Thursday in Croatia

  Tuhelj, Croatia
Thursday, July 23, 2009

After paying homage to Tito, man of peace (that's what it says on the t-shirt I bought), we continued on to Tuhelj where we were supposed to meet up with Joe and his sister for a bit of wallowing in mud.  Yeah, typical European activity.  Australians must be the sickest people in the world considering we don't seem to have any of these mineral or mud baths that the Europeans seem to specialise in at their spas.  Everyone of them is a sure cure for something or other.

It was a pretty picturesque spot... ruined only by the big parking areas for the tourist buses bringing in the sick and the lame for a swim.  Well, probably nowadays it's more of a fun park for children.  But we only went to the old mud-bath... not really sure what the new and bigger one is like.  More fun and modern no doubt.

As I'm not into the mud culture, I went for a walk instead.  I kept following the signs up into the hills that seemed to indicate a tourist trail, but it was pretty boring. Nothing but the same old woods with nothing special in sight.  And it gets a bit spooky up there alone in the hills sometimes.

After a long walk around the outskirts of town up in the hills, I ended up at what seemed to be the main restaurant near the baths.  With a very pleasant outdoor area, nice menu, pleasant staff that humoured me by speaking Croatian. 



After a bit of a read I wandered back to find these two trying to get out...  Well, not quite.  They were muddied up too, but only their legs which doesn't show up so well in the photo. They'd arranged for me to get in for nothing i think.  We had a few beers and a sausage and off we went.



On the way back we dropped into a group of houses, again off the beaten track, where Vesna used to spend her holidays as a child with her grand-parents.  There was even some bloke still living there... 



Vesna didn't exactly recognise him, but I think they used to play together when they were children.  He's probably not that far away from the city or the next town...  But it looks like it's a bit of a tough life for him.  He choked back a few tears at one stage.  Either talking about how hard life is...  or perhaps he was just reminiscing how things used to be there.  Again, a very lively spot at one stage, but now almost deserted. 



What can you expect when they're all either in Canada or Australia?



Yes, no doubt about it, a beautiful spot.



Vesna thinking about old times perhaps...



Then we ended back at Vesna's brother-in-law's place for tea.  Ilija.  Really friendly bloke.  Trouble is I still had another tea appointment at Marko's sister's.  But it was still early so I managed to fit both in.

After some soup and a bit to eat near the Slovenian border I got a lift to the train station and met up with Marko at the central station.  I couldn't have been that late because we still seemed to have enough time to nip into a pub just outside the station for a quick beer...



I must say Marko's sister's apartment is pretty snazzy.  A very unusual design with a sort of mezzanine with the kitchen and dining section, then a nice spot for tv and the balcony and I think even another level with bedrooms further down.  Excellent lay-out!



Can't keep Marko out of the kitchen.  We had a speciality that Marko had cooked for us in Tasmania once.  Both were very good so I don't know whether his sister taught him or whether he taught his sister.





On the way back to my hotel I even came across some bloke who'd taken his guitar along to tea with him.