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grgop · 5 years

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Welcome to Dugi otok

It's been my wish for quiet some time to visit Dugi otok (Long Island), the long and the most distant of the Croatian islands located in the center of Croatian part of the Adriatic sea. Actually, I visited one part of it – the Nature Park Telašćica, when I was a kid more than 15 years ago…but never other places and with the new purpose. However, my wish had been granted surpassing all the expectation I had about this trip.

The main reason why I wanted to travel there was to find and record the locals who speak the local idioms. For those of you who've been following me for the last couple of years and especially my YouTube channel you know that this was a super exciting trip for me. These native speakers represent a national and cultural treasure in terms of lingusitic heritage and a history of the litoral and maritime people living here for centuries, with some of them being isolated or with little touch to the land (terraferma). Thus the excitement to hear the living past and a nice blend of the Croatian Slavic culture and the Mediterranean Latin influence.

Apart from finding the native speakers I was excited to find out more about being and living as an islander. So I had to chance to record, hear and take photos of stories and experiences of the local people from several villages including both youth and seniors.

How it all started

I was super lucky to be given the opportunity to stay for four days on the island and meet many people whose help I never expected. I got the accommodation for free at the local monastery of St Michael in Zaglav which was thrilling enough and especially valuable since they allowed me to stay during the festive days around Easter. As soon as I got the confirmation that it's not a hallutination but a reality I looked for help among friends and acquaintaes who could aide me in getting to know the island and the locals. Without them this trip would have looked totally different as I knew practically nobody there. In the end I made lots of friends and had plenty of fun while doing my mission. I spent literally days and hourse right before the trip to get the additional camera equipment, gather as much as valuable information about the locals as possible, creating my own map of the potential people for the intervju and preparing the daily routes.

But before we dive into the adventures here's a some info about the island.

About Dugi otok

What do you need to know about this paradise? Dugi otok is the largest of the North-Dalmatian islands situated in the central part of the Croatian Adriatic. Iti s also the last island before the open sea and Italy on the other side of the Adriatic bay. Just like the majoritiy of our islands it has many hills and small bays with its highest peak of Vela Straža at 338m. The island is around 45 km long (hence the name) but at some points its width ranges between 1 and 4 km. This contrast was especially visible when I was driving a car from the south and at one point I stopped and looked to my right – there you see the islands towards Zadar and Velebit mountain. Then you turn to the left and see the nothing except for the blue sky, horizon and the deep blue Adriatic sea. However, during the crystal day and with a good eye sight one can see the eastern Italian coast, more precisely – the Apenine mountains. After all, Italy is less than 200 km away across the sea.

Its western coastline bordering the open sea characterize the sharp contrasts: the southern part around the Nature Park Telašćica is surrounded with impressive cliffs that go up to 80m in height. Telašćica is one of the most beautiful place sin Zadar county and frequently visited by numerous tourists each year.

On contrary, on the other side of the island you can find more peaceful bays. The two most notable beaches are Sakarun and Veli Žal where Sakarun is the most famous one. However, last years due to growing number of visitors and greediness it no longer looks and is as it was 10 years ago. I also never went there but visited Veli Žal instead. All in all, the nature on this island is incredible and as the locals say – you hardly notice any seasonal change. It always looks as if the time had stopped between spring and early autumn. Always green and no leafs falling. In terms of nature this island will be a perfect place to escape the reality and the stress of the modern lifestyle spent in larger urban areas. Clean sea, peaceful nature and the welcoming locals.

People, customs and history

Speaking of locals the island has a population of roughly 1500 inhabitants spread in around 12 local villages. The largest of them is Sali in the southeastern part of Dugi otok with the population of around 800. On contrary, places such as Dragove or Veli Rat in the north have between 40-70 inhabitants statistically. However, accoridng to the stories, there's far less people who actually live for the whole year. The sad truth and reality is that these places will become ghost towns within 10-20 years as the majority of these locals are seniors over 80 years old. The thing is – apart from them most of the visitors are so called „weekenders“ – the islanders who live on the land (e.g. in Zadar) who come there over the weekend…or the other part that's present during the summer are the diaspora. These are the people whose parents, grandparents or further ancestors emmigrated to the United States, Southern America or Australia and New Zealand at the beginning of the 20th century or around the years of the WW2 in search for better opportunities and life across the sea. There are even some remains left of the WW2 bunkers and ship tunnels that I am going to describe you later (I couldn't resists visiting some of them). And even today one can find near the central part of the island a restricted zone which belongs to the military whose base is on top of the hill. It's said it used to watch over the potential threat that comes from the south or across the Adriatic sea.

