started on the bread – let’s just say it makes Brumby’s and Bakers Delight look like gourmet health bread. The local supermarkets have very basic necessities – not even tinned tomatoes! And in the big supermarkets the flour section is very complex. There is bread flour tip 550, 850, 1250 in white, wholemeal, corn, cake flour, yeast cake flour, pancake flour but no SR flour. Baking powder comes in wee packets and we just guess how much to use. Of course all our baking is in a woodfired oven with no temp guage never mind control so everything is a bit hit and miss anyway. We have had some hits, a few misses and a fair bit of cussin’. It’s a bit like campfire cooking in a box! But I digress…

The centre is open until 7pm from Mon – Thur with a movie night every Fri till about 9pm.

So, on a good day, one of us tries to be home by 6pm to get dinner started but usually, like today, it’s 7.30 before we get home and dinner is about 9pm! At the centre we play games with the kids – card games are very popular with UNO being #1 with the older kids, although Ruby and Audra and now taught them Cheat and Shithead to broaden the repertoire a little. The UNO cards are so worn that some of the cards have corners or half the card missing but that doesn’t seem to deter their spirit at all. They also have a few different rules and they all cheat like crazy. We brought with us an Aussie snakes n ladders. We had to teach them how to play (I thought everyone knew snakes n ladders?) and the kids were cheating like crazy by throwing ‘fake’ 6’s etc only to find that a snake would take them all the way back to the start!

The younger children paint, draw or do other art activities. And of course there are the computers for ‘games’, very popular with boys mostly! If it’s a nice day we play Frisbee outside and last Monday I bought a soccer ball at the market and we had a very competitive ‘friendly’ game that lasted all afternoon – which was a nice change from sitting in front of computers! Some of the older kids also bring their homework to the centre to do research on the internet for projects or get help with Maths, English (language) & German.

This week has seen fun and games with some pretty vitriolic attacks from the local school Principal who accused the volunteers of using drugs and lots of other total bullshit. She has caused problems for Suncokret before but has been relatively passive for the past 18m-2yrs apparently. Nepotism, corruption and most forms of powerplay and manipulation are rife here and it starts at the very top. The national government is full of guys with ‘mob’ connections and there has been two assassinations in Zagreb while we have been here. Anyway the local school Principal, (who once told a parent when asked who they could speak to ‘above’ her replied ‘the only person above me is God’ !!!!!!!) has ‘banned’ three classes from attending the centre and has lined all the other kids up and asked each one of them if they visit the centre. So the children are mortified and confused and it’s all a bit sad really. Hopefully, she will soon find something else to beat up on – we have considered making a voodoo doll and starving it ‘cos she likes her food. We haven’t met her yet but look forward to Friday when we will all be at the opening of the new Rural Cooperative and Rural Development NGO in Slavsko Polje promoting Suncokret’s partnership with the co-op and volunteerism!

In typical Sestak form we have taken on a couple of ‘projects’! Murray spent the first week cleaning out the storeroom/warehouse where furniture, bedding, clothes and other stuff is kept for families in need. He has also become the Suncokret handyman. There are lots of little jobs that need attention so he is working his way through a never-ending list. Tradesmen here have absolutely no pride in their work as far as we can tell. Jobs are only half done if they are even finished or if the tradesman turns up! In our house alone he has so far fixed the kitchen water heater (the plug was out when we arrived because when you put it in it overheated and the smell was bad), unblocked the kitchen drain (the sink was not draining at all), put up a new clothesline (the old one always collapsed under the weight of the wet clothes), unblocked the septic (eeuuw), made us some book shelves and chopped a winters worth of wood! He is now focussed on fixing the driveway to the Suncokret Art & Craft centre, locally known as the Japanese House because it was purchased with funds from the Japanese NGO ‘Kids Earth Fund’. The road up to the Japanese house is very boggy and has lots of holes. We have seen piles of gravel and sand on the sides of the roads (read: one up from a goat track) everywhere around here. Maya explained that the council dump the sand and gravel and it’s up to the local residents to spread it out over the pot holes and boggy bits on the roads but most people just take it home for their own use!

Tomorrow Murray is helping shift/steal some bricks from the old Suncokret centre which is being pulled down. Then he is also going to help Maya and Predrag with the floor boards in the house they are renovating. All over this area the traditional houses are/were timber. Huge planks hewn like railway sleepers and joined in a “keyed” style. Many were destroyed during the war or have been deserted and are falling down. The government provides brick housing for returnees, which they only complete to lock-up and then the families move in – quite often 2 or 3 generations – with no possessions and no money. So most of the houses look unfinished because they are! Maya and Predrag are renovating a beautiful old wood house and making it sustainable – solar power, composting toilet and a beautifully restored ceramic tiled wood heater which heats the entire house on a few logs. Compared to our UNHCR donated wood stove, which must be constantly loaded and stoked to provide any heat for either cooking or comfort, theirs is sustainable even though it burns wood. Anyhoo, the tradesmen that have been helping them renovate are simply a joke! The guy that did the floors (new oak, recycling hardly exists around here) didn’t punch the nails in far enough so the floors need to be sanded by hand as the nails will wreck the floor sander. Murray bought a doover(nail punch) that he can use to punch the nails down and they don’t have to sand on their hands and knees.

