Voices of the Mediterranean by voices of the Mediterranean

Voices of the

MEDITERRANEAN A Magazine about the Beauty and Misery of Life in the Mediterranean

VOICES OF THE MEDITERRANEAN, Autumn 2015, Editor: INFOGRAFIKA Zadar and ARTSTUDIO Zadar (Croatia), Editor - in - Chief: Igor Gluić, Assistent Editor - in - Chief: Ljiljana Lokin, Design: INFOGRAFIKA Zadar, Journalists and contributors: Igor Gluić, Ljiljana Lokin, Alessandro Sonatti, Darka Perinčić, Goran Trivić, Giuseppe Bussu, Giuseppe Febbi, Massimo Picchio, Radmila Krgović, Milija Čabarkapa, Muhamed Fregjaj, Buzzy Gordon, Shay Seltzer, Pau Sanchis, Ana Borja, Jakov Đinđić, Translators: L’ANGLIA Zadar, Jeftini prijevodi Zagreb, Print: AKD Zagreb, Contact: e-mail: glasovimediterana@gmail.com, voicesofthemediterranean@gmail.com

www.voicesofthemediterranean.com

AUTUMN 2015.

RISE UP MEDITERRANEAN

WELCOME

VOICES OF THE MEDITERRANEAN

SHEEP CHEESE OF THE MEDITERRANEAN

COFFEE

CHEESEE ROLLING IN THE TOWN OF PANICALE

SWORD IN THE STONE /CHAPELLE MONTESIEPI/

BEACHES ON THE MEDITERRANEAN

ADA BOJANA

FISHMARKET OF TKE MEDITERRANEAN

102

INTERVIEW

113

DONKEY

124

Table of CONTENTS

AUTUMN 2015.

102

110

122

Table of CONTENTS

RISE UP MEDITERRANEAN! Rise up and bring back to the surface your sunken ships. Rise up and spread your long lowered down sails. Rise up, because above you the winds are still blowing, the fathers of the fathers of your winds. RISE UP MEDITERRANEAN! Put on the bows of your ships figureheads with the faces of your philosophers, painters, sculptors,builders, and all those who their wits with your water have baptized. RISE UP MEDITERRANEAN! Rise up against the army of a division of rigid collars who are slowly but steadily destroying this beauty habitat of Yours. RISE UP MEDITERRANEAN! They will take away from you all you have as they took away all that you had, but poorly kept. You will be poor, you that were born under the sun of lemon and orange trees and in the shade of olives. RISE UP MEDITERRANEAN! Can you hear the winds howling through the skeleton of he Acropolis, and you still recall the winds,while they were young caressing the dresses of the Caryatids and the naked bodies of Atlantis. RISE UP MEDITERRANEAN! You will be miserable, and will no longer exist, in the same way people do not exist in the paintings of De Chirico. There will be only empty streets with broken tables, chairs and coffee cups, all mixed with the shadows of what once were smiling people. RISE UP MEDITERRANEAN! Far too long did you believe that Bread, Wine and Olive Oil, which is running down your groin into the most sacred of all sacred churches is- your only crucifix. RISE UP MEDITERRANEAN! Rise up because there is nothing beyond you- just the rest of Europe. RISE UP MEDITERRANEAN! Do not be just a wound that we lick.

WELCOME

igor gluiÄ&#x2021;

editor - in - chief

You mystical Mediterranean, your history is written in olive trees , in pine tree canopies, in vineyards, in oleander flowers and the sap of figs. In the wind you are, and in the waves. You are a drawn bow that never stands still. If we were to put a needle in the grooves of Your waves as we once did in a gramophone record groove,what music would that be to our ears coming from the open sea? It is useless to count everything that was born in Your sea and what religions and gods walked on your shores? What philosophers? Artists? Politicians? Great soldiers? Lovers? What legacy have we bequethed by all of these? This magazine will try to register at least some stirring of this sleeping giant. We travel, talk, write and record. In this issue we touched upon sheep cheeses of the Mediterranean, and one goat's. In the next we will write about Mediterranean families. What is the family? What is it that binds it?What does it mean to a Sicilian, a Jew, a Greek, to Albanians, Montenegrins, Dalmatians or Cataloninas? How to get around the Mediterranean wine, olive oil, aromatic herbs, great museums, great and small people: farmers, fishermen, seafarers? We have made contacts with extraordinary people from all the coasts of our seas, but it is with joy that we are looking forward to the suggestions from you- our readers. Let us together find ( as they are all around us) all those little but precious stories which will help us to compose a mosaic of this mystical region. When writing about the Mediterranean we encounter everything that makes it great,but also everything that destroys it. We are small hearths,with a centuries- old fear that the cavalry of peoples from some other regions might again extinguish the fire in them! Like late troubadours we stand under the windows of the public. Gypsies and renegades from the blessed table, we share the fate of the one we worship. We eat on a park bench. We drink water from the fountains. When we are exhausted we try to escape, but our feet are glued to the Mediterranean soil. The most beautiful thing there is that dances in the air between its skies and the sea requires that the souls of its inhabitants dwell in it. But this is also done by the bitter fruits of the same tree. They both lure us with the sun, waves and sea currents, and whisper in our ear while we are asleep. When we wake up, we are everthing and we are nothing. How to begin a battle for the preservation of our coasts, and our small seas? Where has our spear gone and where is our horse,my friend Sancho? What are we going to fight the windmills with, those that have already clipped our wings? We write, paint, sing, is that enough? This brotherhood on the pages of a paper, is that enough? You confused woman, you who are away from home, do you still trust your wings with which you hug only the winds of Samotraka ?

Be brave our mariners!

Your battles are still being fought, and its up to them whether the eyes of the Mediterranean will be closed and roll over the holy land and into the dead sea.

Be brave our mariners!

Because through the gorges in the mountains and through the straights of the sea, from all parts of the world people with pockets full of money come to humiliate, cheat, divide us.

Be brave our mariners!

Let the songs echo through the cracks of the night; From the country of lorca to the country of halil djurban.

Sing our mariners!

Voices

Only with songs shall we defend ourselves, because the dogs of lead are just waiting for the high pines to collapse, and crush by themselves.

MEDITER believers painters, architects, sculptors

farmers philosophers politicians

literati actors

of the

RRANEAN shepherds

sailors

merchants fishermens

musicians

cattlemen

tradespeople

Mediterranean sheep cheese of the

SPAIN - FRANCE - ITALY - CROATIA - MONTENEGRO - ALBANIA - ISRAEL

By: Igor Gluić

SHEEP

the other sheep with Noah’s boat, which were meant an end at the altar of the gods, fulfilled their sacred purpose. Changing landscape, the sheep themselves changed. In the lowlands with a milder climate their fleece was poorer, and in the pastures of rocky mountains, it was more luxuriant. Neither their udders were equally full of milk. With streams, rivers and lakes, their milk was plentiful, but milk in these areas because of the abundance of water was more watery. It was used to feed the lambs and for the production of fresh cheese. And on the shores of the sea and the islands of scarce vegetation, where only rare plants grow and where dew drops dissolve salt with herbs, the udders in the sheep was less generous. The scarce habitat of plants caused the milk to taste stronger, and resulted in the production of cheese bared the taste of bitter, essential herbs. Stories of the sheep are like stories about people of the Mediterranean. Stories of herds are stories about people of the Mediterranean. On some of the pastures the herds are tame and full, on the other, smaller and fighting for every blade of grass. And rams are somewhere only gentle blokes, and elsewhere they are hostile and warlike barbarians. Somewhere small herds easily spill over into largest herds and elsewhere the rams fight to the death for their piece of land and for their sheep; for their role as an elected leader. That is why their horns have grown. For some they are decorations, to others they are a powerful weapon. Between the rams, sheep and humans there is little difference; between the herd and people there is none! And the shepherds? The shepherds and herd are one. And those who have become owners of herds and shepherds? They are the other. It is the other, one among others, which has made the difference between today’s world and the countries of the Mediterranean!

On the boat of all people, of the famous Captain Noah, among all animal species, most of them were sheep. Two for the continuation of the species, others for sacrifice to the gods. Of the two selected, sheep and a ram, which had landed on the pastures of Mount Ararat, over the centuries gave millions of other sheep. Hundreds of thousands through the centuries fed the inhabitants of the Mediterranean. Milk, cheese, meat, clothing and footwear, all this is from the generosity of sheep, God’s blessing to a new humanity.