The population of the island was thus much larger, actually surprisingly larger. However, the Great War in 1918 and the Second World War had taken the toll with great consequences. Many of the islanders died or were killed during those time, especially the young people, men, who were meant to start new families. Those who survived either stayed or moved to new places. Some places used to have a lot of children attending the schools. Now some say it's „a success“ when they managed to gather up to 10 children of the elementary school in total. And they come from different villages.

Being on the island many of the locals have traditionally been turned towards the sea and what it offers. It's not unusal to find people who have spent their lives sailing around the world. Some have been fishermen. Some are into agricultulre and what it offers. Unlike us who live on the mainland here you can't have super large fields but smaller ones where you take care of goods and cultures such as figs, oranges, lemomns, tomatoes, potatoes, salad and olives. In Sali there is a fish factory which provides employment for good amount of the locals. There is another important factor in the lives of the islanders and that is the Church and religion. It's not unusual to find many of them to be (kinda) devoted Catholics who go to the church every Sunday. After all, as some explained me, it's also a social thing or event, when you think about it. And living there for centuries, relatively isolated and surrounded by nature and vast sea surface, one shouldn't be surprised to see faith and religion rooted deeply in the locals. And being an islander does not mean living an easy life, as you are going to find out. Speaking of religion there is this Franciscan monastery of St Michael in Zaglav with a church that was built in mid-15th century. That's the place I stayed at.

The places on the island are connected with one main road from which you have amazing views over the surrounding islands and area. The island has also got quiet good connection with the mainland via trajects and speedboats (catamaran). There are four catamaran lines that go daily from Zadar to Dugi otok. If you are planning a trip on Dugi otok by car you will arrive by traject to Brbinj in the northern part of the island. The same goes if you want to leave the island by car. Speaking of cars the only gas station on the whole island is located in Zaglav in the south. That's also the place I arrived to and stayed at for four days.

What else to add? During the summer season many are some festivals related to religious events, local music and traditional kitchen. Those who prefer to spend their time actively they can go exploring the area, follow many hiking roads, visit the caves, Park Telašćica or National Park Kornati. If you are more into sports then I suggest finding some diving locations or courses, try running, trekking, biking, trail, sailing etc. At the northernmost point of the island at Veli Rat there is another landmark of Dugi otok - the lighthouse of Veli Rat.

I forgot to mention some of the older history of the island. Here are a few interesting things to know. The island was already inhabited with settlers in the early ages in paleolithic and mesolythic. Several years ago scients discovered the human skelleton that date back to 11 000 years BC. This discovered male Dalmatian known as „Šime“ died unnatural death at the peak of his retirement age of 40.

One can find the remains of the settlements and stuff of the ancient Illryians. There are also several caves on the island and around Telašćica park one can find tomb hills dating back to Iron age 800-400 BC. The last thing I'd add here is the Grpašćak Fortress on the western coast above the cliffs of Telašćica. It was built in 1911 by the Austro Hungarian Monarchy which served as a military patrol base. I came close by my first evening on the island but more about it in the next post..

Time for a break

Alright! I hope you have some idea about Dugi otok. More in details on specific topis as we surf through the days. Grgo

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grgop · 5 years

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Evening in Sali and visiting the cliffs near Fort Grpašćak

What’s that? Scoll and read! :)

The evening came and so did Mirel's call. He picked me up and we drove off to Sali.

Evening at Sali

Since I took no photos in Sali the first evening, only tasted food, here’s a morning photo of the port...more photos in the upcoming post.

It took us less than 10 minutes to get to Sali. The biggest town on the island located in the south-eastern part of Dugi otok with around 800 or more people. it's also the administrative centre of Dugi otok. Sali have a thousand years old tradition of fishing mentioned in the documents as early as the 10th century and are also known for the olive orchards in the fields that were important in the agriculture of the settlement. The town has a developed tourism based on excursions, sailing and sports. Being the largest town on the island they have a hospital, post and ATMs. Sali also have a notable library with books in several world languages but also a location where many interesting events take place.