Next day…

Murray spent 3 hours today shifting the bricks and then helped Predrag pick a few buckets of grapes which they pressed by hand! They are used for ‘mosht’, which is the juice just before it turns to alcohol and tastes like a yummy sparkling burgundy. Any ‘mosht’ not drunk is made into rakija (grappa). There is a big copper stil on a trailer, which is towed around behind a tractor to peoples homes to make rakija. Hilarious! It is in constant use and don’t worry about all those plastic bottles from the water they are not wasted at all. There was a death across the road our first week here and everyone (no kidding) who came to pay their respects came with a 1.5lt bottle of water – weird? No, it was rakija – just looked like water.

There have been 3-4 funerals since we arrived. The town has no morgue so the bodies are kept at home until they are buried. We got to check out the finer nuances when our neighbour passed away. The weather was fine that week so all the chairs were outside in the front garden for the wake, which was held before the funeral. Then a tractor with a big trailer pulled up and hey presto here’s the hearse. The service was at the graveside and then everyone went to the town’s big hall for what we thought was the wake but, no. It was for lunch and once it was eaten they all left! Spit spot all 60 people fed in under an hour!

Suncroket has a partnership with the Rural Initiative Development NGO based in Karlovac and the Rural Cooperative in Slavsko Polje. Somehow, in our first week here, we were introduced to these people and my services offered to help them with a mural design for their new centre. Well, they were so thrilled how could I say no? So we had a meeting – in a café over coffee – and went to look at the space and the whole thing turned into bigger than Ben bloody Hur. The design in the community room is over 4 walls covering all the seasons and the changes in the chestnut trees with lots of colour and there will be another mural in the foyer once I catch my breath. The first stage is now finished in time for the grand opening and I will start work on the second stage next week after a bit of R&R. Working 8 hour days is a shock to the system – I need a holiday to recover!!!

We did manage to get away for a long weekend last week to Zagreb for Eva’s birthday. We splashed out on a really cheesey hotel in the centre of town and had a ball. Best thing was long hot showers everyday (our water heater is small and so is the bath and there is no chance of standing up for a hose down). We also ate our first asian meal since leaving Melbourne and it was great. We saw the new James Bond film in a proper cinema – pretty good, went to the Naïve Art Museum – excellent, the Arts & Crafts Museum – good, hit the shops, kids watched a heap of TV, we browsed the flea market, the girls had manicures, we ate take away (also first time since leaving Melb – we were all too tired to go out!!), had the best hot chocolates ever at Vinceks, skyped the Bernardis and Nankovics and took complete advantage of hotel hotspot and ADSL and we went to the Dulac Market and bought a truck load of green vegies – yum! Not bad for a 2 night visit and a birthday that was going to be ‘bad’ because of no friends or family!

Eva’s birthday went on for days. We had a little surprise party for her at the centre on Thursday – we made honey joys and fairy cakes. It was so cute, they all sang happy birthday and then lined up and shook her hand and wished her happy birthday. Then on Friday there were two more cakes at the centre – they weren’t ready in time for Thursday! – and the movie night, new Batman film, which they brought forward an hour so we could have a birthday tea for Eva with Maya and Predrag and 2 new volunteers, Sheena (Scottish) and Loreen (Irish), known locally as the Irish girls. Our girls ran home after the film, it was raining, and left Sheena and Loreen behind so Murray went to collect them and Domagoj, a young boy, gave him a gift for Eva – a red rose and a box of chocolates!

The kids here are so gorgeous – they happily share everything they have with us and are already asking if we will come back next year in the summer! Our girls are part of the furniture already too. They hang out with all the kids at the centre, playing cards and kidding around. Ruby is as loud as the locals, not hard I know. They are having a lot of fun and enjoying themselves which is great.

