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travelplanetblog · 7 years

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In fall 2014, when tourist season ended up I started to explore Brač in more detailed manner. The reason is very simple on the island you do not have anything to do “smarter” than to just go out there and snoop. I was heading towards Supetar, but my car “somehow turned” to Postira. The eyes were stuck on the right side of the road in a valley that was full of trees and some fruits. Hard working people moved all over the place and little by little, I found that there is a big valley full of tangerines, kiwis and lemons. I just could not believe that I am truly blessed with the sight and opportunity to buy real organic stuff. The colors all around are in autumn’s mood and I can not believe how everything idyllic looks like.

In the distance, you can see hills with small village houses peaking the valley. First that you will notice when entering the village is that there are semi caves all over in shape that you can imagine that people or animals take some rest and have the safe place to hide when it is raining. The caves and the rocks have the rugged orange-red color. Actually, the whole place is situated between two hills and you feel like those rocky arms give a big hug to a village in order to protect it from any bad monster that would like to come along.

Dol the valley / dolina

Dol – stone hrapačuša / kamen hrapačuša

Dol – abandoned ship / napušteni brod

Dol tangerines / mandarine

Dol

Hrapačuša – the stone and the cake

I parked my car just at first possible site and I grabbed my camera in order to shoot as much a possible. I feel like I am in some kind of fairytale, a scene from long-forgotten Disney story: everything is in the very picturesque tones; old houses built in some kind of different eccentric crunchy stone (later I found out it is called “hrapačuša” and the same name stands for the famous original autochthonous cake that is truly special as for its production you need at least 15 eggs, kilo of walnuts and kilos of almonds!). The cake hrapačuša is also declared the protected immaterial cultural good of the Republic of Croatia. The original recipe Dol’s women keep as their own big secret, so the legend says that in the old days, these valuable hands made that cake at night, just to keep the recipe in secret. Besides its appearance (it just looks like the ragged cake) and how it is made, the cake is famous that can keep its freshness for 5-6 days.

Dol – Cake hrapačuša / Torta hrapačuša

Dol – Stone hrapačuša

Dol house from hrapačuša

Dol

Dol – house from hrapačuša

Dol

Konoba Toni

And as I happily walk through the ethno-ecco village Dol, I find myself in an interesting court, with a lot of different stuffed souvenirs and features … from a fishtail, an old wheel of a mill, old bottles to keep wine and of all the old ones placed beneath the terraces on which they grow intermingled kiwis and grape vines (so for the first time I actually can see how the kiwi grows in real!). What a good feeling! While I am shooting like a crazy, a man comes to the door, looks at me and in a moment of seeing that someone is snooping his yard, he gives me a big smile. Well, that was Mr. Tonči Matulić, the owner of Konoba (tavern) Toni. Well, from all that photo shooting I did not even realize that I am in front of the restaurant. I apologized because of intruding the property, but Mr. Tonči graciously invites me to look and to step into the tavern and look everything in a 300-year-old rustic building where wine is still produced in a very traditional way and where some long time ago olive oil was made also. A little bit dark room with a bar, and above it a “cage” for preserving prosciutto and cheese that looks like a big hanging cage and it is built in the way that simultaneously makes the products drier and protects food from bugs. Special attention drawn to me are the goat’s bellows, that were once used for carrying and transporting water and wine all over the island. Those bellows were carried mostly from donkeys. and transported everything that was liquid – water and wine, most often on donkeys.

While hearing that stories, it just hit me that I could even eat something authentic and to give myself a well-deserved treatment of exploring the new tastes. But, here comes the answer from the owner that actually the restaurant is closed. It was a real disappointment… And I was feeling very, very hungry. As almost as he could hear my thoughts, Mr. Toni invites me to eat with its wife, brother and son. It was not my intention to intrude someone’s family lunch so I politely rejected the offer. Hm… that was not the answer they wanted to hear… just like I was their family relative that they have been waiting for. So, I had them four against one… I did not have a chance…

His wife made an excellent homemade lamp soup with potatoes and with homemade bread. While eating, they are telling me all about the sights and details that I need to visit and what to photoshoot while here in Dol. After the extra delicious meal, I was ready to go with another photo shooting.

I must add – the food was extra and their hospitality is just great. After sometimes I found that this kind of hospitality of this family is not just an accident or they were in the good mood. It is their way of living. That how they treat each guest and each lost tourist.

