The finishing touches are being completed on the leut, including her name been painted on the stern. As mentioned previously her name, Labud – which means ‘swan’ in Croatian – is a reference to the river which runs through Perth. From my parents’ house on the river the Swan Yacht Club can be seen. Its burgee (below) will fly from the Labud‘s rigging.

The swan on the burgee is black (the colour the boat is painted) – since in the antipodes everything is done backwards. Black swans appear on everything in Western Australia – including on the state flag and its coat of arms (both above).

Its only fair that the state symbol for Dalmatia is also flown. The flag and coat of arms above show Dalmatia’s three golden leopards on a their blue background. (Yes the leopards have manes! In medieval heraldry leopards were often shown without spots and with manes – as they were believed to a crossbreed of a lion and a panther). The origins of this symbol are lost – though examples from the 14th Century exist.

The Dalmatian Coat of Arms is included on the Croatian Coat of Arms and flag (above). Its in the middle of the five small symbols above the medieval (maybe even 10th Century) Croatian red and white chequey (šahovnica). Of course the Croatian flag will be the highest flag on the boat since it will be Croatian registered.

The small symbols of the Croatian Coat of Arms are as follows (from left to right):

- The oldest known coat of arms of Croatian rulers- a golden six-pointed star over a silver moon on a blue shield – thought to be pagan symbols. (The crescent moon has nothing to do with Islam as the shield predates the religion).

- The coat of arms of the Dubrovnik Republic – two red stripes on a dark blue shield.

- Dalmatia.

- The coat of arms of Istria – a golden goat with red hooves and horns, on a dark blue shield.

- The 15th Century coat of arms of the northern region of Slavonia – two silver stripes, which represent the Drava and Sava Rivers that form it’s borders, on blue shield , between them, on a red field a black, a running marten (a mongoose-like animal known as a kuna in Croatian) and above a six-pointed, golden star. The pelts of the kuna were used as a early form of early money in Croatia, so the local currency now called the kuna (below)

There will also be an Australian flag somewhere on the boat…

Several years ago, for our Jewish friends in Perth, we prepared an article on Split’s Synagogue, which is the world’s second oldest Sephardic synagogue still operational.

The world’s oldest Sephardic synagogue (and Europe’s second oldest synagogue after Prague’s) is just down the road in Dubrovnik.

How did Dubrovnik end up with this monument?

In 1492, in the same month he sent Columbus off to the New World, the king of Spain, Ferdinand II, expelled 200,000 Jews from his country. The fleeing Sephardim (Sefarad being Hebrew for Spain) headed east, as they had heard the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire, Bajazet II, was more than happy to accept them. “How can you call Ferdinand II a wise king, the same Ferdinand who impoverished his own land and enriched ours?”

Of those that survived the expulsion, some decided not to travel the whole way to Asia Minor, and instead joined with a small number of existing Jews to form a strong community in Dubrovnik.

Putting aside their Antisemitism for the sake of business pragmatism, the elders of the mercantile city of Dubrovnik allowed the Jews to settle inside the city walls in 1546, and build a temple (in a 13th Century house). Since then, through good and extremely bad times (various persecutions directed by various rulers), the community has remained on Zudioska Ulica (the Jewish Street).

During the last war the synagogue was damaged – as were the buildings containing places of worship for all faiths; Catholic, Orthodox, Islamic and Jewish – that vandalism didn’t discriminate. Renovations were completed in 1997.

(The picture which looks like a air-conditioning vent is a screen which women had to sit behind – until the 19th Century when a balcony was built for them.)

Back in high school literature class we were introduced to Shakespeare (April 1564 – April 1616). While reading his work the word argosy appeared several times, in works such as The Merchant of Venice, Henry VI Part III and The Taming of the Shrew, in reference to a merchant ship, or a fleet of merchant ships operating together under the same ownership.

It turns out the word is derived from the Latin name for Dubrovnik, Ragusa, a major shipping power during Shakespeare’s life and entered the Renaissance English language through the Italian ragusea, meaning a Ragusan ship.

More about Dubrovnik’s maritime history can be found in Robin Harris’ Dubrovnik – A History.

