Monthly Musings from my balcony in Zadar, Croatia

9 Random Notes from My Balcony in Croatia
Let me preface this by saying that Croatia far exceeds my expectations, and that everyone should come here, before everybody comes here! If you know what I mean 😊

1. With food so good here, my daily dilemma is whether to eat in or eat out. Sounds simple, but walking through the market with all those beautiful, freshly picked vegetables and fruit,makes me want to buy everything and eat in. And buying spit-grilled meat and chicken from the pečenjarnica (or pečenjara)  is both tasty and reasonably priced. I also know that when I eat out, they use the same, fresh and local ingredients, and they don’t mess them up. I have yet to eat anything but great food in a restaurant in Dalmatia. Having said that, usually budget considerations and having dinner on my balcony looking at and listening to the Adriatic Sea win! But there is no bad choice here.

2. Sometimes I am a slow learner. Having tried to buy bed sheets and bought instead a duvet cover, you would think that I would have learned. So when I tried to buy aluminum foil, I should have known better. I successfully figured out that all the other boxes were plastic wrap, and bought the only one that said Alu Fix (Aluminum, right?), which then turned out to be more cling wrap. Lesson: don’t use logic, use google translator, regardless of what the picture shows or how close the name seems to be.

3. The return of the duvet cover resulted in a store credit, not a refund. And I am finding it difficult to spend it! It was purchased at Spar, which is a grocery store that also sells other items, like sheets (sometimes), duvet covers, underwear, household goods and oil for your car. I don’t need any of those things, I just need groceries. I bought eggs, bread, cheese, chamomile tea, potato chips (my guilty pleasure, plus they are really, really, good here), cling wrap (the most expensive item), blood orange juice and milk for $14! And I still have $30 credit left to spend!

4. Okay, I could have bought vegetables and olive oil, but they are cheaper and fresher at the daily market, which includes a lovely walk through Old Town Zadar.

5. In the outdoor farmer’s markets, the olive oil is sold in reusable plastic bottles, as is some wine.

And the Ilocki Podrumi wine store sells wine from the tap, in, yes, reusable plastic bottles.

6. English speaking foreigners: don’t be insulted, but sometimes our English is incomprehensible even to other native English speakers. Case in point: the couple seated next to me at Proto restaurant received a fish pate as their appetizer. They ate it, and when their main dish arrived, they inquired about the appetizer they had ordered, which sounded to me, a native English speaker, like they said fish pate. Naturally, the proprietor was confused, asked the wait staff, everyone confirmed that the fish pate had been delivered. Except, apparently what they had said was “fish platter!”  Maybe pointing at items on a menu is a good idea after all. (And the couple was very nice about it.)

7. Strictly speaking, burek, as much as I love eating them, is not really a Croatian specialty, it is Bosnian.

8. Tipping is not required in Croatia. If you want to leave the coins, it is appreciated but not expected. And the service that I have received in eating establishments, from a pizzeria to a 5-star hotel restaurant, has been very professional and excellent.

9. Streets are clean and garbage anywhere it isn’t supposed to be is very rare. I even saw a street cleaner on a bicycle!