THE PATHS OF THE SHEEP Since they landed on the new land, the sheep have moved to different directions. A direction important for us people of the Mediterranean, went the same path as the current sea. Through today’s Turkey, and Greece and Albania, to the Bay of Kotor. From there, the herd started to the Dinara Mountains and Velebit, all the way to the Apennines. This part of the herd goes to Corsica and Sardinia. and the other part of the coast of France to the Iberian Peninsula. Of course, it was not a linear path. Some herds paused, some started on other routes of Europe, and some went way over Gibraltar to the coast of Africa to connect to the herds that came the opposite side of Africa, in order to close the circle around the puddles of a happy life. The Milky Way, composed of veins, arteries and capillaries full of milk is clearly a sign that 9

SHEEP ON THE MEDITERANEAN The importance of sheep on the north side of the Adriatic is confirmed by the fact that Dalmatia got named by the Illyrian words delma, which means sheep. Archaeological findings in today’s deserted pastures in Albania, Durmitor, the Dinarides, the Velebit Mountain and the southern slopes of the

into the royal household where it was fed with hay until next spring. This method of herding was not the only peculiarity of the Dalmatian and Montenegrin karts. The same was in the entire Mediterranean region, from pre-historical times to the half of the last century. Semi-nomadic herders have long known that sheep that graze every day on another pasture give twice as much milk, cheese and butter from those

Alps, at altitudes of over 1,000 meters, confirm that the Illyrians, more than two thousand years ago, had apartments or summer pastures, or shepherd huts and shelters for cattle in these localities. Here whole communities, along with their “treasures” spent the summer months because of the drought on the coastal pastures. In the fall, when the weather turned cold in the mountains, the treasures were returned

throughout the summer grazing on the same pasture. Unfortunately, the lack of a well-thought policy in the economy at the end of the last century made the people of the Mediterranean valets and waiters, everywhere where money was easily earned. “Flats” and “pastures” remained empty, sheeping was abandoned. The largest share of milk required for the cheese making industry of the Mediterranean arrives 10

dehydrated, as powder, from continental Europe. That is why today the cheese from Sardinia, Corsica, the Spanish mountains, or Gligoraâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s hard cheese from the island of Pag is most expensive; where sheep still graze scarce island medicinal herbs. CHEESE FROM SKINS Cheese from the skin on the eastern part of the Adriatic

Sea is mainly made in the hilly - mountainous regions, since the time of the Illyrian tribes. An authentic way of producing this cheese today is again rampant. It is made from sheep, goat or cow milk which is heated to a temperature of 35 degrees Celsius, added is rennet and the cheese after an hour is drained and placed under a press. Once well drained, the cheese is cut into pieces and crumbled by hands and placed into the prepared skin. The cheese is then tied well, it ripens in about two

months, then it is consumed. The manufacturing and preparation of the skin is a very important moment in the production of this type of cheese, because only a proper vat ensures proper ripening during which it obtains its form and its specific characteristics. The age of the lamb whose skin is used must be at least 6 months. After separation of the carcass, the skin is overturned so that a part of the skin that is to be overlaid on the hull, followed by a wash in cold water.

All openings of the skins are then sealed and tied with string, and around the last opening, holes are made which are spaced apart about 2 cm, in which a wooden stick is slid with a diameter of 0.5 cm and a length of water and seasoned with coarse sea salt and dried. Dried rennet is cut, put it in a jar and poured with 0.25 litres of grape brandy, white wine 1.5 litres and 3 litres of whey. This gives 5 litres of domestic rennet. For the production of cheese, 0.2 litres of rennet is added to 10 litres of milk.

CASTILIAN

CHURRA

The display of cheeses from the Mediterranean begin with the path opposite to the one that was paved by the sheep from the boat of the forefather Noah. We start from Spain. LACAUNE

LATXA

SPANISH SHEEP CHEESES

Sheep have played an important role in Spain. For more than seven centuries Spain has exported wool throughout Europe. The transition to the industrial production of synthetic fabric largely decreased the wool trade, which also meant an increase in cheese production from sheep milk. Sheep increasingly began to be used for milking and to a lesser extent for meat. Large herds of sheep covered the vast expanses, especially in the summer months, when the heat drove them into the mountains where there was green grass during the hottest temperatures. This migration has resulted in a strong distribution of sheep in other countries, and in all parts of Spain, especially on the central plateau. All as a result of climatic conditions that characterized the cold winters and hot summers. We quote Juliet Harbutt that writes in the anthology Encyclopaedia of cheese: “Spaniards are warm and hospitable people. Travel through a network of secondary roads that stretch over the old Roman mounds, medieval cattle paths through the ruins of the fortified cities and discover the cheeses that have been made virtually the same way for more than a thousand years. Taste the local cheese slices with a little air dried Serrano ham, a plate of marinated red peppers and fresh anchovies. Add a glass of Spanish sherry - divine! “

Spain produces large quantities of sheep’s milk, resulting in a wide range of high quality cheese.

zamorano

Zamorano is a famous Spanish cheese from the region of Castile-Leon, province of Zamora. It is a hard cheese that ripens six months to complete maturity. Salting can be done with a dry salt or by immersing the cheese in brine, lasting no more than 36 hours. The core is a colour ranging from pale yellow to dark gray, while the cheese under the core is a pale yellow colour. The core is rough with a characteristic zigzag pattern. The maximum height of the cheese is 14 cm, and maximum diameter of 24 cm. Â It contains 45% fat. Zamorano has a buttery and nutty flavour mainly because of the breed of sheep that produces it - Churra and Castilian sheep.

idiaz谩bal Idiazabal (also known as queso Idiazabal La Vasco Navarra) is a traditional cheese made in the villages by a recipe inherited from ancestors. The cheese is made from raw milk or Latxa Carranza sheep in the Basque and Navarra regions of northern Spain. It was named after the village of Idiazabal. For a long time, since 1987, this cheese carries the prestigious designation of Spain - DO (Denominaci贸n de Origen). In the summer, the sheep migrate to various meadows and graze on blooming meadows. During this time, by the old art of the craft, the cheese is left to mature for a minimum of 2 months. At the end of the summer when the herds return from the mountains, the cheese is mature and ready for sale. Idiazabal is produced in the form of a cylinder, with a smooth and hard natural rind that is a pale yellow to amber. The cheese has a compact texture, with a number of holes formed by a needle. The cheese is dry, but does not crumble, and leaves a pleasant taste of milk fat in the mouth. The core carries traces of wooden moulds in which the cheese matures. The characteristic flavour of the smoke is the result of maturation near the fireplace. In simple mountain huts, cheeses absorb sweet, aromatic smoke, so that the taste of the cheese is reminiscent of caramel and bacon. The specificity of taste suggests that it is best consumed with red wine and apple cider. Idiazabal won Super Gold Medal at the World Exhibition of cheese - Awards 2014. It was named one of the 62 best cheeses in the world.

manchego

Manchego is produced in the La Mancha region of Spain, known as the homeland of Don Quixote. Manchego cheese is made from sheep’s milk, and is one of the most popular cheeses of Spain. Traditional use of grass mould leaves a distinctive characteristic zigzag pattern on the Manchego cheese. Authentic Manchego is made only from sheep’s milk Manchego. Manchego cheese is made from pasteurized and unpasteurized milk. The traditional rural version is solely produced from unpasteurized milk and cheese products while the industrial version of pasteurized milk. Pasteurization involves heating milk to a temperature (70 ° - 80 °) that destroys all pathogens in the milk. Unfortunately, the pasteurization destroys various other beneficial organisms for the milk. The core is inedible and recognizable, traditionally herringbone textured. There are some differences in the Manchego cheese, depending on the period of aging. Polu curado - Young Manchego cheese aged about 3 months is pliable and moist. The taste is fruity, with hints of distant meadow flowers. Curado - Manchego cheese 6 months old has a caramel and nutty flavour with a note of acidity. Viejo - Manchego cheese year old has crumbly texture, while the interior of the cheese is the colour of whiskey. It has a sweet taste that remains long on the palate. There are a variety of cheeses like Manchego cheese, but manufacturers cannot legally call these cheeses Manchego. This famous cheese has won gold and silver at the World Cheese - Awards 2014.

roncal

Roncal is a Spanish cheese from the Roncal valley, north of Navarre, in the area near the border with France. The cheese is protected by a origin certificate (PDO), in which the cheese has to be produced only between December and July, from raw sheep’s milk Rasa and Lacha breed sheep. Made from whole milk, Roncal cheese is in the shape of a wheel which is covered by a hard, natural velvety smooth layer of blue-gray mould. This greenish mould is coated with olive oil. Inside, it is ivory-colored, from white to pale yellow. The texture is firm, elastic and a little grainy, with small, irregular holes. It has a sweet - herbal flavour, thanks to the natural pastures dotted with wild grasses, herbs and flowers where the sheep graze.