I had also heard whispers that there were other connections between Dalmatia and Shakespeare, so I asked Simon Ryle, our resident expert. Simon is a professor of English in the University of Split’s Philosophy Department and is currently completing his PhD in Literature from Cambridge University – the working title of which is Shakespeare’s Desires / Cinematic Interventions. It is a study of the various film adaptations of Shakespeare.

Simon recommended Open Source Shakespeare as a good site for anything regarding the Bard’s texts and he explained that the links between Dalmatia and Shakespeare fall into 2 broad themes.

Firstly, Dalmatia is used as a site of the ‘Exotic Other’.

In The Twelfth Night, Viola and Sebastian are wrecked on the Illyrian coast. Illyrians were the people from a loose collection of tribes that inhabited the region from Istria to Albania. Shakespeare had mentioned it previously, in Henry VI, Part II, noting its reputation for pirates, and it was used to conjured up Romantic notions in his English audiences.

The local tendency towards piracy was also used in The Merchant of Venice, when as Antonio’s ships approach Venice it is implied they are attacked and lost. Pirates were common on the Adriatic Sea at that time, the most famous being the Uskoks.

The Uskoks were Christians who had fled before the advancing Ottomans, and in 1537 had settled around the town of Senj, on the northern Dalmatian coast. The Austrians, who controlled this part of Croatia, welcomed them as a permanent militia force, and promised to pay them an annual salary.

The Uskok quickly made good use of their new base – a stronghold that was unassailable by cavalry or artillery. The Austrians rarely paid the money promised, so the Uskoks took to the water in small, shallow-drafted boats to raid the passing commercial traffic – the trading fleets of the Ottomans and Venetians.

(The Uskoks had no qualms attacking Venetians as they believed the Venetians had betrayed their Christian brothers by continuing to deal with and side with the Ottomans.)

Venice’s frequent complaints to the Austrians resulted in little action and the Uskoks continued their conduct until 1615 when their capture and beheading of the Venetian Admiral Christoforo Veniero led to the Uskok War between Venice and Austria. At the end of the war the Uskoks they were abandoned by Austria in the Treaty of Madrid.

The image above is of the Uskok castle in Senj.

Secondly, Shakespeare adapted stories from many sources – primarily French and Italian.

There is a possibilty that the 12th Century Croatian text, the Chronicle of Father Dukljanin, was the inspiration for The Tempest. The Chronicle was written by Catholic Archbishop Gregory Grisobulj from Bar (in modern Montenegro) around 1172-1196, and is one of the earliest books from the region.

Dalmatia also has its own Romeo and Juliet tale . In Kaštel Lukšić in the late-17th Century (Shakespeare published his version 1597) the Vitturi family had a daughter, Dobrila, and the Rušinić family a son, Miljenko, who fell deeply in love. However a quarrel existed between their fathers over feudal rights regarding peasants, which forced the lovers to meet secretly.

Eventually, their parents learned of their affair and Miljenko was sent to Venice. Dobrila’s father, Conte Radoslav, then arranged her marriage to an elderly nobleman from Trogir. Miljenko in Venice was informed and after rushing to Kaštel Lukšić arrived just in time to stop the wedding.

Dobrila’s angry father decided this time to confine his daughter to the convent of Saint Nikola in Trogir. But again Miljenko tried to rescue Dobrila, meeting her boat at the port, wielding his sword. The local magistrate exiled Miljenko to the Franciscan monastery on Visovac Island on the Krka River, not far from Šibenik.

The determined Dobrila escaped from the convent and made her way to the Visovac monastery.

Hearing they were finally together, her father made peace with Miljenko’s father, Conte Adalbert, who then had the lovers return to Kaštel Lukšić for a wedding.

But after the wedding and feasting, Radoslav sought revenge and shot his son-in-law dead on bridge in front of his castle, Vitturi, in Kaštel Lukšić. Dobrila, crushed by grief, lost her mind and died soon after. Her last wish was to be buried in the same grave as Miljenko in the church of Saint Ivan in Rušinac. Today their gravestone stands with the inscription “Pokoj ljubovnikom” (Peace to Lovers).

Another Dalmatian claim to fame in the literary world is the local belief that Mljet Island is Ogygia Island where Odysseus was held captive by the nymph Calypso, daughter of Atlas, as her lover for 7 years.

