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 used as a chocolate substitute – historically the drought-resistant plant has served many purposes – mainly using the powder made from the skin of its seed pods, but the seeds themselves were useful as well.

In ancient Egypt, carob was used as a sweetener.

Saint John (the Baptist) is said to have survived in the wilderness by eating them – giving the plant another name – Saint John’s Bread. During WW2 the Maltese and Greeks used the pods as extra sustenance.

The Venetians are responsible for the most of the carob trees in Dalmatia – they fed the meal to their galley slaves – not only is it high in carbohydrates, but, and probably, more importantly, in the bilge of a ship where toilet-breaks were discouraged, if a lot of it is eaten it causes constipation.

Julie found the recipe below for Carob Cake on allrecipes.com. (To make carob powder, take the pods, remove the seeds and then roast and grind up the husks.)

Ingredients
1/2 cup butter
2/3 cup honey
2 eggs
1 banana, mashed
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 cup water
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/3 cup carob powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1 cup chopped walnuts (optional)

1/4 cup butter
1/3 cup honey
1 cup dry milk powder
1/4 cup carob powder
1/4 cup water
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions
Preheat the oven to 175C. Grease and flour a 20cm square pan. Sift together the flour, 1/3 cup carob powder, baking soda and salt. Set aside.

In a large bowl, cream together the 1/2 cup butter and 2/3 cup of honey until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs one at a time, then stir in the banana and vanilla. Beat in the flour mixture alternately with the 3/4 cup water. Stir in chopped walnuts. Pour batter into prepared pan.

Bake in the preheated oven for 35 to 40 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Allow to cool.

To make the frosting – in a large bowl, cream 1/4 cup butter and 1/3 cup honey until smooth. Blend in the milk powder, carob powder, 1/4 cup water and 1 teaspoon vanilla. Beat until smooth and spread on cooled cake.

In Dalmatia, the powder is mixed with water, and then distilled to make a spirit – rogačica.

The cake goes well with good Dalmatian dessert wine – maybe Prosek Hektorovich from Tomič’s winery on Hvar Island.

Finally, for what were the discarded seeds used? As a standard unit of weight measurement for precious stones and gold – and Ceratonia siliqua, the plant’s scientific name, evolved into ‘carat’ – our measurement of diamond size…

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.

For the last 34 years the Venetian authorities have stopped commercial travel on the canals and turned them over to human-powered craft – an event called the Vogalonga. It was simply amazing to paddle in it this year on May 11.

It is one of those transcendental events that must be done – like running the New York Marathon, paddling the Molokai Hoe or scampering along at the Running of the Bulls. So many things come together – great crowds (really enjoying themselves), history, culture and having an attachment to a stunning place (other than just being a tourist).

An estimated 5 000 people were involved this year – paddling or rowing anything that could float – outriggers, dragon boats, dories, rowing shells, traditional Venetian boats and kayaks – all with flags and ribbons flying. The course started in front of the Doge’s Palace and St Mark’s Square, wound its way up Burano Island (known for its lace), back to Murano Island (famous for its glasswork) and back down the Grand Canal (under the Rialto and Accademia Bridges) to the finish – 30kms in total.

I was able to convince Morten, a Danish friend from Split, to come. It was all last minute after I saw a post on Paddling Planet. Morten had never been in a kayak before but was keen. I found out later as we were paddling that he had also never been to Venice before – what an introduction to the Serene Empire. There is no better way to discover a maritime culture than in a kayak.

Below are 3 pictures but many more can be found here.

We finished after 5 hours, totally exhausted, but extremely happy! The weather was just right – not too hot, not too cold. At all times the scenery was superb – either the Venetian Gothic palaces of the Grand Canal or the multi-coloured houses of the small canals of Burano.

We are already organizing baby-sitters for next year so the wifes can come!

Over the weekend of 10-12 May we were able to enjoy the hospitality of Giorgio and Maritzia who organized the first seakayaking symposium – Bibione Kayak – of which we know on the Adriatic Sea. The base for the event was Capalonga Camping, about 1 hour from Venice, in northern Italy. The camp is also only 1 hour from Motovun, in Croatia – which was handy for us.

At the event we met many interesting paddlers, including Nigel Foster (seakayak designer and adventurer) and Kristin (potter to the stars), Jen Kleck (a friend of Ray Fusco’s from the US) and Kay (importer for Klepper Folding Kayaks), and others from Serbia, Slovenia, Germany, Sweden and the Netherlands.

On the Monday night Lifejacket Adventures gave a short, mosquito-plagued talk on kayaking in Croatia, our attempt to cross the Adriatic Sea by kayak unsupported and the old wooden boats of Croatia. The above video was included and shows how to paddle (or row) ‘old-school’.

We made the most of the excellent facilities at the campground – swimming, bbqing and bike riding. We couldn’t get the kids out of the pool as the weather was perfect. Next year we plan to attend for the whole week. Seakayakers in Europe should definitely make the effort to attend, as the festival also ties into the Vogalonga event in Venice. Congratulations to Bibione Kayak!

Our route took us across the border into Slovenia, into Italy near Trieste and, after some difficulty with the typically spaghetti-esque Italian autostradas, onto the E70. We didn’t change any money before leaving, assuming that any service station that we stopped at in Italy would have one. But of course there were no ATMs in any of the stations on the E70 – and then we suddenly hit a unmanned tollbooth! Luckily it accepted one of our debit cards.

After 2¾ hours we crossed the causeway to the Tronchetto Parking Building. Its conveniently located next to a vaporetto stop.

We jumped off at Zattere and had lunch overlooking the Giudecca Canal at the Pizzeria Ae Oche. They have an interesting menu, including the ‘shredded horse meat and lemon pizza’. For better quality pizza we paid less than what we would in Croatia – excellent value.

Its was amazing how crowded the city was even late in the season. The white-shoe and shiny track-suit clad groups were everywhere.

Aklie’s favorite shop, of course, was the Ferrari Store with its F2002 Michael Schumacher Formula One car in the window.