FLEUR DU MAQUIS France / Corsica

france /corsica/

Although Italy is considered the homeland of cheese production, however, it will seem that cheeses emerged simultaneously, that their homeland was wherever the sheep grazed and where shepherds milked the sheep. Fermentation is a short path from milk to natural cheese. However, there are countries on whose gastronomy the cheese was founded on is a more important place than the other. One of those countries is France. The earliest recorded French cheese was Roquefort. Preserved written allegations can be read as â&#x20AC;&#x153;... the cheese that regularly wins awards in Rome, where people always

compare and evaluate the good things from each country.â&#x20AC;? As elsewhere in the Mediterranean clergy (of any religion) were the ones who spread the technology of making cheese. Trappists, Dominicans, Benedictines spread the culture of cheese production. It was they who enhanced the maturation of some cheeses by adjusting them in the limestone caves where the cheese received natural penicillin mold. 19

fromages de brebis franรงais

Corsica

Fleur du Maquis corsica

Fleur du Maquis, which means “maquis flower”, is a cheese from Corsica obtained from the milk of Lacaune sheep. Maquis is the local term for the thicket of diverse plants which is everywhere along the roads and in the mountains, and where, by the Corsican myths, guerrillas and looters are hiding from the government. Corsica is the birthplace of Napoleon Bonaparte, an island belonging to France, although it has a strong Italian atmosphere. Due to the mountainous topography of Corsica, it is not surprising that this is the kingdom of sheep, goats, and products of their milk. This cheese from Corsica has different names - Brindamour, Brin d’Amour (“sprig of love” or “breath of love”), and Fleur du Maquis (“maquis flower”). Known as an extremely beautiful and tasty cheese, Fleur du Maquis is sold in various stages of maturity. When the cheese is young, its coating of rosemary needles is green while the interior of the cheese is snowy white with a fresh sheep’s milk flavour. As the cheese matures, the interior develops a stronger flavour, and the rosemary is already dried and brown in colour. The cheese is covered with rosemary, pepper, fennel seeds, occasionally chilli, thyme, coriander, and juniper berries, which are at the top. The interior is still strong, and the flavour absorbs the herbs which cover the core. Fleur du Maquis agrees better with salty tastes, but also with sweet things like fruit. It should be eaten with olives, tomatoes, and fresh peppers. Experts recommend harsher white and lighter red wines. 21

Pecorino Romano

ITALY The Roman Empire included all the Mediterranean countries, but also further north to England, to the south-east to Persia. For the huge Roman legions, one of the most important foods was cheese, sturdy and compact to withstand months of travel. Even Pliny the Elder writes about the technology of Pecorino Romano, which is made by shepherds in the surroundings of Rome. It is this, like a rock hard cheese, Pecorino Romano, which became the cornerstone for the development of basing all hard sheep cheese through Europe. So, thanks to the legionaries, the Roman art of making hard cheese arrived in Switzerland (400 B.C.), and further north, to the UK, and to Ireland. In these territories the art of making cheese then mostly regarded just fermented cheeses that were kept in oil or salt. Pecorino is a term used to define the Italian cheeses of 100% sheepâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s milk. The US counterpart of the Italian cheese is the cheese of the same name but made from cowâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s milk. Of four Pecorino cheeses who took over the protected designation of origin under the law of the European Union, Pecorino Romano is one of the oldest types of cheese, the best known outside Italy. According to the legislation production, Pecorino Romano cheese is permitted only on the island of Sardinia, and in the provinces of Lazio and Grosseto. The types of Pecorino cheese differ from each other, depending on age. No matter how modern technology has progressed this cheese is produced using only traditional methods in unique areas of origin. Its long-term aging of 8 to 12 months results in a dry, grainy texture and strong flavour. When the cheese is young, it is soft and textured with a sweet and aromatic flavour. The taste is sharper as the cheese matures, eight months or longer. Pecorino Romano is one of the most commonly used alternatives to Parmesan cheese. Due to heavy textures, sharp and salty flavour, Pecorino Romano has become an indispensable addition to pasta dishes.

FIORE SARDO

Fiore Sardo, which means “Sardinian flower” is made from fresh sheep’s milk of local breeds of sheep on the island of Sardinia. This ancient cheese precedes the more famous Pecorino Romano, the goat cheese from the same island. The flavour is intense and spicy. Moulds for maturing FIORE SARDO are slightly smoked, and smeared with olive oil. Young cheese in these moulds are left to mature in cold cellars. The end product is a cheese-grained texture with a touch of saltiness and a hint of fruit. The core is dark and cheese ivory. As his successor, Pecorino Romano, Fiore Sardo is excellent as grated for seasoning pasta, but connoisseurs eat it alone, with tomatoes or grapes, a glass of red wine. Only then in this cheese can you feel traces of bitter taste and Sardinian medicinal herbs.

PECORINO DI NORCIA

Giuseppe Fabbi - PECORINO DA NORCIA

PIETRO LUIGI ALTAVILLA Vicesindaco comune di Norcia Enjoying in a friendly household of Pietro Luigi Altavilla, vicesindaca (Deputy Mayor) Comune di Norcia, in the mountains above the town of Norcia (hometown of St. Benedict’s) we met the cheese producer Giuseppe Febbia that still produces cheese by a recipe he inherited from his ancestors, and his ancestors of his ancestors, and so on to ancient times, probably to the Roman legions. Everywhere in Norco, and throughout Italy, PECORINO NORCIA can be purchased, but only the name is what binds them with cheeses of Giuseppe Febbia. In addition to a dozen other small producers such as his dairy, two industrial plants produce cheese of the same name. Giuseppe waves his hand at the mention of the names of cheeses that are not obtained by milking sheep “di Norcia” from the pastures “di Norcia” because only about 10,000 sheep graze in large pastures in hills above Norcia, guarded by shepherds from Macedonia and Romania. And only their milk is recognized as one that rightly brings to the world the cheese Pecorino to Norcia. Everything else is industry - shaking his hand says Giuseppe, and takes us to his dairy.

Here he introduces us with his wife Franca Falappa, and the two of them, with peace worthy of a Benedictine priest, demonstrate the way of producing cheese of their ancestors. Of course, the bulk of their production is by the standards of a modern dairy, sterilized in pro-chrome areas, and everything else that production and hygiene standards require from the cheese production today. However, to us, they demonstrated the traditional way of production. In a copper bowl, the inside lined with tin, in a container which is more than 100-years old, Febbio mixed just milked 100 litres of milk with a maple stick. The milk is not pasteurized, as is usual in modern cheese production, by

heating to 72° to destroy pathogenic micro-organisms or micro-organisms but also harmless micro-organisms, which contributes to the loss of flavour, and depending on this the adding of aroma. The traditional way of obtaining “Pecorino di Norcia” is made from milk that is heated only to 37°, and then adds, “Cugliate” – a natural rennet clotting, obtained from young lambs. As hard cheese is cooked at 44° - 45°, and from what remains in the bin (after coagulation of cheese and its removal in moulds) is “ricotta” (Puina), with the addition of salt and heating to 80°.tcheese and 10 kg of ricotta. Sir obtained by this type of production has a more bitter taste, and always is considered a good aphrodisiac, as Pietro Luigi Altavilla happily confirms.

ITALIA /TOSCANA/ THE HEART OF TUSCANY â&#x20AC;&#x201C; PHOTOSHOP OF NATURE BY UNESCO

20 cm, which prevents slippage of the rope when blowing the skin. Blowing is done until it takes the shape of a skin suitable for shaving and this is done through a hollow tree with a diameter of 1 cm, which is drawn into the rear legs. The opened skins are salted and put in a shady place to dry, and drying takes 15 to 30 days. Dried skin are then ventilated by the opening hole on neck and tail, and before the first use of it should be soaked in cold water for about 2 hours, and then rinsed with alcohol, usually grape brandy. As in the production of cheese uses natural rennet, its proper preparation is also an important factor in the production of cheese from the skins. For its preparation, rennet of calves and lambs are used which were previously washed with Even entering a car in the countryside around the town of Pienza is entering tourist headlines and calendars of Tuscany. Everywhere he turns, he sees only designed landscapes. The nature in which even a blade of grass does not grow by will, but is trimmed and shaped by man in communion with everything that grows from the earth forms an ideal natural harmony. Cypresses are planted everywhere along the roads, and this is what is most impressive as man carries this with him in spirit. Cypresses, as well as silhouettes of people on the eternal path in their town, to their estate, to their field. As exclamations of former people who walked these same paths, one by one, tired of the sun and work in the field.

Val d’Orcia, or Valdorcia is located in the region of Tuscany, in central Italy. It is characterized by gentle, carefully cultivated hills occasionally broken with ravines and picturesque farms, churches, towns and villages. Centre Val d’Orcia is Pienza (rebuilt as an “ideal town” in the 15th century under the patronage of Pope Pius II). It is a landscape that celebrated Tuscany through a series of works of art, from Renaissance paintings to contemporary film and photography.

IN HAY (FIENO)

WRAPPED WITH WALNUT LEAVES (FOGLIE DI NOCE)

ALL THESE CHEESES MATURE FOR ONE YEAR IN ORDER FOR THEM TO LAY IN BARRELS WITH HERBS FIR THE NEXT SIX MONTHS.

