Dropping Roklan off at day-care the other day I noticed the kids running around the playground with familiar brown seed pods – though I have never seen them in Perth before. The pods come from a carob tree – a rarity here, but numerous in Dalmatia – where they are called rogač. Today carob is [...]
Last week we received the invitation from Plamenko Bavcevic to participate in the 2nd Rota Palagruzona – a traditional boat event starting on Hvar Island, crossing to Komiza, on Vis Island and then crossing to remote Palagruza Island. Professor Josko Bozanic started the regatta to honor the old fisherman who used to make the marathon [...]
This week I had a second meeting with Dr Michael McCarthy, Curator of Maritime Archaeology at the WA Maritime Museum. His department is responsible on behalf of the Federal Government for all the historic wrecks off the coast of Western Australia. The reason for the meetings – Mack has a small project for me. As [...]
The best reflection of the Dalmatian locals’ rediscovery of their maritime heritage is the yearly increase in the number of participants in the Latinsko Idro (Latin Sail) Regatta. We have mentioned Latinsko Idro previously. A Latin-rigged boat has a single triangular sail – only such boats can enter the regatta. The fleet of gajetas and [...]
Arriving this weekend in Motovun to check on the house renovations, we thought we had passed through a time warp back to World War 2 Italy. All signs of modern life had been covered and period props were everywhere. It all was a result of Lucasfilm being in town to film their latest production,, Red [...]
Sveti Duje (Saint Domnius) is the patron saint and protector of Split (and features on Split’s coat-of-arms). Duje was the first Bishop of Salona – the most important Eastern Adriatic Roman city, the ruins of which are about 10kms from the center of Split. In 303 Emperor Diocletian banned Christianity as a religion and began [...]
Jane Cody, who is holidaying in England at the moment, wrote an article on her blog, Croatia Online, regarding Split’s renown Renaissance author Marko Marulić’s influence on England’s Henry VIII. Jane does her self an injustice – describing her blog as not an in depth cultural resource on Croatia – her prose and subjects are [...]
The Italian influence on Croatia over thousands of years has been great. The Romans, Venetians and Italian Empires have for at different times taken parts of the country. Even today, in Istria all the street signs are bilingual and in Dalmatia there are many Italian surnames. But it hasn’t been all one way traffic. The [...]
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 [...]
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, [...]