Our crazy picigin (a type of Dalmatian water-based handball)-playing friend Julio Žuvela (pictured above playing the sport) was mentioned in the Daily Telegraph for a bicycle tour through the Croatian Islands that he leads. The article can be found here.

Maybe ‘sport’ is the wrong term for picigin. It is not a competition – more of a pursuit for participants and a performance for spectators. It was invented in the shallows of Bacvice Beach, in Split. The aim is for the 5 people involved is to keep the small ball aloft – but they don’t necessarily want to make the job easy for their colleagues – instead the desire is to hit the ball into a spot that allows their friends to display their acrobatic prowess whilst stopping it landing in the water.

It could be described as the local mating dance!

We are often told we must finally decide where we want to settle and raise the kids. Yet we can’t. Our confusion was made manifest this week by two issues – one public and the other private.

The cheerful smile above belongs to Britt Lapthorne – a young Australian girl who disappeared in Dubrovnik last year. Her body was discovered several weeks later in the sea below the walls of the old town.

Last Sunday an Australian current affairs program, Sunday Night, broadcast their investigation into her death. Sunday Night used facebook to find girls who believed that local Croatian men had attempted to abduct them from the same nightclub, Club Fuego, in which Britt was last seen. The girls separately produced identi-kit pictures of their attackers, that have since been identified as Croatian police officers.

The reaction to the program by Croatian officials and the locals in general was appalling. facebook groups sprang up declaring Dubrovnik a safe city, which of course it is. But posts were made to these groups declaring the girls on the show to be liars, or that the story was part of a larger conspiracy to damage Croatian tourism, or that Britt deserved what happened to her because she was young and out partying until the early morning.

Whether attempts were actually made or that the girls were simply confused in a stressful situation, whether Britt was murdered or simply fell to her death from the cliffs around Dubrovnik, or whether or not the program was too sensational, the facts remain the same. The Croatian police have mismanaged the investigation from the very beginning. They refused to believe Britt was missing. Then when her body was found they issued a statement prior to the DNA results that it couldn’t possibly be hers – which the DNA proved to be incorrect. They did not ask for the CCTV tapes from the bar until over a week after her disappearance.

The Croatian media then attacked Britt, describing her as a drunk and known to be promiscuous.

Britt’s sad demise has made evident many of the bigotries that still exist here. Nationalism and sexism have tainted the police and public response to her disappearance and the Sunday Night investigation. Croatia’s recent history has created a feudal society where general civility and personal responsibility are lacking. The local police in their inaction have shown that they believe their responsibility lies in protecting Dubrovnik’s reputation rather discovering the truth. Croatians would rather attack the character of Britt and the other girls, the foreign press or foreigners in general than discover the truth.

Slavenka Drakulić in Cafe Europa described the difficulty of building civil societies in former communist countries 15 years ago, and her warnings are still relevant today. (An interesting aside – several of her books are difficult to find in her native Croatia because of how critical she is of conditions here, yet I can walk down to the local market and buy a copy of Mein Kampf easily! One of her recent opinion pieces can be found here.)

Travel journalists (on Croatian Tourism Board organized junkets) and even bloggers such as ourselves (with a vested interested in attracting guests to this country) extol the beauty of Croatia – yet few comment on the lack of good service or complain about an unacceptable level of rudeness. Foreigners are often seen as targets for financial exploitation – if they are traveling they must be rich – and it is not a giant leap from there to see young female backpackers as easy targets for other attacks.

More personally, 2008 was the 20th anniversary for Julie and I of our high school graduations. Julie went to PLC and I attended Scotch College in Perth. Whilst not caring to attend the reunion, I did have a drink with an old classmate whilst we were back in Australia.

He had attended the reunion and there had discovered that of our class of 120 from 1988 – 8 have died, 1 from a car accident and 7 from suicide (including our dux). This stunned me. Scotch College is a private boy’s school in the wealthiest area of Perth – one of the richest per capita areas of Australia. Yet my class has an annual suicide rate 130 times the national rate in a country with an already relatively high rate. Why?

In the school’s newsletter, which constantly gives glowing accounts of what its ‘old boys’ have accomplished, nothing is ever mentioned of this fact.