IN BRAN (CRUSCA)

IN THE SHELL OF GRAPES AFTER GRAPE MUST (VINACCIA)

PIANPORCINO Cheese producer and entrepreneur Giuseppe Busso (47), owner of the company (family farm) Pianporcino, which specializes in growing, processing and direct sale of the famous and unique pecorino cheeses, some of which their main brand, is known as the “Cheese of Pienza”. The farm produces several varieties of different cheeses and dairy products. He is also engaged in the production of wine, but more about that on another occasion. The farm has hangers, warehouses, a large space for tasting of cheeses and wines, apartments to stay on the farm, a cheese shop and a swimming pool. As the overall landscape around Pienza and estate Pianporcino is under the protection of UNESCO, the swimming pool is made according to the standards, as they say today – of sustainable development. Until yesterday such a pool was called a puddle. In this pool, other than swimmers, there are fish and jumping frogs. Between the dense river reeds lilies grow and flourish. The bottom of the pool is, unlike ordinary village ponds, paved with rough cut stone brought from a surrounding area. A stone wall

spontaneously. Landscapes around Pienza not suffer the mischief of nature. It was like Man was angry with God, so he took matters into his own hands and with a shovel and pickaxe photo shopped as far as he could see. All under the supervision and sponsorship of UNESCO, guards of heritage tailored by human vanity. The magnificently decorated landscape called the “Val d’Orcia” - Nature Park, and Photoshop of landscape architects. separates the swimming facilities of the habitats of plankton, fish and frogs, security that

children will not become entangled in the roots and grass. Water is regularly changed and the overall ecosystem works flawlessly. Above the property, on the slope of a hill graze herds of sheep. As the hill itself, the sheep are also in harmony with the colour. (Wherever we stayed and recording the sheep, only in Tuscany I did not among all the white sheep see a black sheep, author’s note). Not only sheep but also two huge white Pyrenean Mountain Shepherds also fit into the harmonious picture. Here young lambs disturb the herd height. Already at the beginning of the conversation with Giuseppem, we asked him about the differences between the famous “Pecorino Sardo” and Tuscany pecorino cheese, or rather his “Cheese from Pienza”. Giuseppe points out to us from the start that 90% of the cheese-makers in Tuscany are originally from Sardinia, just as he is. “The difference is in the pasture. Sardinian sheep graze on the mountains, which are not as generous in terms of grass. There are more violent areas, and sheep for stone and wild essential herbs. Our country is imbued with clay layers, and as such is sweet. Sweetness is given to the cheese by the plant “sulla” that is widespread in this area and sheep love to graze it. “

Giuseppe Bussu, PIANPORCINO

33 33

CROATIA

they would live, let alone how much they would produce. But the Pag sheep, grown with the island, survived a storm of one hundred and fifty kilometre winds, freezing rain brought by the Bora, but also the summer temperature up to plus fifty, that no other breed could. The island of Pag is among barren islands in Croatia. Sparse vegetation, rocks, drought adapted plants: sage, heather, wormwood, immortelle. After the sudden bloom in the spring, all the plants, gray and burned from the summer drought, expand their heady scents. The charm of the Pag landscape is given by bora which has made the rocky pastures bare - bordered crisscross by a vast network of stone

CHEESES GLIGORA CHEESE FROM THE ISLAND OF PAG

Sheep, from wherever man brought them eventually adapt to any environment. Pag sheep for centuries inhabited the Pag rocks. If we were to bring Romanovski or East Friesian sheep to the same rocks, it is questionable how many days

walls. Olive groves in the rocky area, fertile viticulture fields and underbrush and Holm oaks covered with a mild south-western coast. This nature is unique in

Croatia. Only a few kilometres away is a place called Lun. A rare place on the Mediterranean where one can walk olive groves where the oldest trees date back to the time of Jesus Christ. On Pag survive only the strongest and most resilient. Along with the Pag sheep, only Pag man could survive. The sheep had given him wool, leather, meat and finally cheese. The cheese - the essence of the island. But it is not easy to reach it. Rising before dawn, resisting storms - Bora, freezing rain and sun, the construction of stone walls, hand milking, production, turning on the shelves ... Bora, an island, sheep, man? An eternal struggle! The tradition of cheese making on the island dates back to the Illyrian times before over four thousand years. The geographical location and specific harsh climate have created the perfect conditions for the production of cheese. Salt production also played an important role in the history of the island and the handful of powerful empires exercised control and influence on the island’s culture and heritage. The Romans by assimilating with Illyrian tribes

created new and more sophisticated ways in cheese production. Thus, the same type of cheese called pecorino Romano was brought by the Roman legions to the island. The cheese is in all a relative of Italian hard sheep cheese. Even in 1774 , the travel writer Alberto Fortis in his “Journey through Dalmatia” wrote that the most important Pag

Šime Gligora

products are: sea salt, sage honey, wool and cheese. Until the beginning of the 20th century, cattle breeders in Kolan had their stone huts in dry-stone where cheese was made while the milking lasted, and they were inhabited as well. These stone houses covered with Faso and reeds from a nearby field of Kolan called stani. Stani were outside the village on the slopes of the islandâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s scarce pastures. Apartments, as well as in Albania, and on Durmitor, on Velebit, the Italian French and Spanish mountains. Pastures are located in the mountainous parts of the island and are recognizable by the fact that they are surrounded by stone fences and stone walls. Dry stone walls are like the famous Pag lace, traversing the hills, dividing them on nets, gorges and trails with which they communicate with people, vehicles and sheep. At that time there was no private ownership of pastures. There were no fences and the sheep were free to graze. Caring for and milking sheep was led by men and they also made cheese in the apartments. In the early 20th century, pastures have become private property and the owners have their own fenced pastures with dry-stone walls, stani is abandoned, and the shepherds return to Kolan and the care regarding making cheese is taken over by women in the household. Pag cheese, slowly but surely, over time, became the most recognizable brand of the island, but also the entire Croatian cheese production. Dairy GLIGORA in the best possible way became the flagship brand of sheep cheese of the island of Pag. The Dairy is still on the island, but the quality and recognition of Dairy Gligora obtained at exhibitions at home and abroad, cannot be measured. The secret is probably, as we saw in all cheese producers in the Mediterranean, in the family tradition. The nurturing and respect for tradition. Tradition that is grounded in morality and in respecting the word, as evidenced by numerous subcontractors and associates of â&#x20AC;&#x153;Dairy Gligoraâ&#x20AC;?. 37

Today’s manger of the Dairy is Šime Gligora who continued in his father’s steps in building the company and proving the quality of the brand Gligora in many international fairs. Cheeses made through the closely guarded secret family tradition are enriched with latest technologies and all novelties of cheese production as exists today in the world. In the large family, Gligora Dairy employs more than 50 employees; of skilled and experienced cheese producers to sellers. The Dairy produces over 450

makes us recognized in the world is our Pag cheese made exclusively from the milk of the indigenous sheep island of Pag. We also produce goat and cow’s milk cheese, cheeses from mixed milk, but also a full range of milk products. Lately, encouraged by trends in modern cheese production and gastronomy, we also produce cheeses from olive cake, cheese from liquor, cheese from husk cherries, cheese from grape husks, etc.

As a cheesemaker, I am led by my curiosity,

tons of various cheeses per year, of which about 50 tons is Pag cheese. Milk is purchased from over 200 subcontractors, as on the island of Pag for Pag cheese, and in Dalmatia, Lika and Kordun for other cheeses. Almost every year, Dairy Gligora has won top international awards for its cheeses, and thus helps to promotes its place Kolan, Pag, and Croatia all around the world. Šime Gligora, director of “Dairy Gligora”:

Gligora family, forced them to all take pictures of

We produce about 30 kinds of cheeses. What

a cigarette in their hand.

and in collaboration with my father, and with technologists who are the pride of our dairy, we do not stop to examine new tastes. Šime says that only one of the ancestors, the oldest among them was a smoker. But a sense of community, which over time consolidated the

In this region of the Mediterranean where sheep are grown and cheese is made, the sheep vary. They were shaped by the climate. Pag sheep suffer probably the strongest climatic differences by living in the harsh environment of the islands. Pag sheep Biliška, Ćara, Pećara - were fused with the rocky ground of the island. It survives in the wind that blows up to 150 km per hour, the freezing rain which is followed by the Bora, but also on the summer temperature up to plus forty. They eat grass covered with salt, happy if at all the sheep find it in the harsh rocks of Pag. The island of Pag is among the most barren islands in Croatia. Sparse vegetation, rocks, drought adapted plants: sage, heather, wormwood, immortelle. After the sudden bloom in the spring, all the plants, gray and burned from the summer drought, expand their heady scents. These herbs covered with a thin layer of frost that is brought by the storms with the sea make the excellent taste of the cheese, which is considered prized not only in Croatia but also beyond. Cheese from the island of Pag are the winners of the most prestigious awards at international exhibitions of cheese products. The tradition of making cheese on the island of Pag dates back to the Illyrian times before over four thousand years. The geographical location and brutally contrasting air created the perfect conditions for sheep farming. The Romans assimilating with Illyrian tribes created new and more sophisticated ways in cheese production. Unique products of the island are olive oil, sage honey and cheese.

MONTENEGRO

DURMITOR Durmitor - mountain, national myth and national park in Montenegro. It is believed that its name comes from the Celtic word that means “mountain full of water.” Regions of Durmitor were declared a national park in 1952. All the splendor of natural beauty, landscapes and cultural values o f Durmitor and the Tara River prevailed so the Durmitor National Park was included in the list of World Cultural and Natural Heritage, the decision of the International Committee for the World Cultural and Natural Heritage, while the Tara river and its canyon valley, with UNESCO’s Man and the Biosphere program was included in the World’s ecological biosphere reserves. The main feature of the landscape of the Durmitor area is vast plateau at 1,500 meters above sea level, which is intersected by deep canyons and rising imposing mountain peaks, 48 o f them with more than 2,000 meters above sea level. The beauty of the Durmitor massif gives special charm with its 18 glacial lakes called mountain eyes, at altitudes above 1,500 m. The largest and most attractive is the Black Lake. The magnificence of the landscape is enhanced, in addition to the beauty of the lake basin, by its glittering water surface. Among the most beautiful ornaments of the park are clear, fast rivers that gave this area various canyons. Particularly impressive is the Tara River, with beauty and the flowing water, and its depth (1300 m) and landscapes, the canyon is the largest in Europe, and after the Grand Canyon in the US, the second in the world. Durmitor was until recently a host of summer pastures – a summer oasis for grazing treasures from Žabljak. The traditional way of life is disappearing and now only a few herds are on Durmitor, compared to the hundreds before 30 years. The God-given pastures, as elsewhere, are the target only to hikers and camera lens.