Gvozd: There are ~4000 inhabitants in the municipality, ~1000 living in Gvozd. There are ~120 employed individuals, and ~1000 beneficiaries of Red Cross and 570 households are social welfare beneficiaries. So the town is poor. Also it is an ageing community hence the number of funerals. There are 250 pupils in a P-8 school in Gvozd. Once an industrial center with many shops and a vibrant community, Gvozd was destroyed during the war and is in the process of return of the Serbian returnee population as well as resettling of Croatian refugees from Bosnia. There are 4 mini-marts, like large milkbars, a weekly market, a chemist, a hardware, a medical clinic, a post office, a police station with 16 policeman (!), a petrol station, a restaurant, 2 hairdressers and upteen cafes (drinks only). Problems persist as there are tensions between returnees and settlers due to issues such as inadequate housing, nepotism, etc. Gvozd Municipality is also separated and isolated from the wider community. Poor infrastructure, poor transport connections with larger towns and dislocation make opportunities of both youth and adults living in Gvozd Municipality for living a decent life and inclusion into society difficult. Furthermore, unemployment is extremely high in this area and as a result there is much lethargy and a general lack of motivation.

Sunckret CCD: The overall project goal is to promote youth participation and social inclusion and encourage civic engagement of youth. The Suncokret Center offers unique and innovative projects and activities for youth. The approach is youth centered and based on modeling, mentoring and informal education. In addition, the activities are intended to facilitate local development through volunteerism, reintegration of Croat settlers/refugees and Serb returnees through educative, skill building, and community activities. The project aims to encourage participation, reintegration and revitalization of this rural postwar area. In addition, the center provides a neutral non-threatening space where all national groups have the opportunity to meet and invaluable skills and competencies can develop and be formed which ultimately contribute to the development of interethnic/national understanding, tolerance and reconciliation. There is very little nationalist tension at the center compared to the community at large, and it provides a safe and interesting place to interact.

The Suncokret Center also strives to be a place where historical and cultural heritage is preserved, shared and enjoyed in a mutually-appreciative atmosphere. Through participation and education in activities (such as dance, sewing traditional costumes, festivals, crafts, films and exhibitions) various facets of both of the local ethnicities cultures, are passed onto the youth and other interested parties and enjoyed by all. This establishes a bridge for mutual respect and understanding that is an essential element for community building in a multi-ethnic society.

Gallery: Dubrovnik & Montenegro

sestak_family — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 22:14:00 GMT

24 hours on a boat

sestak_family — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 21:55:00 GMT

The drive into Dubrovnik from Split was very spectacular and of course enhanced by the discovery of a great supermarket! Isn’t it weird how life can revolve around a good cup of tea and familiar pantry products?

We made our way to the old city, stari grad, as all we knew about our apartment was that it was close to the old city. Never having been to Dubrovnik before this didn’t really mean much. We were delighted to discover that we were indeed only 5 min walk from the Ploçe Gate and better still our apartment was just above a great beach and the weather had turned it on for us. After finding somewhere to put the car (for free, naturally) we hit the beach and all went for a swim. The beach became a major attraction over the next few days and it was hard to resist the temptation of lying in the sun and swimming but we managed to squeeze in a few sessions between sight-seeing and touring.

Montenegro was the first item on the agenda as it is so close to Dubrovnik. Ruby was really excited to go there because it is where Casino Royale was filmed. Monday morning we were in the car by 9am – pretty good going for people who have been on holiday for 6 weeks! The border is only 45 mins drive from Dubrovnik and we made it in good time. Passports at the ready we went through the Croatian checkpoint and proceeded to Montenegro passport control. Passports handed over, ‘but where are your car papers?’. Whoops, left them in Dubrovnik, so Montenegro was no go! Nema problema, girls were happy to go back to the beach and on the drive back we discovered an Aldi so all was not lost. And as a consolation prize the girls and I went to see Mumma Mia in a little cinema in the old city. It was just as good as the first time even though the seats were a bit hard and the change between reels was a bit rough.

We did manage to get to Montenegro the following day and had a wonderful day driving around the bay of Kotor. We stopped in Kotor to explore the stari grad and decided to attempt to climb up to St John’s Fort, maybe just have way. In the end Murray, Eva and I climbed to the top – there were so many oldies doing it we just had to! Once again, we discovered OH&S is no big deal over here. The climb was steep (and hot) and the steps were broken and crumbling with no hand rail. We are constantly reminded how over regulated we are and how much we try to protect people in spite of themselves at home!

When we got back down I decided it was time to attack the on going headlice problem with some heavy duty gear. We went into the chemist and Murray decided the best way to explain what we need was to describe it as ‘flies in the hair’. This created much hilarity in the chemist and of course they knew exactly what we wanted.

Dubrovnik is a very charming city and it was also our first direct experience of the civil war. Unbelievably the old town was heavily shelled by the Serbs with nearly 80% of the buildings a direct hit. Apparently the Serbian Army was prepared to completed destroy a city which has survived for centuries if not for the intervention of Bill Clinton. He let the Serbs know that if they bombed Dubrovnik the US would not be able to sit on their hands. Seems as though history has more currency than human life. (We are now living in a town that was under the control of the Serbian Army during the war but, more about that later.)