Unfortunately, plans changed and I didn't spend much time around Sali so I can tell you only a few things of the personal experience. For instance, Sali and the island got their first night club which was opened maybe 2 months prior to my arrival. As you can guess the first thing that came to my mind was “Let’s do some salsa & bachata here!”...but didn't have time to go there...and the circumstances didn’t allow it (next post explains). The same goes for the library. Well, next time.

Back to our trip. The road goes in many curves up and down the hills where you need to be careful. As Sali is mostly in the bay the road goes down the hill to the town. The plan was to get to one restaurant in the centre of the bay for a pizza. To get down right next to the sea it might be tricky if you are not from there. You leave the main road close to this famous fish factory - Mardešić. Again, the road on this part is wide enough for one car so you have watch for the potential vehicles from the opposite direction around the corners. The fish factory Mardešić is right next to the sea and there we are - the promenade. Here you have a nice view over the bay and the port of Sali.

The centre of the bay has several bars and restaurants. One can also find the store Tommy, the only one on the island, which offers groceries and other stuff such as Konzum, Spar etc. and the prices were similar to the ones in Zagreb, if not cheaper. I might have mentioned that it's a suicide for your wallet if you choose to buy food or anything at the small local private stores where the prices can be double or even three times higher than the average ones. The restaurant we wanted was full so Mirel took me to the bar of his friend. There we sat on the terrace and he ordered for us cheese and pršut (smoked ham) with spilled olive oil. The best thing to eat here and there, tasty and keeps your stomach full. As it was a bit windy and I didn't bring a jacket, this food helped keep my ass warm. After some time we decided to check other places. I will add more of Sali and Saljani (people) in the upcoming post to follow the timeline of the events chronologically.

Night at the cliffs of Telašćica and the military base of Grpašćak

Military base Grpašćak to the left and the cliffs of Dugi otok. There is nothing to the right except for the open sea...and afterwards Italy. This was taken around 10pm in the evening - thank the full moon for no stars.

The next destination Mirel wanted me to see were the famous cliffs of Telašćica on the western part of the island. I visited them once 10 years ago but it's always a great experience. The night fell and we drove away from Sali.

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On our way to the cliffs. What it looks like going via local roads through the fields at night

After 15 minutes of going through some local macadam roads you wouldn't usually find, up and down through the olive orchards and fields with stone walls on each side, passing by the sea bay and... we came close to the military base and viewpoint of Grpašćak.

Again the cliffs and the sea. Photo taken during the full moon night

The furthest you can go is till one small heliodrom above the cliffs. There we stopped and I was happy to get some night sky photos too. Didn't work though thanks to the full moon those few evenings. The edge of the cliffs of the viewpoint is protected with the wooden fence. Mirel took the stone and told me "You know how high this platform is?" and threw the stone down into the sea. You couldn't hear it. Apart from the waves though it was a relatively still night and the sea, the height we stood at was about 80m above the sea level.

Here you have two photos back from the 2009. The cliffs of Telašćica park and the Salt lake Mir (visible on the first picture). I never though I’d stand here again yet there we are.The second photo depicts even higher standpoint..as if this one was not high enough. Mirel and I were standing maybe 2-3 km to the north looking down at these place

After some time we left back for Zaglav. Well, more about the bay of Telašćica the next time we actually spend our time there. It was a good day with many activities and we made a deal for the upcoming morning. The deal was to wake up early and make a trip to the northern part of the island - exploring the area and finding locals in Soline, Dragove, Božava and Veli Rat. Before meeting the monks I went for a few more shots of the nature around the monastery. The monks welcomed me with the dinner they left for me and after exchanging the news each of us went to sleep.

The still night at the monastery. Looking for more night sky photography? Check some photos of the night sky near Vodice and Tribunj

Back in the room - making sure to transfer videos, audio and photos to my laptop. Charging the batteries and off to bed. Coming up next are...Božava, Soline and Veli Rat. PS Sorry for the crappy photo resolution. I believe it hurts your eyes as much as mine...soon switching to new web but until then have to endure this bad tumblr theme.. Grgo

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