In Croatia we live with a greater sense of community in a less civil society. In Perth’s civil western suburbs we find young men killing themselves – something must be missing in society there. So we return to our problem – where to live and raise our children?

Miquel Hudin, an American with Croatian heritage, and his wife have completed a handy guide to the wines of Dalmatia and Herzegovina. Hopefully this will lead to a greater appreciation for them, and the local producers will enjoy a little healthy criticism.

You can find out how to purchase it here.

They also publish an Epicurian, Hedonistic blog here.

The Stefano was an 875-ton barque built in Fiume (the Italian name for Rijeka) on the northern Croatian coast, in what was then part of Austro-Hungarian Empire. She was given a Dubrovnik flag and then sailed the world delivering bulk goods.

At 2am, 27 October 1875, with a hold full of Welsh coal to be delivered to Hong Kong, she ran onto a coral reef off Australia’s extremely remote north-west coast. Of her 17 Dalmatian-Croatian crew, 10 struggled ashore.

“The vessel was sailing with all sails set going at the rate of 9 knots,steering by compass N by E, and ran on the reef without warning. Directly she struck the sea swept the deck and the crew took to the masts to wait for daylight. About 2 hours after she struck the masts fell overboard. I, the Captain, the mate and another managed to get into the gig.”

Gathering on the beach, the young sailors decided to walk towards the mouth of the Gascoyne River which they believed was not too far to the south. Local Baijungu and Jinigudira aborigines tried to convince them otherwise but the sailors didn’t trust these black ‘cannibals’.

So on 1 November, the little group of survivors set out on the journey southward. A week later they reached Cape Farquhar, where other aborigines gave them water. They then continued into desolate country further south, suffering through 38deg.C+ days.

By 6 January 1876, having lived through a cyclone, running out of water and eating just rock oysters, only two were still alive – 16-year-old midshipman Miho Baccich and 19-year-old crewman Ivan Jurich (pictured above).

Ironically, the two were further driven to cannibalism (of their dead shipmates) and were were finally rescued by the aborigines they had initially mistrusted. Over time the gentle ways of the aborigines and their ability to survive in such as difficult environment made an impression on the two young Croats. For 3 months the tribe slowly moved northward to Exmouth Gulf with the hope of making contact with Europeans.

Finally in April 1876 Baccich and Jurich were rescued by the pearling cutter Jessie . (The votive painting above of the rescue scene was commissioned and donated to the Church of Our Lady of Mercy in Dubrovnik, where it hangs today.)

The arrival of the two sailors in Fremantle, some 6 months after the wreck of the Stefano, caused considerable excitement in Western Australia. Re-enactment plays were performed to raise money for the two youngsters.

Baccich and Jurich eventually made it back to their homeland, where Ivan Jurich died at an old age, never returning to the sea. Baccich, after gaining his captain’s license, sailed to New Orleans, where he left his ship, settled and raised a large family.

For the full story look for The Wreck of the Barque Stefano off the North West Cape of Australia in 1875, written by Gustave Rathe, the grandson of Miho Baccich.

The final resting place of the Stefano was discovered by members of the Western Australian Maritime Museum in April 1997.

An old friend from New York City, the Gregster, dropped in to visit us this weekend. We hadn’t seen him in 7 years – it was great to catchup and talk about the days in NYC – the bars, restaurants and clubs, and playing for the NY Magpies. It was also an excellent opportunity to eat at some of our favorite restaurants and take some embarrassing pictures of Greg.

The first day we had lunch at Konoba Šperun, next to the laundrette. We often grab a quick meal here – usually during the summer on their curb-side tables and just the cold appetizers. They have excellent marinated anchovies, a cheese and tomato plate, calamari, bread and olives – really simple but tasty things.

The next day was a gluttonous road-trip to Dubrovnik. Dubrovnik is one of the most beautiful towns in the world. Now is the perfect time to visit before the summer cruise-liners arrive and swamp the cobbled streets.

On the way we stopped at Kapetanova Kuća in Mali Ston- one of Croatia’s Top Ten Restaurants – which has been mentioned previously on our blog. After denying ourselves breakfast we were ready for a huge lunch.