Dubrovnik was also the official end of our holiday so we decided to celebrate with a 24 hour ferry ride all the way back to Rijeka. We were up early to finish packing and be on the boat by 8. It was a struggle for the us girls (me) but we pull through and we were waiting in the que for the boat right on time. We managed to find good seats by a window taking up two tables but unfortunately in the smoking section and right next to our new friend Nancy. Nancy introduced herself within minutes of us taking our seat but was a lovely lady from San Diego, who is travelling through all of Eastern Europe and was keen to swap travelling tips and stories which were quiet interesting. The time on the boat went very slowly after the first 50 minutes we were knew in for a long 24hours, with having already played most of the various games we had bought to keep ourselves occupied. After lunch, time seemed to pass faster, mum and dad went outside to read and we watched harry potter on the laptop. From a distance we pasted Duboka bay, which we never thought we’d see so soon. We arrived in split, stopping for two hours, which we took as a chance to get off the boat and strech our legs, We didn’t go far when we spotted an interent café, so decided to stop in for a check the emails instead then back on the boat for dinner and bed. When we got off the boat at 7 the next morning we could tell that our summer holiday was finally over as it was cold, raining and winds that could easily knock up off our feet. We stopped for 3 hours in Rijeka, then moved straight on for Dads family in Donji Vidonvec and Legrad where we spent the weekend visiting Dads rellies.

Of course, everyone was very happy to see us again especially as they thought we would probably never come back to visit! Murrays Auntie,Teta Angela, moved from her daughters home in Ljublijana to their family home in Donji Vidovec for the summer. It was great to see inside his fathers old home but we were all a bit nervous that our home in Gvozd may also be as basic! She has made it very comfortable and is obviously very happy living there. Slavica was also happy to see us and sent us off to Gvozd on Monday morning with a fresh chicken, walnuts and apples all from her garden. We left Legrad in a thick fog and cold cold weather and headed for the motorway and Gvozd with promises to return again soon or get together for a weekend in Zagreb.

Gallery: Otok Braç

sestak_family — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 17:23:00 GMT

Lickety Split

sestak_family — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 16:59:00 GMT

We were greeted in Braç by the welcoming arms of not one, not two but three St Kilda families! The Bodycombs, the Nankovic’s and the Foulis-Lanes were all settled into Duboka Bay in a sumptious villa on the south side of the island near Milna. We quickly found an apartment for 5 in Milna and then deposited the children with their friends out at Duboka Bay for the next 6 days! Murray & I got a chance to have some ‘alone’ time while the children got maximum ‘friends’ time. Our heartfelt thanks to the Foulis-Lanes and Nankovic families for their hospitality and wonderful company over the past week. The great time shared and memories will sustain us all over the next two months of volunteering and as winter deepens in the Balkans.

Duboka Bay was in all its glory when we arrived. Warm and sunny with the entire bay to ourselves. The kids immediately got into the flow with swimming in the crystal clear sea, kayaking, ‘beanies’ and the occasional dvd. We hardly saw them over the next week except for dinner and the occasional foray into Milna for a shower and change of clothes. Meanwhile Murray and I explored the island – a visit to the stone cutting school in Puçisçe, Braç is reknowned for its white stone including the ‘White’ house in Washington; the ‘beach’ at Bol which appears on most tourist marketing for Croatia exciting because it IS a beach and not just rocks; Vidova Gora, the highest point in the Croatian archipelago with incredible views and memorable to us because of the café/bar which reminded us of the old days at Mt Buller and the rustic chalets; and the Blaca Monastery which we were determined to explore never mind the 6.5km of literal goat track we drove to get there only to find there was a 2.5km walk down to the monastery which meant a 2.5km UP to get back! BUT we were committed. The monks settled here in the 15th century and lived in caves while they built the monastery on the side of a cliff miles from anywhere. Well worth it - but were we both knackered that night!

We also enjoyed 2 fabulous day trips, to Hvar & Split with all the gang. Split was a fun
‘girlie’ day with lots of shopping, internet surfing and a little sightseeing. To get to Hvar Town we chartered a boat from Captain Leo and cruised across the Adriatic spotting a pair of dolphins and stopping in a sheltered cove for a much anticipated ‘swim off the boat’ by those brave enough on the way back. Hvar was fantastic and we all climbed up to the old Fort above the town before a sumptuous lunch of squid, pasta and schnitzels. The AFL followers amongst us (mainly just Col) enjoyed a brief moment of hero-worshipping when ‘the pav’ (Pavlovic from Fremantle Dockers for those like myself who wouldn’t have a clue) was spotted (by Col) in the main square of Hvar having a quiet spot of lunch himself.