At the crossroads between Humanity as a historical stigma are the Montenegrin man on the one hand, and the other tourist condescension on the other. Montenegro lives the fate of most transition countries. To put it simply, in the mountain areas the word â&#x20AC;&#x153;grandfatherâ&#x20AC;? is still in force and the tradition never stops. Here is still the strong DNA that lives through generations which transmits awareness of the sanctity of the country, families and peoples who live off the same land. Further south, along the coast, this is a bit of stunted DNA and children and grandchildren sell out every bit of land they received from their grandparents, to the glory of the family and the offspring. Children are poor custodians of pride and honor when the wallets of wealthy newcomers are opened. Fruitless is also the resistance from the authorities, which should be a protector of the ancestors when banks (of the Pandoraâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s box of the modern era) let off the smell of money. In twenty/thirty years people from noble stature will only be a memory of the names of the cities in which they were born. They will speak with nostalgia as those born in the city of the same name as the latter city was named, where forensics are no longer able to find clues and smells of their childhood. Nor will they be able to be buried in the cities where they were born, because the stores, shops and parking lots vast commodity centres, little by little, will swallow the cemetery swallow. Therefore, the heirs of humanity in this region pray and curse those who are able, to at least respect the forests and mountains, as they have already forgotten to guard their land by the sea. To respect the water, and the bed in which water flows and where they rest. To respect the rain and the dew on the meadows. To respect the winds, and the leaves that fall in the meadows. To respect mornings, and to respect the evenings of wise old men. So after thousands and thousands of years we do not make fun of the old man Noah and his boat from which the power of divine humanity radiated. Well, it was a ship, ferry/cruiser or whatever, and it was the captain, and they were passengers. Out of gratitude to this old man, his ship and the passengers in it, we gave tribute to him on the slopes of Durmitor, the Montenegrin mountains of Ararat, in whose pastures Noah sent part of his sheep herd.

NJEGUŠ CHEESE

On the highlands of Durmitor, at the location of Dobri dol - Šarban - we visited the shepherds and the sheep of about 800 sheep and 600 lambs. The herd is on Durmitor from May to late September when returned to Žabljak where has, in the work unit of Economics, the base place. Kasalica Milan, sheep herder story: most traditional cheese made in this area. The tradition of cheese making is the oldest when it comes to food production in the region. The quality and experience, passed down for generations, made cheese a favourite Montenegrin meal – an unavoidable part of every meal. The geographical position of Montenegro which is dominated by high mountains

“As a child I have kept sheep here in the summer pastures.

and its suburbs helped the livestock development

Before there were many more herds. Not as big as now,

and hence dairy when it comes to food production.

but much smaller. All households of Žabljak led the herd

Today in almost every corner of Montenegro you

to the pastures. This area is large and grass is abundant.

can encounter specific method of production that is

Nana, iva, petrovac, dandelion ... who knows how all this

not very different from that at the beginning of the

herbs are called, but they are mostly medicinal.

last century. In the vicinity of Cetinje on Njeguši, the

We had six horses, We brought them here, but they

famous NJEGUŠKI CHEESE is made.

escaped, returned home in Žabljak (22 km). Wolves come too, bears rarely, we find slaughtered goats. This area is brutal and gentle at the same time. “ The wool that comes Strižna today is used in small quantities, and with nostalgia Milan remembers better times when the wool industry was a serious business. Milk after milking is taken to the Dairy in Žabljak led by Dragan Zeković. Cheese is made in the traditional way. The filtered the cheese is placed in moulds and is salted. After three months of maturation it is cut and stored in jars with olive oil. Other cheese is collected in order to put in the beginning of August in sheep skin. In the skin it ripens from one month to one and a half

Dragana Zeković

months. This cheese here called PRLJO, and is the 46

After spreading it is kept in a cool and airy place up to 3 months before tasting. It is dry and rich with milk fat. The cheese is produced mainly in the north of Montenegro - ‘full cheese’ is perhaps the best quality, especially if it made from a mixture of cow and sheep milk. The special charm and aroma Montenegrin cheese has is from vats, wooden containers in which the young cheese placed with a lid and rock to solidify. Today vats are produced less and are slowly becoming souvenirs to remind us just the way our ancestors

NJEGUŠ CHEESE MONTENEGRO SOUR CREAM

SOUR CREAM Sour cream is the trademark not only of Montenegro, but also of Middle Eastern cuisine. An extremely tasty and rich dairy product which in Montenegro is called the ‘cream’ is something that needs to be tasted. The manner of preparing it has been the same for centuries. Once cream is removed from boiling milk, it is placed in wooden vats where after time, a creamy mass of rich taste is formed, depending on the duration of storage. Especially tasty, but more expensive and less common is the kind kept it in a container made of animal skin or giblets, similar as with other people of similar geographical origin. It is eaten as part of a cold starter, and often as an offer in Montenegrin restaurants, it is eaten with bread.

PRLJO

prepared cheese and cream.

ALBANIA Paul Valery: “We remember all due to nothing. It would be good that sometimes we believe in the first time “

This beautiful country of friendly people who have been through a political history of hell, with malice and without a shred of empathy is stretched on a media cross of contemporary Europe as the capital of mafia and crime. Englishwoman Emma Hartley writes: “... The most famous Albanian product is” gangsterism”. In addition to the heroin trade, which controls a large part of Western Europe, what also blooms there is Albanian trafficking ... While the average homicide rate in the UK is 1.63 per hundred thousand, with the people in Albania it is 76.9 people per hundred thousand. Internet travel sites, edited by the British foreign office say it is too dangerous to travel anywhere outside the capital, Tirana. “ That is support from a country that through all of its

Albania has in vain flowing rivers and collapsing waterfalls. In vain are the dormant mountain lakes, green grass and untainted pastures. In vain are the calls of the virgin-clean beaches. In vain is the warmth and hospitality of small and simple people. All is in vain because the political and economic marketing has met its goal and people like you turned from curiosity, and bound him in a bunker of prejudice. The bunkers are stronger than the bunkers from the Albanian beaches. Therefore, do not trust anyone. Neither the writer of these lines, or others, but rather visit this great country and take off yourself what others have placed on you, over your eyes and over your soul. Forget about Enver Hodža, and the defensive “one million” bunkers along the beach, and a solid hand

economic and political history has never met with crime, conspiracies, or political intrigues. It is all part of global marketing dictated from the offices of political and economic powers of the world. But still, after you cross the line and step onto the soil of Albania, completely different scenes will be in front of you. On the streets you will meet people like you and all the other well-intentioned people around the world. People with problems like yours, with similar reasons for joy and happiness, with the same reasons for sadness and misfortune. But, as long as you do not do this critical step,

shake of old Communists. Forget all the “friendly and benevolent” writing in English press. Forget, and step into a space that is a true “terra incognita” of modern Europe. Step in and lose yourself. Because, remember all on the occasion of nothing (P. Valery), and why should faith be “in the first time.” While the memory is like a neatly arranged library, “the first time” is rugged books. But if you persevere, it will one day stand on the shelf as a nice grove of trees. Therefore, while the time and the country are innocent and pure, lose yourself in Albania! 48

Lose yourself on the beaches of Albania. It is true that they are decorated with small architectural and less design skills than beaches of large countries of Europe, but that is why the waves are more cheerful than their waves. Lose yourself in the Albanian mountains. If in the wild wind in the trees you hear unknown steps, do not believe that this is a mobster with a shotgun. It is most likely horses or it is Pan walking the mountains and playing his flute “dance of the small forest gods.” Lose yourself on the Albanian streets. If you cannot find yourself, do not despair. Sit in one of the hundreds of cafes, order and drink coffee. Speak loudly as it is spoken on the Mediterranean, and do

rosemary, sage and fennel. All of this is the smell of sweat of the Albanian farmers. Lose yourself, because as the Italian poet Tiziano Scarpa says, “lose yourself, it is the only place worth going.” In Skadra, in the triangle, at a distance of a hundred meters is a mosque, Orthodox and Catholic church. Thanks to a friend Mohamed, I wrote a story that more than anything speaks about religious tolerance and coexistence of people of different faiths. During the recent revolution when churches burned as torches, mullah stopped at the entrance of the Orthodox Church, the priests on the steps of the Catholic Church, and pastors at the entrance to the

not worry that people will not understand. All of the youth of Albania knows English. So drink up your favourite coffee, with more or less milk, with more or less the crema on top, with a drop of alcohol in it, or have only a conventional espresso. Believe me, the taste is the same as in any other “big” country of the Mediterranean. And much cheaper. Lose yourself in the Albanian restaurants. The plates of food, it is true, are not so cleverly designed as plates in the elite restaurants of Great Europe, but the palate is always more trusted than the visual content. And no disrespect to the women of developed civilizations, the most beautiful girl I have seen in all my travels was in Skadra. Lose yourself in the flavours of grape, wine, Skanderbeg, olive oil, figs, lemons, oranges, myrtle,

