Introduction to olive cultivation

We spent most of the weekend in the country hosted by the parents of the woman from whom I rented this flat. They were the most generous and kind hosts you could possibly imagine, welcoming us to their small holding set in the midst of some of the countryside which was most heavily contested in the war between Croatia and Serbia between 1991 and 1995. We were fed and watered (mostly in alchoholic form...) throughout the weekend in quite an extraordinary manner.

On Saturday afternoon, after a lunch of Dalmatian ham and cheese followed by venison stew and pasta, we headed off with Jure to see Biograd, a pretty town on the coast about 30 kms south of Zadar. Coming back, there was fresh - and delicious - apple strudel made by Marija, followed very soon thereafter by dinner (yes, you might wonder how we fitted it in) which was more of the venison stew, this time with fresh home made ghocchi.

We staggered off to bed, and were happy that breakfast was just a few slices of bread and honey. We needed every minute of the extra hour to recover our appetite. We were then taken off by Jure again to see all sorts of interesting things around his village - many sights that put some context on the politics of the wars of the Yugoslav secession that I have studied 'in the books'.

We finished off looking at one of Jure's six olive groves. Here he is explaining some of the basics to Mr A. 2014 was a disastrous year for olives. Far too wet. Expect the price of your olive oil to increase in the shops.

After lunch (how did we force it down - it was oxtail soup followed by barbecued meat, chips and salad - and more strudel if you fancied it) we set off back to Zadar, via Vrana, where we saw an Ottoman Han (this was as far as the Ottomans made it up the coast) and then Pakostane for coffee.

Then finally we were dropped back in Zadar, where we don't think we could ever eat again (although we have managed one piece of strudel out of the inevitable doggy bags we were given...).

All in all quite an amazing weekend.