We spent the last day on Braç in charge of all the children while the grown-ups packed and got ready to catch the 3.30pm ferry to Split. We piled all 9 of us into our little 7-seater Picasso and drove into town to feed & water the hoards then off to a swimming platform in Milna. Due to drainage works the road was ‘diverted’ and after 15 minutes of stony goat tracks and a couple of wrong turns we arrived at the beach for a swim. The way back got a bit hairy when we tried to make our own detour into town. After one wrong turn where we all piled out so Murray could reverse back up a steep track which led down to steps we tried another route and ended up jammed into a tight corner. With only pedestrian steps in front of us on what turned out to be actually a footpath not a road and too narrow to open the doors and pile out, the kids were deathly silent in the back while Murray forced our little car to reverse up the footpath while trying to avoid the front door steps, open windows and even a little tractor parked on the side of the path! We emerged unscathed and returned the children to their parents unharmed and without even the chance to tell about our exciting adventure as the day had marched on and it was time for them all to leave. Farewell hugs and kisses, a group photo and we waved them all goodbye – the last contact with dear friends until we return home.
We spent one more night in Milna before our departure. Our landlord, Nikola, gave us the key to the apartment block and asked us to lock up when we left in the morning as he was off to Zagreb for the weekend. All our Croatian hosts have been very warm and welcoming. Not the least Elder in Split. She greeted us all like family and made us very welcome even though her accommodation was a bit weird, but great location and hey we only need to put our heads down. After our first day trip we felt Split warranted at least another day. We explored Marijan Rt – a hugh park just 10 minutes drive from the old town with swimming, cycling, hiking, tennis etc. Sharing the same name as our dear Murray we had to check it out. Well worth the effort and then back to the old town for more shopping, dinner and one more stroll Diocletians Palace which is even more spectacular at night when it is floodlit. Nearly forgot to mention the market in Split which is fabulous – every thing from heads of beef! to dried figs and all things in between.

From Split we drove to Dubrovnik along the coast – more spectacular scenery and at Maraska we discovered a ginormous Konzum (like Coles). Mostly you just find little Konzums like a mini-mart in every little neighbourhood. This one was huge which made us all excited as we had been unable to find what we consider staples – soy sauce, decent tea etc. It had it all and we came away with sweet chilli sauce, soy sauce and twinings English breakfast tea, (Croatians seem only to drink herbal teas – guess they have to do something to counteract all the salt and cigarettes, not to mention alcohol. Have I mentioned that beer and wine is usually cheaper than coke or lemonade!) a decent sized tea mug AND their last copy of Trojan Warrior! Can you believe it?? We were all quite excited by this!

Next stop Dubrovnik and Montenegro and some serious beach weather!

xxx

Gallery: istria too

sestak_family — Fri, 3 Oct 2008 05:17:00 GMT

Gallery: Istria

sestak_family — Fri, 3 Oct 2008 04:42:00 GMT

Europe on 2000 carbs a day!

sestak_family — Fri, 3 Oct 2008 04:31:00 GMT

Ah Rovinj, Rovinj, Rovinj… What a wonderful, romantic, relaxed, beautiful, friendly and absolutely gorgeous town! As if you haven’t already guessed we have totally fallen in love with Rovinj. We are already planning how and when we can return.

Our apartment is in a block of three and we have shared it with the Lanes, the Blacks and the Bodycombs, all friends from Australia, during our two week stay. We are right in the centre of the old town, which is pedestrian access only and a short walk to the fruit & veg market, the fish market, the butchers, the bakeries and the cheese shop. Everything is at our doorstep and the children have been free to come and go as they please. Eva has even, this morning, taken herself to the Post Office to send a card to Zoe!

Planning meals – a high priority on this trip so far – has been an absolute pleasure here. After breakfast we pop down to the markets and see what there is. Everything is local and freshly picked and if you arrive late then you miss out. The locals are very generous and always throw in a pod of garlic or a couple of chillies. I’ve been practising my Croatian on our ‘fruit man’ and can now greet, exchange pleasantries and order without using English although some pointing is required. There are lots of grubs and no uniform sizes and the best thing is the flavour – the sweetest carrots and beans, plums and tomatoes so ripe they are fit to burst, delicious waxy potatoes – yummy yummy yummy. We only need to buy what we need for the day so most things never see the inside of a fridge. The fish market is a blast too with a daily catch from the local fisherman. We have had mussels, local sea bass, scampi, prawns. Oh, and the squid is pretty damn fine too. The local prsut (ham) is yum and picek (chicken) is cheap and good. We haven’t bought much fresh meat after seeing a butcher that sells horse flesh! But we did have some excellent mince made up for us from beef, veal and pork. We’ve shared some great meals with all our friends – marnies mussels, rotisserie chicken a la murray, james’ pasta e fagioli and loads of vino, cheese, salami, tomatoes and bread.