mosque. And not one religious building in Albania was hurt. The centre of Skadra is adorned by a statue of Mother Teresa, under which flowers are 365 days a year. What I am assured by the hosts, flowers are left by all. In general, it is difficult to identify who is what faith. The do not have some special features in clothing, nor do they have bars and cafes, and there are a lot of them, divided by religious or national lines. It would be good the other people of the Balkans know this. Before the trip I heard about a specialty that will welcome me in Albania. Whether it is a business facility or a family home, the many buildings have two flags: the Albanian and German, Albanian and Italian, Albanian and English, but by the country where the Albanians acquired capital. And another peculiarity: the first the façade is done. We saw several buildings with a representative office 49

space on the ground floor with a decorated facade, but inside the building, from the ground up, the first, second and third floor were bare concrete floor. They wait for the ground floor to be finished and then they do the rest of the house. The city of Durres used to be an exclusive resort for the party elite. And a great fortification finding. The houses that stretch in a row, along the sandy beach which has a few tens of kilometres, were once resorts for lower party leadership. They higher vacationed in villas surrounded by the army. Generally, many

soldiers were in Durres: I guess because Enver HodĹža expected an invasion from the Adriatic Sea, and along the coast, every few meters he built a single bunker. They say that it is not true that he did not count how many bunkers there were, but it was assumed that there were three to five per capita. It is not known how many new hotels are in Durres: it is assumed about 350. And, for example, on a tourist map of Albania, from â&#x20AC;&#x153;thoseâ&#x20AC;? times, in the whole country there were - 27 (twenty seven!).

Skadar, its centre is an Europeanized city, with hotels built in the virtual European architectural tradition. Each of them can be transferred to any European capital, which Albanian builders would not take as a compliment. Albania can stand still, and carefully, in terms of architecture, harmonize new views with the heritage. And the heritage at the disposal to all the small countries of the Mediterranean is not created

solely for the administrative boundaries applicable today. These are the prints and traces of many major cultures, as well as the people who inhabit all the smaller countries are descendants of much larger cultures. In vain the state administration pulls people coats ten numbers less, when the DNA of the Mediterranean man reaches out far beyond the national coat sleeve.

cheesemaker emin hasmegaj

On the outskirts of the city of Skadra (brass Shkoder), where my friendly host Mohammed Fregjaj takes us, we met cheese producer Emina Hasmegaja, a vital 76 - year old. It was unusual standing opposite to a cheese producer with a university education. Talking to a professor of agronomy who directly with professors of the Department moved to the counter of his Dairy, continuing, as it is the practice in Albania, the family business of producing cheese. Like other countries in the Adriatic Sea, Albania was also spared major industrialization, so their mountains and the sea are untouched. Pastures are not regulated as in Tuscany, and herds are smaller.

Twenty/thirty sheep or goats per household. But the quality of milk, as we were told by Emin, is excellent. By all standards of modern dairy standards. When on the way back, after the photo shoot, we had cheese tasting all the areas we stayed, everybody wanted strong brands, Sardinia, Corsica, Tuscany. As they, and those who chose feta, Emina Hasmegaja, long after the meal they nodded their heads in disbelief â&#x20AC;&#x201C; This is cheese! Emin Hasmegaj is not engaged in sheep-breeding so he buys milk from farmers from the surrounding hills. He produces cow, goat and sheep cheese. These are not huge amounts, as his dairy, with two outlets, is a tailor-made family farm. Emin is a technologist, 53

RETURN TO THE CITY In the evening when we returned to the city and went out to a restaurant, before that we had a stroll along the streets, and again I remembered what Emma Hartley with a lot of empathy for the small nations wrote: “... The most famous Albanian product is” gangsterism “. On the outskirts of Skadra, in the restaurant “The Prince and the Liqenit”, on the shores of Lake Skadar, is exactly as it was written by Emma. The restaurant is true gangsterism. Their food “kills” with flavours, and

manufacturer and vendor, along with his wife and son. The place where they live and produce is small, actually a suburb of Scutari, and where Emin has its own dairy. So it is safe to see that he personally knows every customer. He was delighted when we visited, and his happiness stemmed from each movement. Simple and human kindness. Emin Hasmegaj produces traditional Albanian cheese - feta cheese. Pasteurization is at 80° (cow

“PRINCI I LIQENIT“ cheese), and 67° (goat and sheep cheese). He sells the fresh cheese and the one that has aged for a year in the dairy shelves. We toured the production facilities and saw the cleanliness and hygiene. As we talked with Eminem, customers without a trace of resentment stood at the entrance. Passing by them, they were all smiling, and the kids were ready with poses, dressed in a soccer uniforms with national characteristics.

cannot be even remotely compared with the well-known English cuisine. And the prices are so affordable that the English gentleman, because of the inherited colonial contempt, would not even step inside. For the rest of Europe, this is not true. They are the reason why we waited for a table for an hour. Emma, a table is waiting for you! Surrender to Albania, and believe me, you will forget the prejudices and political marketing. 55

ISRAEL

Shay Seltzer

CHEESE: A LEGA C Y O F M I L L E N N I A

by Buzzy Gordon

SHAY SELTZER FOLLOWS IN TRADITIONS THAT DATE BACK TO BIBLICAL TIMES

J ust a few kilometers west of Jerusalem, down the eastern slope of Mount Eitan by the Sataf Springs, lies an area that has known agriculture for the last six thousand years. Today, in the 21st century, on this same spot, one can visit the farm of a man whose appearance recalls patriarchs and prophets of the Old Testament: Shay Seltzer, widely considered to be the finest cheesemaker in the Holy Land. Seltzer is well aware of the historical significance of the work he does. “David was a shepherd in these same mountains,” he says, gesturing towards Bethlehem, not much further away than Jerusalem as the crow flies. “And the Bible records how his family made cheese from the milk of their flock.”

Referencing the book of 1 Samuel, Seltzer recalls the story of young David, whose father told him to “take these ten cheeses” to the commanders of King Saul’s army, in which the lad’s brothers were serving. It was during the course of this mission that David was to slay Goliath with his slingshot.

Cheese is subsequently mentioned again in connection with David, as provisions sent to him when he was on the run from his rebellious son Absalom. King David’s life and reign are conventionally dated to the ninth century B.C.E. -- five thousand years ago. “In those days,” Seltzer relates, “stones from the Dead Sea -- high in salt content -- were used in the manufacture and preservation of cheeses.” Remarkably, little appears to have changed when it comes to the methods described by Seltzer. His herd of some 200 goats lives much as their ancestors must have done in previous millennia. “Our goats graze freely on the vegetation that grows in these hills,” says Seltzer. “What they eat changes with the seasons, and ranges from fallen leaves of almond and olive trees to scrub and bushes.” According to Seltzer, the taste of the cheeses varies in accordance with the foliage the goats have eaten. The quality and nature of the milk also determine exactly which cheeses Seltzer will make.

“Commercial dairies will milk their goats twice a day, because quantity is what they are after,” Seltzer points out. “Here, with our emphasis on quality, we milk just once a day.” While he has studied food technology at university, he is also familiar with the techniques used by the Arabs and Bedouin in the region throughout the ages. HIs labaneh is similar to what can be found in Arab and Druze villages in Israel -- and the best I have ever tasted. “I produce lactose dairy products -- yogurt and labaneh -- as well as semi-soft and hard cheeses,” Seltzer explains. “Generally, 15% of my production is the former, and 85% the latter.” Seltzer’s production methods also hearken back to ancient techniques. “All of our cheeses are aged in natural caves,” he asserts. “Our harder cheeses are aged at least six months.” This affinage is the final determinant of the flavor of Seltzer’s world-class cheeses. Seltzer employs five types of affinage, resulting in cheeses of varying texture and, of course, taste. During this time, natural bacteria play a role in the process of completing the production phase. During affinage, cheeses will take on different characteristics, such as the formation of an exterior crust or rind, or even a change in color. This author’s favorite cheese has the faint tint of a rosé wine, for example, since it has been wrapped in vine leaves during the ageing process. Seltzer is always testing his cheeses in a quest for more understanding and knowledge. A case in point is the cheese that results when his goats have been eating the thorny Capparis zoharyi, which is known to reduce blood sugar when ingested. Studies revealed that the blood sugar of individuals who ate the cheese from the milk obtained at that time of year also dropped. Seltzer’s reputation has earned him international recognition, and he has been invited to Italy to judge cheesemaking competitions. He is active in organizations with a Mediterranean focus, as well as the NGO Farmers without Borders.

Seltzer maintains a boutique operation, refraining from selling his cheeses to retail outlets. Cheese lovers who want to indulge in what the master has to offer must make the trip to his verdant farm in the Jerusalem Corridor, where he sells his wares on weekends only. Visitors sit in an arbor to feast on

platters of cheese, fruit and vegetables and sip wine, and then enter a cave to select cheeses from a refrigerator case to take home.