After everything, they made me pick up a couple of kilos of tangerines in a bag that they just picked up from their own plantation! Just to have some food while exploring… I was overwhelmed…

Each time I came here, the situation was always the same… So, I need to bring some bottle of wine and chocolate just to thank them in some way!

That first time I was very sorry not to be able to taste the cake, but in the spring next year I managed to give it a shot just in this Tavern Toni. It was extraordinary!!! Although, while I had it on my plate it looked a little bit “modest” slice, and after some bites, it was very hard to finish it. I just forgot what kind of material it was made. The tones of calories!

Dol – konoba Toni

Dol – konoba Toni / kiwi

Dol – konoba Toni

Citadel Gospodnetić

In a couple of time when searching and exploring Dol, after 2 years from my first visit I managed to enter Citadel Gospodnetić family home of the Gospodnetić family that is also museum and restaurant.

The name Gospodnetić is an old Croatian name, mostly from island Brač. In the last century mostly people with this name were born in Split and Brač.

Area of the name – in Croatia there is about 260 with name Gospodnetić, in 110 households. In the middle of the last century their numbere increased for 30% at number about 200.

They live in 7 Croatian counties, 12 cities and 11 smaller places, and mostly in Split (70), Supetar (45), Dol (45) and Postire (40) in Braču and in Zagrebu (35).

Outside Croatia – the name Gospodnetić (that also includes: Gospodnetic, Gospodnetich) is present in 10 countries at 4 different continets including smaller number in Chille and the USA.

Kaštil sam imala prilike vidjeti svaki puta izdaleka, jer bi uvijek bio zatvoren. I opet ja… Ovaj puta vidjela da su vrata otvorena, spustila se niz stepenice i pojavila se i pravila nevješto da se skoro pa zabunila (sada sam se već i ispraksirala, jer shvatila da neću ništa ni vidjeti ni poslikati, ako ću se bojati i “imati srama”). Malo čudni pogledi domaćina, ali ja lijepo zamolila da ako mogu malo pronjuškati u cilju fotografiranja i čuvanja uspomena… Kad ono, ljubazna domaćica ne samo da me pustila, nego mi ispričala povijest kaštila. U kući kao da je vrijeme stalo: satovi, rukopisi, stari radio, bogato ukrašena keramika i čaše, stare fotografije, sofa, na zidovima stare tapete bogato ukrašene, a sve to iz razdoblja raskošne secesije s kraja 19. stoljeća. Nastao je kao vojna utvrda koja je štitila od najezde Osmanlija iz 16. stoljeća.

Kako sudbina obično biva, neobična strankinja s fotoaparatom koja tako upala u kuću i podigla sve obrve koje su domaćini imali, a između njih i sada jako dragoj kolegici iz Planinarskog društva Profunda (koji djeluje na Braču, a koja će isto dobiti jednom svoju priču). I baš zbog nepotizma, a i obećanja da će mi nabaviti dodatne materijale, doći ću ponovno i napraviti još jedan članak… Dakle, draga moja Gospe, očekujem nastavak i suradnju tako da pokrijem povijest, jer nisam imala ni diktafon ni olovku ni papir, samo fotoaparat, a tko bi znao da ću se počet blogovanjem bavit. S toga ćemo taj članak naplatiti u vidu famozne torte od naranče s malo vrhnja koja se može pojest u Kaštilu Gospodnetić, a ja donosim vino 😉 (naravno, ima i hrapoćuša… mljaaaaaaaaaaaaac 🙂

p.s. – moram napomenuti da je Kaštil i restoran kojeg vodi Gospin brat, pa ljeti vabi turiste na jedinstven pogled s terase. Međutim, lokacija i kapacitet su mali, pa samo idu na rezervacije. I moram li napomenuti da se ništa ne prepušta slučaju, pa je svaki detalj pomno biran, pomno sačuvan i upravo stoji na mjestu kao da je ostavljen u vremeplovu!? Jedinstven obiteljski dom-spomenik kulture-restoran-vidikovac-promatračnica na cijelu dolinu- i crtica-crtica… svašta još nešto…

Dol

Dol kaštil Gospodnetić

Dol

Dol kaštil Gospodnetić

Dol kaštil Gospodnetić stone apiary / kameni pčelinjak

Dol kaštil Gospodnetić

Dol – something red and totally different In fall 2014, when tourist season ended up I started to explore Brač in more detailed manner.

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