And don’t get me started on the bakery! We have replaced pizza (although there is a fantastic pizza place here which we have been to a few times) with bureks. They are layers of filo pastry filled with cheese or meat and are delicious and filling at $1.50 each! Then there is scrumptious apple strudel, krafen (doughnuts) filled with jam, apple or chocolate. We buy fresh bread everyday and eat all of it! There are salty rolls, cheese rolls, piroshki with jam, cheese or mak (poppyseeds). Sometimes it is a struggle to eat as much as we want in a day.

We have adopted a bar on the waterfront and the barmen treats us like family. We go there most days around 6pm for a pre dinner drink and to watch the sun sink into the Adriatic. We have 100’s of sunset photos.

The Adriatic is crystal clear and still like a lake and the water is warm. The places we don’t walk to we bike ride - mostly around to the beaches along the south side where there is a huge park. We have even managed a couple of day trips to Pula, Porec and Sveta Vincenat in the car. The kids now whine ‘do we have to drive?’ instead of ‘do we have to walk’!!

The feature of this town though is Sveta Eufemia, a magnificent church that sits on the highest point overlooking the sea. It is in the centre of the oldest part of the town with the narrow, smooth stone paved streets winding there way up to the church. This part of town was actually an island until the narrow strip of water was filled in and became the town square. There are lots of artists working and selling their work in the little streets. We have swum under Sveta Eufemia’s watchful gaze on the rocky edge of the old town where you jump off the rocks into the sea.

Tomorrow we farewell Rovinj and make our way down the coast to Split and the island of Brac to spend a few nights with the Nankovic’s (more friends from home) stopping on the way in Crikvenica to visit with Maté an old family friend of the Sestak’s.

If the rest of Croatia is a stunning as Rovinj we might never leave!

PS: We spent last night in Crikvenica and discovered another fantastic coastal town. Ankica fed us shnitzel and cabbage rolls, both delicious. Their house is just behind the promenade along the wide beach front. Another place we shall have to return to! Today we followed the coast road to Zadar. The scenery was spectacular. Rocky and sparse as if we were above the snow line with the sea just below us. Split tomorrow and then Brac!

Gallery: 3 days 3 countries

sestak_family — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 06:30:00 GMT

A gondolier named Kuba

sestak_family — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 05:25:00 GMT

On our last morning in Paris we went to the food market at Place d'Aligre and discovered there was also a trash n treasure market. Lots of interesting junk and we spent a few shekels here and there but really loved one painting which would have happily bought - it was a trash n treasure market afterall - but the price was 300 euros, a bit out of our price range!! We bought some more yummy bread and food for a picnic and then Ruby and I took Audra, Eva & Murray back to Parc Monceau for a leisurely afternoon lying in the sun parisienne style.

We ended our Paris trip with a stroll up the rue de Archives and dinner on a corner opposite the Archives Nationale where there was a fancy formal party happening and all the guests were greeted with a blast from a type of french horn as the walked across the ornate courtyard, most arriving in limo's - very pish posh! The sound from the horns were beautiful though and we got the full benefit everytime someone arrived.

After making our way via metro, with our 7 pieces of luggage and extra bits we (the girls) had collected in Paris, to Citroen in Porte de St Cloud we collected our little 'picasso' and hit the road. Sad to leave Paris but great to be in some open space again. Baden Baden was our first overnight stop and after the tres charmant french we were a bit taken aback by the abrupt germans who I'm sure were really nice - you just couldn't tell!

Bright but not so early we hit the highway again - courtesy I might add of Bel & Nick's GPS and no hard copy maps whatsover. Our destination - Ravensburg. Our dear friends the Kearneys suggested a pitstop in this (now) famous german town where all you jigsaw afficianado's will know the Ravensburger puzzle factory lives. Ruby did some research on the internet and we thought we were all set for a quick tour of the factory or at the least a browse in their factory outlet! We turned up at the factory (courtesy of GPS) all excited but alas the security guard on the boom gate - not a good sign - did not sprechen ze anglais and via a co-worked explained if we email the factory we could organise a tour. Well, nicht so gut for us on a tight schedule to Venice. Thanks to Ruby's excellent research skills we GPS'd our way to tourist info and discovered Ravensburg is indeed a lovely town with a very helpful tourist office and two lovely toy shops which both sell Ravensburg products and even had some on special. With the boot now seriously chokkers we gps'd our way to Aldi (we asked the tourist info lass for directions) and visited this excellent german export, stocked up on food and ate our lunch in their car park! The german Aldi's are truly excellent and thanks again to the Kearney's recommendation to stop and shop! (We also passed a Curves in Ravensburg which was closed as it was lunchtime - Ravensburg really does have everything!)