The man of the Mediterranean before and after holy mass.

saints

man

cat

coffee

Caffe Macchiato Coffee with milk

Latte Macchiato Large Coffee with milk

Caffe Espresso

Caffe Lungo Large Espresso

Caffe Latte White Coffee

Cappuccino Short Cappuchino

Cappuccino Cappuchino Caffe Corretto Irish Coffee Nescafe Instant Coffee

Veselko Ten탑era Insert from the book EN PASSANT Lili Lokin

I BEELIVE IN COFFEE AND CONVERSATION

Thanks caffee Borgo - Zadar / Hrvatska

caffee pedrocchi padova - italija

Unlike Central Europe, we are not hiding our cafes

Veselko Ten탑era

politicians, football players, basketball players, monks, bishops, doctors, professorship, blood donors. Everything and anything their eyes and memory touches is made fun of and gossiped. Mocking everything, without any reason and without deeper impulses, is a purgatory is that keeps all small towns around the shores of the Mediterranean healthy. That is why the people of these cities do not have the institution of a psychiatrist, the function of those famous ottomans that flowed into American films. Here with us, when you have finished your morning coffee, you are certain that you do not owe anyone anything. From the waiter to the president, no one is spared. As you get up from the chair, still pouting a little and growling, but already as you slide down the sidewalk as you feel clean to the bone, until the next morning. That is why coffee and bars are institutions which the cathedral cannot stand up against. And if there was justice, the ministry of health, rather than small businesses, would take them under their wing and sponsor them as small chapels of human cleansing.

in dim hollows of buildings, we put our cafes out on the sun and streets and present them as the most valuable city jewelry. In Central Europe the elite department for the study of the human spirit is called - BAR. Drinkers hidden in the gloom of the bar, as the early Christians in the catacombs, are loudly spreading their beliefs. With us in Dalmatia bars have not played, in sociological terms, a more significant role. In our cafes the chairs are put in the streets, and the sun mercilessly makes drinkers drink more. And out on the open terraces, the stone pavement, there are struggles that are not less difficult than those with the Crusaders and Venetians. Friends cursing and gossiping the known and unknown, yesterday's enemies and friends, and then, together with them, all the rest of them. They disappear and melt like butter on a hot plate of the deepest frustration, depression gives way to foaming passion. And it does not matter who the target is. Mocking everything and everyone. They make fun of

cafe de flore paris - france

i beelive in caffee and conversation By: Ljiljana Lokin

I drink coffee in the square at noon. The noise from the street is reinforced by bells from a nearby church bell tower. Summer is approaching; a place in the shade is sought, under a sunshade, the laziness in varicose veins, slowing down the thought and body. Cobble stone square filled with people, warmth, creaking metal legs of tavern chairs. Everywhere murmur, people stop, greet, human voices compete with bells, the market looks like a large living room. Everything is homemade and intimate, warm stone and the human body, chatting and laughing, everything swirls and rises in the air like merry fumes ... "I believe in cafes and talking" declares E. Sabato in his book "Resistance", advocating meeting spaces that prevent us from becoming a lonely crowd or lost in the cocoon of our apartment, job and schedule. Going out for coffee, on the Mediterranean, is a ritual of multiple meanings. It most of all means a meeting, and it is not so important if it is arranged or random, the latter even includes a surprise and a small deviation from order and discipline that the Mediterranean soul resists so much. Going out for coffee is the joy of socializing in spite of all the troubles of time, it is a protest against mere fulfillment of obligations and survival, it is against the "fatigue of life." It is the everyday persistent defiance against dangerous stupid sayings - time is money. Going

to a coffee is a social act of mass use, the most democratic and accessible to everyone, because when it comes to time and money for coffee, there is always enough for it here. Cafe topics range from personal care and intimate confessions to public and political events have a therapeutic effect, the coffee is still someone we can grieve to, to boast about our achievements, comment on passers-by, their selection of clothing, appearance, behavior, collect and disseminate information, gossip, lunch and talk about recipes, but in extreme circumstances, to accuse the country for everything that does not go as planned. Everything that cannot be measured and marked with price for coffee is appreciated. It is a benign purgatory little man in which he can be strong and powerful and good and dangerous, seductive and manageable, and connoisseur and onlooker, and wanting to argue and a conciliator, and a mockingbird and sympathize, and all his soul wants to be while there is someone to listen to him. This simple habit on a human scale. Coffeehouses have naturally arisen from the Mediterranean culture of gathering in the streets, public places gatherings, trade and politics since the days of the Greek agora and the Roman Forum. Living outdoors is a gift and a privilege of the Mediterranean and its climate. It is an open stage that should only need

coffee in dubrovnik / croatia

seats and hedonistic addition, so over time, going for coffee became an essential urban habit. In this custom, a small subsystem was created – to have your own coffee shop. The place you come often, where we are welcomed, where it is known what coffee we drink, where we gather around a fire, where we feel accepted, domestic and warm - modern habits, a fireplace relapse in humans. Some bars are defined as a gathering of cultural and sub-cultural groups, the protagonist of trends and styles of behavior. Their popularity is driven by urban migration from one part of town to another reviving the pulse and rhythm of its space. Cafes become orientation points of the city. Coffee drinking was popularized by the late Baroque, a time of suits and dresses with a quilted butt, shoes with a buckle and a wig, age of rationalism in which Descartes expresses the anthology maxim "I think therefore I am." (Kundera will centuries later corrected the remark, "I think therefore I am is a saying for the intellectuals who have not experienced a toothache "). In short, the coffee was domesticated in Europe in the mid 17th century, while the Arabs and Turks knew of it long before. When the Turks rushed towards Europe, they did not know that in their provision they carried a potion that will do what they did not - permanently conquer Europe. In the shadow of their conquest, the life of future European cafes begun. Thus, the formation of the first Vienna café K blue bottle (Zur Blaue flasche) opened by an enterprising Polish officer Franz Georg Kolschintzky, after the siege of Vienna, when the Turkish army withdrew and left behind many bags of coffee. The taste was softened by the addition of milk and sugar, then chocolate and sweets enriched the complete offer. Sometime around

this period, the spleen and the sum of the experience called Viennese coffee house was conceived, and that is the nature of political and cultural influence in the Austrian times and extended into our area. The fact is that coffee houses multiplied and spread at a rate of an epidemic and became a place of daily gatherings of people and social events. English coffeehouses of the 1600s were "home away from home" for many men who provided the address coffeehouse as their own. J.S.Bach composes "Coffee Cantata" in solidarity with women whose husbands spent most of their time in cafes as well as a response to Frederick the Great to ban coffee in Germany. Like every novelty, not even coffee walked in the European court without resistance. In Italy in the 17th century, it was called the "devil's drink". Wine and lemonade merchants aware of their competition asked the pope to condemn coffee. Pope (Clement VII) answer to Satan was, neither more nor less than the baptism of coffee. Apparently it won him by the aroma. Coffeehouses are quickly embraced by public figures, artists and writers. Today many of them cherished myths, like the one in St. Petersburg, where Alexander Pushkin had his last drink before the fatal duel. Or, Cafe de Flore in Paris, a favorite gathering place for Sartre and Simone de Beauvoir, Camus, Eluard, Gertrude Stein and others. The café also awarded the annual literary award Prix de Flore. Check the map of cafés and you will get one of the essential characteristics of the "idea of Europe" - says George Steiner in the file "idea of Europe", and moreover – a café is a place for meeting and conspiracy, for intellectual discussion and gossip. It is a team spirit and post restante to the homeless.

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deputy mayor of panicale

cheesee rolling in the town of panicale

The oldest depiction of this Game was marked in the frescoes in the Etruscan cemetary in Tarquinia: TOMBA DELL OLIMPIADE DI TARQUINIA where there is a visible representation of a cheese thrower.

There is a long history of this unusual game held every year on Easter Monday in the town of Panicale, in Umbria. "Not only in the Easter Monday but the third Sunday in October, the Festival of grapes. On these two dates cheese is thrown: Gioco del formaggio ! There are other occasions when the game is held, it is called - Ruzzolone, a game where you throw wooden hoops, not cheese, even if everything else is the same, except that the wooden wheel much lighter than cheese. It weighs about 2 kg. The custom of throwing rings - ruzzola - also has a long tradition. Ruzzolone is played in Emilia Romagna, Tuscany, Abruzzo, Marche, in some other places of Umbria, but also in Lazio and Calabria. Before they also threw cheese elsewhere, often up to 18 kg heavy, but cheese we throw today in just Panicale. "- Explains Massimo, a

Wishing workers some joy withholding wages, they made this game as a contest between the nobles and workers. To be sure of their victory, they would oil the wooden spool that the thrower has in his hand when throwing. The oiled holders were played by labourers and nobility, of course, with dry holders. The winner received a cheese as a reward. Rules of the game: Individuals or teams compete.

resident of Picchio, and a multiple winner of the Games. The oldest document about this custom is kept in the museum and it dates from 1850. In that record is cited the decision made by city authorities in 1629: "On that day there was a meeting of the city community who issued orders to cheese players that they must not exceed the hospital's bakery, because the temperament and the loud cries from the Games disturb the peace of the nuns who live in a nearby convent." What is spread by word of mouth tells how the game in ancient times were started by wealthy landowners. roads

The initial throw goes from Piazza della Vitoria and ends at Piazza Regina Margherita, a total of about 1 kilometre. The individual or team with the least throws that overcome the said distance is the winner. Memories of locals say sometimes the better team needs just three throws. The team or individual who loses pays the cheese, and the winners receive it, cut it into pieces and eat it. Cheese weighing 3 to 4 kg would be bought in Norco months earlier and kept in local ripening areas to reach maximum hardness. No matter how hard the cheese was, it often broke to pieces, especially in older times while the

were less regulated than it is today. Such troubles were the joy of children during the throwing ran with cheese and collected the remains off the road and ate them. One of the main rules of the game is that the landing leg while throwing the cheese must be firmly on the ground. This made it impossible to cast "the race." In order to respect the rule, in the olden days a coin was put on the shoe. If the coin falls, the player is disqualified. And if cheese, because of the curvature of its edges, flew off the road down the hill (Panicale is a small town on top of a hill, author's note), the player who threw the cheese must go down the hill in search of the cheese, accompanied by smiles and a snickers of locals.

