Ugljan, the "Olive Island"

Halfway around St. Michael's Fort, Ugljan, Dalmatia

Day trip to St. Mihovil's (St. Michael's) Fort, Ugljan

The island of Ugljan (pronounced "oog-li-yan") is an easy 20-minute ferry ride across the Zadar channel. Whenever the bustle of town life got to be too much, I'd hop on the next ferry to spend a few hours hiking and exploring this lovely Dalmatian island. The Jadrolinja ferry from Zadar arrives in the port of Preko, where there are a grocery store and a couple of cafes / taverns, as well as bus service to other towns on the island.

Hiking trail on Ugljan, springtime blooms

On one day trip I determined to make it all the way from Preko to St. Mihovil's fort, formerly a Roman depot and later a Venetian fortress, on the top of the island's highest peak. The hike leads from the port through a small residential area, climbing steadily upwards through 2,000-year-old olive groves tended by local families. The local residents also harvest grapes and make wine, for family consumption. It's absolutely lovely, especially in spring when all the wildflowers are in bloom. My lunch spot above was reached after about 2 hours of steady walking. The rest of the way around the mountain was a bit of a scramble over limestone boulders on the cliff face, aided only by a few cables attached to the rock face. It was exhilarating and not too difficult, well worth the views.

Visit the Preko Tourism Ugljan Island website for information and advice on what to see, how to get there, and the natural and cultural history of the island.

Rain shelter in an olive grove

Lunch with an island family

One of my husband's students, Ivan, lives on the island with his wife Suzy and their daughter, Marie. They invited us over to their home for lunch to sample some of the fish from Ivan's aquaculture operation on the remote western side of the island.

Lunch with Ivan's family. The fish are from
Ivan's aquaculture farm on the western side of Ugljan.

Like her mother, Suzy was born on the island. She and Ivan are starting an aquaculture business so they can stay on the island and make a life for themselves and their daughter. Fresh fish are in high demand as wild supplies are being depleted throughout the Mediterranean. The fish were harvested that morning and by noon we were feasting on the freshest, most delicious grilled seafood I've had in ages. The entire day was spent hiking, eating, and drinking endless rounds of homemade wine and local cherry brandy (Maraschino). Such a treat!

Two Months in Zadar

little Zadarski girl, rockin' out

NEW!! Croatia Travel Tips Magazine 2016

For the last 2 months we've been living in a rented apartment in the middle of Zadar's historic old town.  Zadar is an ancient port city in the central part of Croatia's Adriatic coast in an area known as Dalmatia. It's a small, friendly and cozy place, where you can easily fall into the local groove and get to know your neighbors. We are loving it here.

Old Town Zadar occupies a small peninsula off the mainland coast of Croatia. The city is surrounded by tall limestone walls built by the Venetians in the 1500's to successfully defend against the invading Ottoman Turks. At the southern end the walls are breached by the "Lion's Gate" affording passage to and from the city and the mainland. Zadar is thus surrounded on three sides by walls and water, and has a very active harbor with ferry service to the nearby islands (Ugljan, Dugi Otok, Iz, Olib, and Silba to name a few). I'll post an entry later with some photos so you can see how beautiful these islands are.

Cafe Toni, right below our apartment.

A typical day in Zadar

Our routine is to wake up around 9 or 10, eat a small breakfast of bread and cheese or jam, get dressed, head downstairs to the main square for a "bijela kava" (latte), take a walk around the city walls, shop for groceries at the market, then have lunch at one of the dozens of konobas (taverns) or grab a "pizza cut" (slice) to go. The bulk of the afternoon is spent sitting at a cafe just watching the local fashion parade go by. People here do this cafe sitting thing for hours every single day, nursing an espresso or macchiato and chain smoking....Lots of chain smoking. Croatian "Dead Zone" is from 3-6, when nearly everything shuts down while people recover from lunch and get ready for dinner and drinking late into the night.  The day is not complete without an evening stroll down the waterfront to listen to the Sea Organ, and watch the Sun Salutation's trippy solar-powered LED light show. (More on those later!) It's not entirely clear if people have jobs to go to. I can't see how they'd fit it in. It's a good life.

Roman column at Trg 5 Bunara (Five Wells)

Some Observations on Croatian culture:

1. Everyone smokes, everywhere. 
2. Both men and women tend to stare. Good, solid eye contact with random strangers while walking down the street. It's not offensive to stare back.
3. Everyone minds their own business (except for the staring). No one is going to bother you. But if you need help and ask for it, they will go far, far out of their way to help you. If they can't help you they will hand you off to someone who can.
4. Women dress to the nines. We're talking catwalk-quality fashion dressing and full makeup to go to the corner cafe, complete with 5" stiletto heels, at 10 am.
5. You are not Croatian if you do not own at least one pair of designer sunglasses. Preferably several pairs, and in this year's style, not last year's.

Next: Day Trip to the Island of Ugljan

Pongo in his native habitat 

6. Fun fact: Dalmatian dogs are actually quite popular in Dalmatia. For some reason I thought seeing Dalmatians here would be a naive cliche, like seeing parades of Pugs in Beijing or German Shepards in Frankfurt. But it's far from a cliche, this is their home and people love the breed. Plus there is the whole fashion thing - Croatians are all about looking good, so of course they have polka-dotted dogs.