Onto Austria and the Arlberg Alps. WOW!! We were blown away by the size and scale of these mountains - massive. We detoured off the motorway to visit St Anton and St Christoph. I worked a ski season in St Anton in 1983 and I have to say could hardly recognise or remember anything! Maybe because there was no snow or it has grown a bit in the past 25 years but I seriously think they have moved the train station! We would have loved to stay there but could not get one guest house to answer the door and we tried about 10! Actually one did answer to tell us they were fully booked. Got the feeling they were hiding behind the curtains watching us... bit weird. So it was onto Innsbruck for the night which was pretty spectacular itself. 5 weiner schnitzels later and a bit of thigh slapping and yodelling and it was good night for us all.

The Dolomites entertained us for most of the next morning - stunning - and how on earth did they get those little churches right up high on those craggy outcrops? Amazing! By lunchtime we were in Venice and bless our gps because heaven knows how you would find your way without one. We met Paolo,the owner of apt, at the Rialto bridge and made our way through the narrow streets up and down bridges to his, now ours, flat in Cannareggio. This was our first seriously hot day 31øC so we showered and hit the streets ending up in the jewish quarter in time for Friday night prayers and yummy pizza. We discovered the word ghetto comes from the Italian geto meaning foundry. When the german jews first came to Venice in 1500's (?) they lived in the geto - the area where all the foundry's were. The italians pronounced geto with a soft 'g' as in german but the germans used a hard 'g' as in goat and that is how the word ghetto came about. So there you go!

We walked home via Ferrovia and came across a scottish band doing country and western in front of the train station! Not sure the kids got the irony but Mur and I sure did.

On Saturday morning we took the 50c gondola across the grand canal to the fish markets. It was raining but not too much and we all stood (about 15 ppl) in the gondola as we crossed. Audra was sure we would all end up in the canal and was hanging onto me so tight I thought she would tip us in! The fish market was fabulous and we coudln't resist the prawns/scampi. There was an almighty thunderstorm while we were there which put the dampeners on returning via gondola so we trudged our way back to the Rialto bridge and arrived home soaked through. It poured and poured all day. Sunday was grey but not wet so we headed for San Marco's and all the bits in between. San Marco's was under water - we entered on raised platforms across the water - but not because of the rain, as we thought, but because it was a high tide on a full moon. So, this has happened at least 12 times a year for the past 1000 years!!!!

On our last day in Venice Eva convinced us all that we should take a gondola ride and with the help of Paolo and a 10% discount we found Kuba a polish gondolier (he's lived in venice for 35 years). It was a wonderful experience, we learned a lot about Venice and it was just lovely to get off the tourist trail and into the back streets and a bit of peace and quiet. Mur likened walking the main drag of Venice to a salmon swimming up stream!

And now onto Croatia - but first a quick pitstop in Nervesa alla Battaglia where Orlando comes from - see the photos - it's a lovely sleepy little village out of Treviso.

We are now in Rovinj, Croatia, which is just lovely. Here for 2 weeks so will fill you all in on this beautiful spot soon.

Dovidenja for now!

Code de la rue Parisienne

sestak_family — Tue, 9 Sep 2008 05:22:00 GMT

Saturday morning, bright and early (lunchtime) we went to the parisan flea markets, Les Puces, over on the other side of Paris. It had everything from a whole store of just buttons, worth a few euro cents to a old, ornate, covered in gold leaf bed worth 65,000 euros. After spending a few hours browsing through the markets we headed on to the Sacre Coeur, via a "paris city walks" card, which took us on a extra long walk to the top, going upstairs that never seemed to finsh, zig- zagging along the streets of Montmarte. Mum swears that the "paris city walks" are better than a lonely planet guide so that must be saying something. At the highest point in montmarte, we finally found the Sacre Coeur, and the stunning view was well worth the walk. From the top of the Sacre Coeur we could see all the rooftops of Paris.(ruby)

We were also lucky enough to see a wedding in the little church next to Sacre Coeur, St Pierre de Montmartre, built in 1133!! All the guests were assembled in the small garden inside the church grounds and spilling onto the Place de Tertre. Montmartre was very beautiful - but hey, what in Paris isn't? After Sacre Coeur we wound our way down to the Metro at Abbesse, passing Bateau Lavoir, the laundry boat, named because of all the laundry hanging from the windows and where Picasso and other artists lived in the early 1900's and in the place de Abbesse we were entertained by a brass band of young musicians who were dancing and performing in an avante garde style all dressed in orange.

We arrived back at our apartment pooped and then Ruby got us all fired up and motivated at 9pm to go to Tour Eiffel. Well worth it tho' we were all a bit shabby when we got home at midnight!!