We started with oysters of course – as Mali Ston is famous for them. I had always thought that all oysters were the same – but after visiting the Oyster Bar in Grand Central Station in NY many years ago, where you can order them from all over the world, I learned that every region produces different size and shape shells and, more importantly, different flavours.

After the oysters we shared a plate of mixed mussels and clams – cooked buzara style. Buzara is a Dalmatian white wine and garlic sauce in which they cook their shellfish. The sauce is so good that after eating the shellfish you then mop it up with plenty of bread.

The main meal was black cuttlefish risotto (made with the ink from squids) and grilled squid. People always jump when they see the colour of the risotto – but, if the initial fear of eating black food can be overcome, black risotto is delicious. The squid was simply grilled and then drizzled with olive oil and garlic.

All this was washed down with a bottle of Marco Polo Pošip. Pošip is the white wine variety from Korčula Island.

And if all this wasn’t enough, Greg need a slice of rožata – Dalmatian creme caramel – to top it all off. I was thinking to offer him a glass of desert wine – prošek – but that would have been excessive!

Once we arrived in Dubrovnik we needed to rest. So we found a hole-in-the-wall cafe clinging to the town’s famous walls and watched the big ships sail passed.

In Dubrovnik there is only one place to eat – Lokanda Peskarija. All the other restaurants are tourist traps. The Peskarija has a limited menu – maybe 10 dishes – and they are all served in small black pots. Its such a simple, elegant idea. Its location is stunning as well – right on the edge of the water in the old port, under big umbrellas. After such a big lunch we just needed something small – just calamari, grilled prawns and a big mixed salad – and a little more wine and coffee.

The next morning, nursing the first twinges of gout, we decided some brisk sea air and a little walk would do us good. So Greg, Jules, the kids and I piled into the Fiat and caught the ferry to Hvar Island. We drove across the island to look at its southern slopes which are famous for producing excellent plavac -Dalmatian red wine.

The plan was to hike amongst the vines but the weather gods were against us so we retired to Konoba Vrisnik for lunch. The owner, Andro Grgičević, welcomed us in but said that they were not yet officially open for the season. However a group from Zagreb had organized a meal and he said we could join them.

The meal started with a broth made with goat meat stock and buck-wheat – very tasty. Then Andro brought us a plate of boiled goat meat, mashed potato and tomato sauce. He explained that this was typical Saturday meal for the villagers of Hvar. After the first course of goat another bowl of goat meat cooked with peas appeared. The sweetness of the peas was excellent with the young goat meat. Just as we were settling down completely satisfied, we saw Andro serving the other guests with yet more plates of grilled lamb and salad. Thinking that heart-attacks were imminent if we continued with the last course, we went for quick a walk.

After returning to Split, for the evening meal we decided to try Restoran Perlica. The restaurant had been recommended as the best place near Split to get lamb-on-the-spit. And we were not disappointed! The friendly staff (often a rarity in Croatia) provided us with a plate piled high with roasted lamb, green salad and a side-order of young spring onions. Once again really simple food but so good. The reason we wanted to try Perlica was we wish to include it in a half-day tour from Split to the archaeological sites of the Roman city of Salona and the hill-top fort of Klis. We will definitely bring guests to it!

Finally, Greg fell in love with a Croatian beer – Karlovačko – which always seems to be the favorite of foreigners visiting here.

After such a debauched weekend I was happy to see the back of Greg – but hopefully it won’t be another 7 years before we meet again.

Tonight our friends Jane Cody and John Nash had the official Croatian launch of their book, Croatia Cruising Companion. Jane also did some writing for the new Timeout Croatia magazine, and she presented it as well to the audience of marina representatives and tourism agencies.

The Cruising Companion took Jane and John several years to research – they visited every bay of significance from Zadar to the south. For each they produced anchorage charts as well as wrote lengthy descriptions on available facilities – such as our laundrette in Split.

The book is perfect for those coming here to rent a yacht and visit the Dalmatian Islands. It is currently ranked #3 for both books on Croatia and those on sailing on Amazon.com.

Timeout Croatia has a thicker guide magazine again this year. More stories and more information are crammed inside. One of our kayaking pictures, taken on a tour around Vis and Hvar Islands, appears in the adventure section.