Dakovo

After Mostar we had plans to go and visit some relatives of my friend Jessica with whom I am travelling. They live in a small Croatian town called Đakovo which is west of Osijek. I was a bit nervous to spend a week with a family I didn’t know who speak very little English in a remote part of a country I barely know, but this was immediately gone the moment I stepped into their house. They greeted us both with a hug and kiss on each cheek and we were both made to feel right at home. We were quickly introduced to the Croatian way of life with a small feast for lunch of the most delicious, hearty food. Soup, eggs, a variety of meats, bread and vegetables and ending with some apple crumble. This was to become a daily ritual for lunch as well as breakfast and dinner and we were not allowed to lift a finger, no matter how many times we tried.

The week we spent in Đakovo was such a lovely week being taken to places in and around the town and shown the Croatian way of life and hospitality. We gained a few kilos, had endless conversations often with the aid of Google Translate and about difficult topics such as the war, and we spent a lot of time just relaxing in a family environment, it felt like home!

Rather than write a day by day account as I usually do, I thought I would just write about the key places/events during our week in Đakovo, starting with the town itself!

Đakovo

Most of our time in Đakovo was spent in the homes of our lovely hosts filling our bellies and talking. But we did get to see the town and participated in an important Croatian tradition of All Saints Day on the 1st of November. We visited the graves of all relatives and friends who had passed a very touching moment for Jessica who saw her great-grandmother’s grave and photo for the first time and was able to light the candle on her grave. The tradition involves leaving flowers and lit candles on the grave in remembrance. It is a beautiful thing to be a part of and looks even more amazing at night.

We visited the Đakovo cathedral, a very big and beautiful cathedral for the size of the town. Apparently Pope John Paul II called it more beautiful than Rome! It is very lovely inside, I particularly loved the big stained glass window above the entrance. Whilst inside we were taken to see the crypts underneath by one of the nuns who happened to be at the cathedral during our visit. It pays to have a local with connections, you get to see much more!

One of our hosts Dora is very much an animal lover. She was kind enough to let us steal her bedroom for the week and took us to see her favourite place, the horse stables around the corner from her house. It was a lovely place with beautiful creatures, some of which were very affectionate, particularly if you found the right spot on their back to rub! As were the cats that are in residence there too, it felt like after dark it might be the kind of place you see in a Disney movie with talking animals who are all best friends! As we walked on to Dora’s grandmother’s house we soon found ourselves having a leaf throwing fight with Dora and her younger brother, throwing the neatly piled autumn leaves all over the place (oops). But we had a ball and bonded with the Dora and especially Marko who couldn’t speak any English with us but finally felt comfortable after our little leaf fight!

Našice

We visited this small town for the day while Jessica’s cousin went out hunting with his friends. He suggested that if we ran out of things to do we would be able to find a cafe with wifi to keep us occupied but as it was we ended up walking around the whole town taking photos and exploring and filled our time with just enough time for a hot chocolate before he picked us up! We visited the town Church and the main park, and walked along the quiet streets checking out the beautiful, old, slightly worn houses. We swung on a swingset lapping up the Autumn sunshine. We played music and walked along a railway track watching the leaves fall.

Jessica’s cousin, Mislav picked us up and took us to a cabin he shares with his hunting friends where they were having a barbecue that evening. We turned up, the only girls amongst a group of about 20 hunting men and we thought we would be entertaining ourselves all night. Instead we were given a glass of liquor to warm us up followed by homemade rakija and wine. They looked after us all night making sure our cups were never empty, bringing us the first meat to be ready and talking and laughing with us all night. We bonded over and agreement to find Jessica a Croatian man as one by one they showed me photos of potential candidates. It was a great laugh. Until the rakija and wine kicked in, I learnt an important Croatian lesson, rakija and wine should not be mixed!

We also were able to witness some things about hunting we didn’t know. We saw the kill they had made for the day and found it quite confronting initially as we are both animal lovers. But we also saw another side to it. It is tradition at the end of a hunt for them to give thanks for their success that day, to God but also to the land and to the animals they have hunted. We were encouraged to come out and join the ceremony and found it to be a very appropriate tribute. We also witnessed their own love for their animals, as one dog had gone missing. They were devastated it was missing and some of the men were out for the duration of the night looking for the missing dog. In a lovely turn of events just as we went to leave the dog was found and returned.

Mandićevac

An even smaller town again, Mandićevac is made up of small farms/wineries and Jessica’s relatives own one of these. We visited on our first day and again on our last. It is a lovely spot with a small vineyard, another small section of fruit trees and a cellar room with wine barrels over 100 years old and a copper boiler making plum rakija. On our first night we were poured small glasses of their various wines to try, all of which were delicious. We were gifted each a bottle of rakija and a bottle of a special vintage of their white wine. Mislav was visiting during the winter months and discovered the grapes leftover on the wine were beautifully sweet so he decided to give them a go and produced a tasty sweeter wine which I will be enjoying with my family on our hot Christmas day!

When we returned we got to see it in daylight as the sun was going down. Jessica’s great-uncle owns the property and when he saw me admiring the apples found a big good looking one in the pile and gave it to me to try, fresh off the tree and totally organic, it was refreshing and sweet. After a wander around the property we were driven to see a nearby lake and farm by Mislav. Our timing could not have been could not have been better as we arrived at the lake to the stunning hues of sunset.

We stopped for photos and to admire the view, made even more stunning by the autumn colours all around. We then headed off to a farm nearby to see the deers that lived on the farm. We walked through a herd of cows up to see them, though they were too flighty and immediately ran off too far away to photograph. We watched them for awhile before heading back.

This isn’t a comprehensive blog of everything we did that week. We spent a lot of time getting to know Jessica’s family all of whom were so beautiful to us. I enjoyed late nights talking with Koraljka about her life in Đakovo and experience of the was, we wish we got to meet your husband too! I had fun hanging out with Dora, Marko and Eva showing them photos of Australia and the different places we had visited and being taught some Croatian. I loved being fed by Branka, all the way through to our bus trip when she packed us lunch, eating more than I ever have and loving her delicious food. I appreciated Miroslav persisting with trying to communicate in a mix of German, English and Croatian, always making a big effort to get to know us and understand us despite the big language barrier. And I appreciated the lengths Mislav went to to ensure we got to know Đakovo and were kept busy with things to see and do. I can never show my gratitude enough except to say you are always welcome to Sydney and I will do whatever I can to return the kindness you showed me! It is a week I will never forget!