Sunday morning we crossed over the seine into the Ile de la Cite and went to mass at Notre Dame - along with a couple of 1000 other people. We crossed back over at Pont Neuf and then walked back into Le Marais and had lunch in the Paris version of Carlisle St - the jewish quarter. Amazingly everything in Paris is mostly closed on Sundays which is refreshing but of course the jewish quarter was buzzing. We picked up yummy falafels and shawarmas for lunch and because the bread here is so ordinary (ha!) we thought we better grab some bagels and a challah and while we're there une petite gateau fromage s'il vous plait! With full stomachs we headed back and for the first time since leaving Melbourne splintered into 2 groups. Murray, Audra & Eva went back to the apartment while Ruby & I got on the metro and went to the Musee Nissim de Camondo which is an amazing house fully decorated in the 18th century style left to the state when Monsieur Camondo died. It's right near Parc Monceau which was pretty spectacular too! (the park guard makes sure you don't climb trees or go on any out-of-bounds grass areas by blowing her whistle and yelling! - can you imagine that in Melbourne?).

We topped off the day with a stroll to the Pompidou centre - no need to even carry a bag as it was free for the first sunday of the month. Very interesting artworks and of course, being free, chock-a-block! The girls and mUrray bailed after the fourth floor and went down to the square to watch the street performers - an aussie! can you believe it. And we think we saw the same act in Sydney a few years ago!!

Today was a MFD - museum free day - and fully dedicated to shopping! And we did ourselves proud! We managed to get a few bargains too. R&A got winter boots for Croatia. We found the Paris equivalent of Target - Monoprix and the equivalent of Officeworks - Gilbert Joseph both on a much smaller scale of course and delightful to shop in. Murray made his way down to the basement in Monoprix to check out the wines and discovered a massive supermarket full of - you guessed it - gourmet foods! If we all don't put on weight here it will be a miracle. Murray bailed about 5pm while the girls and I pulled out all stops and went to H&M for the E19.90 jeans sale - hard work indeed. Just one more book shop before home and collapse. Kids now all in bed and Murray & I sharing a block of Lindt Croquant de Caramel chocolat - yum!

Tomorrow is our last day in Paris - boo hoo! We are going to get up early (today R&A had to get woken up at 11am)and go to marche Aligre 'one of the cities most diverse market scenes'!. We'll see, we haven't been disappointed yet!

Gallery: Paris - c'est bon!

sestak_family — Sat, 6 Sep 2008 05:11:00 GMT

Gallery: Taking Off

sestak_family — Sat, 6 Sep 2008 05:01:00 GMT

The first leg....

sestak_family — Sat, 6 Sep 2008 04:19:00 GMT

Bonjour! Ca va?

The trip to Paris was, as all of you fellow travelers would know, LONG and exhausting but we made it!!! Korean Air was OK but Air France was sensationale. Great food, great service and above all else individual video screens so the kids smiled from Seoul to Paris.
We have been in Paris 2 sleeps and it feels like we've been here for ever. Our apartment, c'est magnifique. It is one block from the Seine and a 2 minute walk to the Pompidou Centre. It is in a typical old apartment block with ceiling height windows that open fully with a decoritif balustrade. The shower is in one cupboard, the toilet in another and the kitchen in a large cupboard. We love it. You can check it out at www.homelidays.com #99525
On our first morning here we opened the windows at 7.30am to the smell of fresh baked baguettes et pastries from the boulangerie downstairs. WOW! Hard to resist. The bread here is incredible. Brumby's and Bakers Delight have a lot to learn! Needless to say we are eating a lot of bread!
Yesterday we spent the day with the Goggin Stewarts - friends from St Kilda PS. We had a wonderful day exploring Le Marais (check out the pics). We had a picnic lunch in the Place de Vosges with yummy fromage and baguettes, rose, fraise fraiche, and delicious poulet and poisson salads. Yes, hasn't moi francais improved! We ended the day with a wonderful dinner in a little cafe with stuffed snails, duck, entrecote, agneau and poisson and as our children were pretty much falling asleep at the table (still need to catch up on the 12-15 hours of sleep they've missed) we farewelled the Goggin Stewarts who left on Eurostar this morning for Londre.
Today we hit Le Louvre with Ruby as our tourguide. She selected French Painting on the 2nd floor to begin and we climbed the massive stairs to the top floor only to discover a lift when we reached the top - typical! We caught a glimpse of Mona Lisa - hard to explain to the girls what all the fuss is about. Checked out some antiquities, a couple of royal crowns - some incredible rooms and off to le Tuileries and lunch. Baguette jambon and croque monsieur all round, choclat chaud and then home via Rue St Honore and some funky shops - inlcuding one very 'it' store, Colette, that features a water bar - yep that's right.

Our little local supermarche is unreal. Everything is gourmet - everything! Food is definitely the focus here, not to mention the amazing architecture, churches, musee et tout.

a bientot, au revoir, bon soir

xxx

dream

ps don't forget to check out our photos in our photo gallery.