In Croatia, it’s common to see clotheslines hanging between the streets and much to the confusion of the locals, there’s nothing tourists love more than photographing their laundry. The ancient walls and ruins along the Dalmatian coast tell the story of the past, but the clotheslines tell the story of the city’s living inhabitants.
When I got to the small seaside city of Trogir, a clothesline with seven aprons and twenty kitchen towels told me that I had arrived. I had come to the home of Tatjana Ciciliani, a renowned Croatian chef and my group’s host for the night, whose cooking—which has been featured in Saveur Magazine and on an episode of Bizarre Foods with Andrew Zimmern—is considered symbolic of Croatian cuisine. Tonight, our small Secret Dalmatia tour group would be spending the evening at her home, enjoying our very own one-table restaurant experience.
Tatjana and her husband Caja met us at the door and welcomed us into a small courtyard filled with plants, pottery, and glassware. Scattered about the courtyard like decorative trinkets were jars brewing various marinades and liquors. Caja explained that the home had been in his family for the past two hundred years, but they had only recently transformed the downstairs area into its current part-kitchen, part-dining room set up. Tatjana posed playfully in front of the doorway as we photographed her in her kitchen, forgetting momentarily that we were not just in some rustically-designed restaurant, but in a living home.
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We followed her into the dining area, where she had set the table with a basket of pomegranates as the centerpiece. From the walls hung an artful assortment of black-and-white photographs, paintings, and old iron tools. Tatjana slipped behind a counter decorated with a colorful string of paper fans, where she continued to cook and carry on conversation.
“I never know what I’m going to make until that morning when I go to the market, look around, and see what’s good … and then I decide,” she told us while arranging glistening tomato slices onto slices of bread for bruschetta. “And since I never write any of my recipes down, each night is different.”
What makes every meal in Tatjana’s home so exciting is the knowledge the food is subject to her every whim, changing form constantly before arriving on a plate in front of you.
We settled down at the table and Caja poured the wine and entertained us with stories of how the he and Tatjana met. From the bruschetta appetizer to a zucchini pasta tossed with morsels of shrimp, everything Tatjana cooked for us was fresh, expertly-made, and somehow, despite the group’s shared inexperience with
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Walking tours, don’t you know, may be the best way to see the world. The pace is slow, the better to take in all the new sights and sounds around you. You can savor the landscape, the architecture, and the people you encounter, just as you delight in the food and wine that invariably follows a day on foot. There are no crowds, no lines, no delays. Just a quieter way to travel. Here are five new walking trips for 2024 — in Scotland, Croatia, Spain, the Canadian Rockies and the French Alps — all terrific ways to see the world at a slower pace.
The first time I went to Croatia was in 2017. I was on a week-long winter break trip before I would return to London to start my final semester of university. My friend and I stayed in the capital, Zagreb. We hiked through snow-capped trees, went to markets in the city center, and even took a day trip to Plitvice Lakes National Park, Croatia’s largest national park and a UNESCO site. After that trip, I knew I had to visit the country again.
Travel website, Trippy, has put together an awesome infographic showing prices for food, beer, taxis, and hotels in the most and least expensive countries. And the best part is that it updates daily, so you can see the average price of something when you’re planning a trip or once you’re in the destination.
Without warning, Chef Patrick flicked his wrist and chocolate sauce flew across the table. As I and the other restaurant patrons jumped to cover the tops of our wine glasses, the chef smiled and began to throw together (literally) the night’s dessert on a white canvas, like an Italian Jackson Pollock. He sprinkled coffee cake and sunflower seed crumbs, then gently added lemon curd and cheesecake. For the finale, he slammed fist-sized tiramisu balls down on the table, sending chocolate debris flying across the canvas.
Here’s a secret: If you want to visit Europe during peak season without the crowds, take to the ocean. A small-ship sailing tour lets you explore the hidden gems of Croatia, Italy, or Greece, without having to fight traffic or cram yourself on a crowded train.
For decades, airlines just about everywhere have been resisting government-mandated passenger rights regulations. Despite the fact that the airlines brought on themselves many of the regulations they hate; they’ve had a remarkably deaf ear for customer pain points. That struggle has been ongoing for years both in the U.S. and abroad.
With Mediterranean beaches galore, a delightful mix of cultural sights, family-friendly adventure parks and playgrounds aplenty, Croatia is a have-it-all destination for those traveling with babies, children and teens.