Exploring Croatia With Darka

The trip to Svetvinčenat for the first National Forum of Cultural Interpreters led me to the place I first heard about in March 2018 at the Place2Go tourism fair in Zagreb. Behind the Istrian stand there was a friendly team who explained to me that I had to come to Istria. In a pleasant conversation they gave me various materials that I still keep. Who knows, maybe it was the team from Istra Inspirit , which now, together with Manuela Hrvatin, our coordinator for Croatia at  Interpret Europe , hosted the first National Forum of Heritage Interpreters in Croatia!  View of the town square with a well seen from the Morosini-Grimani castle  And here I am, I came to Svetvinčenat, a city that seems to have been created for telling stories, a city that guards several wells in such a small area. This historical place has everything to show, its beautiful square,  narrow streets, churches, castle…. Although the place is dominated by the castle, we are amazed by the multitude o...

Krenula sam jutros pravac sjevera iako je bura svojim orkanskim udarima zatvorila promet na dva mjesta kojima sam od Splita prema Svetvinčentu morala proći.  No, budući sam ispekla zanat putovanja po Dalmaciji u vrijeme bure, tako sam dobre nade i volje krenula na taj put. Nisam se htjela penjati na Dugopolje, jer i oko Klisa zna bura toliko zanovijetati da nam sasvim uspori put do autoputa. Otišla sam sve do Plana, pa autoputem do Skradina, gdje sam opet sišla i nastavila putem arheoloških nalazišta preko Kistanja pa sve do Gračaca. Lijepo je proći pored Bribirske glavice i Burnuma koji se sasvim lijepo vide pored puta.  E onda sam autoputem do izlaza za Senj pa uz more prema Rijeci i dalje kroz Istru. Bura je veličanstvenom snagom dizala more i miješala boje neba, mora i kamena kvarnerskih otoka. Sve je to bilo toliko lijepo da sam poželjela svako malo stati. I onda, da li već od umora ili nepažnje, sasvim krivo čujem upute Google sekretarice koja me stala voditi u istarske ...

  Povodom međunarodnog dana turističkih vodiča osmislila sam i internetskom vezom javno provela kolegice i kolege ovom turom koju sam kasnije stavila i na YouTube. 27.09. obilježavamo Svjetski dan turizma, pa mi se čini kako ova šetnja može poslužiti od obljetnice do obljetnice, jer ispunjava očekivanja svih onih koji žele saznati još nešto o našem svjetski poznatom gradu koji je uvršten i u UNESCO-vu baštinu, no ja se ovdje šetam pored te baštine, pored palače iz koje je izrastao grad, a naravno zato što želim pokazati još ono ruralno što Split čuva, a nadam se da će čuvati i ubuduće. Split je grad svjetske baštine, naše baštine i prepun je iznenađenja. Ovdje dijelim  Video  koji je direktno snimljen dok sam vodila kolegice i kolege preko online FaceBook veze sa moje FaceBook stranice  Unterwegs in Kroatien , početak je nažalost malo bučan zbog prometa, no od trenutka kada uzimam telefon, pa time i mikrofon u svoje ruke, zvuk je odličan. Ako vam previše smeta, presk...

Za nekoga tko živi u Splitu nije lako odlučiti se koji lik odabrati za interpretacisjku šetnju. Split je naprosto prepun važnih dragih ljudi koji su obilježili ovaj grad kroz čitavu svoju zaista dugu povijest. Veličanstveni su to likovi nadahnuti sveopćim europskim i svjetskim duhom svoga vremena, a svoj su trag ostavili za sva vremena. Meni je odluku olakšao hrvatski Sabor proglasivši ovu godinu godinom Marka Marulića. Marko Marulić Splićanin! Odmah mi je sinula ideja o osmišljavanju šetnje kroz njegov, a sada moj, naš grad! Nakon pomnog proučavanja zapisa učenih literata o liku i djelu našeg velikog pisca, označila sam stari Split, pronašla sam i obilježila četrnaest točaka u prostoru koji je nekoć bio omeđen zidinama srednjovjekovnog grada. Zamišljam u svojoj šetnji gradilišta koja su morala u to vrijeme uvelike postojati, zamišljam hod ljudi i žamor tadašnjega svijeta i pokušavam ga shvatiti kroz današnji žamor modernog šetača. Svaki pogled uprt u fasade kuća pokazuje mi jasno što ...

Promotional material from the year 2017 on may old window This glorious event ended up also this year with just a symbolic crossbowmen parade. Never the less, the town of Rab  is still decorated with banners presenting various medieval characters giving us some interesting ideas of what it was once, who was walking around and how people were dressed in the past. When you ask me about the history of the medieval festival, then I prefer the following article , as the role  of my brother Mladen Šćerbe, Mišo is mentioned as well. It is quite a beautiful feeling to walk around and to observe all that beautiful huge banners, as we would emerge into the history of the town together with them. “The festivities always began in the Cathedral and the prince, the judge and the district council had to be present and had to hold candles. In the solemn procession the head of St. Christopher was carried across the town in a silver reliquary. Knight’s games took place and the winner ...

When you are visiting a historical place it is possible to find some interesting stories all around that place. So, I was walking the streets of the town of Sinj when suddenly attracted by two sculptures on the facade of the building and after I came closer, I was attracted again, that time by the smell from kitchen.  The whole complex  I immediately said, I was going to eat there. After enjoying the local gourmet food, I decided to look better the ambiance. The lady was glad about my interest and she brought me a kind of a brochure with photos and text about the building she inherited.  Postcard from the year 1899 It is beautiful to possess something that allows you to continue to be a part of the local community.   This interesting building was built by a wealthy Polish family Danek. The Danek family owned these two houses as well as the building up to the bend in the street that once housed the judicial prisons. It was later bought by the pharmacist Sever Varda. T...

Everyone can tell their own story about the Vranjača Cave. Mine started in 1985 when I was a tour guide for Dalmacijaturist-Regular Tour, coming there with tourists once a week. We were warmly welcomed by a friendly man who was all in one, a key keeper, caretaker and owner. The central gallery  We, the guides had our own story that began on the entrance plateau and then we went down following 360 steps into the fairytale world of colorful stalactites and stalagmites. We gave the halls names and from the formations stacked on the rocks we could see different shapes. Like a chameleon   All of this today is presented by the son of the same dear man, the inhabitant of the hamlet of Punde, who tells a story intertwined with the memories of his ancestors and the knowledge of various researchers who have proven it here. Vlado Punda and me Vranjača Cave is a real karst cave, located at 452m above the sea level. The canals go deep down, but the maximum depth we can reach is 107m. We kn...