Massimo Picchio - winner

This old game, as so many things from the Mediterranean, crossed the border of modern Italy, with the legionaries of the old Roman Empire, and today replicas of this custom lives in other countries too. In England, Ireland and Canada they also throw cheese, but without the substantive values that distinguish this game in Panicale, which has its fundamental starting point in the Eucharistic celebration, when the cheese is celebrated as an act of renunciation. In the other countries, this game turned into a kind of extreme sport. Cheese is thrown down a steep slope (with a slope of up to 60 degrees). Runners chase the cheese, with helmets on their heads. At the finish are judges and an ambulance.

chapelle montesiepi

The secret of the Sword in the stone By: Igor GluiÄ&#x2021;

San Galgano T

W hat is little known is that St. Galgano was a key figure in the dissemination of the religious worldview of that time. The conversion of St. Galgano was the starting point in the theological thoughts of St. Bernard, a promoter of faith and inspiration for the Crusades. A knight that leaves the violence and grabs the cross. Therefore, St. Galgano was particularly attractive to the Cistercian monastic order, the followers of St. Bernard. They at that time spread throughout Europe, from the French Clairvaux, and even arrived in the hill chapel in Montesiepiju and in the field below built the church of San Galgano.

T he sword in the stone does exist, but thousands

Ruins of the San Galgano

Church upbuilding

of miles from England. It is located in Italy, in the chapel on the hill of Montesiepi, near Siena. A group of scientists from three Italian universities, after careful study of medieval historiography and literary records, concluded that it is highly likely that the myth of the sword in the stone to England arrived directly from Tuscany. They based the theory on factual correspondences between the story of the St. Galgano and English myths, as well as the fact that legends tell how Galgano plunged his sword into the rock in the 12th century. It was precisely at a time when the story of a young Arthur begin to circulate Europe widely, who pulled the sword from the stone and became king of the Britons. Scientists have several years ago received permission from Church authorities to begin research on the Tuscan locality, to scientifically prove that the sword, chapel and relics are from the 12th century. The weight of scientific objectivity mostely pressured the head of research, professor of organic chemistry at the University of Pavia, Dr. Luigi Garlaschellija. Based on the results of analyzes, prof. Garlaschelli could breathe. The theory of "Galgano = Arthur" is scientifically substantiated. The largest medieval mystery hidden deep in the Tuscan hills, 30 kilometres south of Siena, finally in a joust, eight centuries later, resulted in the victory of the hard forged Tuscany sword over the famous Excalibur. Therefore, Tuscany, the beauty more beautiful than England, keeps in a solitary chapel on the hill Montesiepi for already eight centuries the sword of her lover, a knight and saint, St. Galgano - the patron saint of Siena. Since it is not on the itinerary of tours, even intentional visitors without navigation in the car cannot find her easily. The fatigue driving on curvy roads is forgotten in a moment when the bend shows a view of a white building with no roof, the remains of the Cistercian Church of St. Galgano. The place looks like a romantic postcard, built so that inflames the imagination for centuries. This is the pilgrimage for those in love, there are also frequent weddings, visited by almost all the famous people who visit Tuscany, and in the church without a roof the great Andrei Tarkovsky filmed part of his famous "Nostalgia".

the sword in the stone

chapelle Montesiepi

THE BEGINNING OF THE STORY

Galgano Guidotti

Galgano Guidotti (1148 - 1181) from the place Ä&#x152;iusdina next to Siena, today the patron saint, was born into a wealthy family. As it usually happens with wealthy youth, he spent days wasting his time, enjoying the company of women, and other ways which the hedonism of wealthy youth aspires. That is how he in no way was different from the youth of numerous saints, his future colleagues. One night in a dream, slipping between the many women who have besieged him in his dreams, St. Michael appeared to him. As Saints do not appear to cheer the blazing sexuality of youth, the saint said to the young man to transfer his everyday passion for women from his trousers to a knightly sword. Why did a young man ceased with hedonism and follow reproachful words of the saint is hard to figure out, especially if you think about it rationally. As religion, however, is not based on rational conviction but, as the word itself says - on faith, so the young Galgano the following day ceased with woman and accepted the knightly skills. Avoiding that it is more chivalrous behead enemies than kissing women eager for love. As oral tradition says, and rare written documents have written, the young Galgano Guidotti was trained in the fighting and handling of the new sword, and took an honourable knighthood title - a warrior. At that time, physical strength was measured by the strength of the momentum and thrust of the sword. Knights loved to praise their moves, so they tried to do various things with their swords. They competed who will throw the sword higher in the air, who will cut off more heads of enemies with one stroke, or they punctured the armour of wounded opponents. Our future a saint reported the beheading of all who were thinking of a different world and their role in it. But it still was not all the heavens are expecting from him so at the peak of knightly glory, St. Michael again appeared to the boy in a dream. This time they did not have to push among local beauties, but between the bodies of slain husbands and fathers. As soon as Galgano Guidotti noticed him, the saint had begun to tell him to drop the blood-soaked sword from his hands take another sword. The sword is different from all he previously fought with, but deadlier than all the swords of

the world in terms of casualties, and it is - the cross! The angelic voice directed his steps to the foot of the hill Montesiepi, on top of which the future saint saw the outlines of a round temple with Jesus and Mary, surrounded by the twelve apostles. The same voice told him to climb to the top of the hill and at that point finally reject the sword, and to give up all his worldly desires. Rejecting a sword is an act fraught with symbolic meaning. Throwing it to the mud is unworthy of a knight, melting it even less. Selling it is shame. Putting it on a wall as a memento still leaves the possibility that it can, if necessary, be taken down. Listening to the thoughts of the future saint, the angel said to him that strongly swung the sword and thrust it into stone. To the saint's enormous surprise, the weapon passed through the rock like a hot knife through butter, and the sword is stuck in the stone to this day. The rest of his life, after turning the sword into a cross, Galgano Guidotti spent in hermit dresses and until his death in 1181, he was miraculously gifted in treating disabled children. The body of the miracle worker disappeared after his death, preserved only was the skull. Today it is exposed in the Museo dellOpera in Siena. The rest of the body which had the power of handling of the first two swords was probably dumped somewhere along the road for crows to feast on. The beatification process of Galgano lasted briefly; he was declared a saint four years after his death. Church authorities explained the decision by the fact that Galgano did not only miraculously heal, but also killed a dragon, and as evidence they accepted the preserved skull of the monster. The years after the future saint thrust the sword in the stone of the rock chapel in Montesiepi are the most important for the future history of Europe, and that is the Crusades. Wars that started hatred between Europeans with the sign of the cross on their clothes, and Muslims. This is hatred that continues to this day and probably no one will unravel this while we exist, our children exist, and our children's children exist. Only a miracle, a future saint for all human beings, who will appear individually to every inhabitant of the European space - in a dream, as Saint Michael appeared to the young Galgano Guidotti. So that this future saint pushes people to throw away their third and second sword, and to return, if they are already prone to swords, to the first one, disdained by the Church and of all the saints. The sword that only inflames passion between the legs. A few years after the death of San Galgano, a church was built around the chapel on a hilltop of Montesiepi. Many have tried to remove the sword from the stone. Legend has it that anyone who tried was found dead with a severed hand. Two mummified hands are kept in the same with the stone and sword. Let there be no doubt, science has confirmed the age of the hands, placing them at the same time as the sword in the stone.

EXCHANING NAMES AND ROLES The Celtic myth of King Arthur and his sword Excalibur therefore existed, but in Italy, not in England. The English knights greedy for fame, with bags full of relics that have filled the lands around Jerusalem, with which they traded well and filled the churches, and visited the sword in the stone in Tuscany admiring it, and visited at the same time despising it because an Italian, not an Englishman thrust it in the stone. Unable to take the sword together with a rock, the English took the story. Literate nobles and their clergy recorded the complete story about the vision of Galgano Guidotti and his apparition on the mountain Montesiepi. To make the story English history, writers have had to replace the names of participants and roles. So Jesus Christ was replaced with Arthur and the twelve apostles were given doubles in the form of 12 knights of King Arthur and San Galgano became St. Albany. Little by little England was given its myth of the sword in the stone, which, at the end of the daa, and this is most important, was thrust by an Englishman and not Italian. The Tuscany Sward became Excalibur. Cistercians, who are responsible for a number of similarities between the legend of Saint Galgano and the old British epics just completed the story. They added elements from the life of the saint, including a sword in the stone in the oral literature of the time. Therefore, the obvious similarity of the mystical journey of the bawdy young Galgano led by Saint Michael, and the legend of the knight Parsifal, the embodiment of Christian virtue. Parsifal, by the way, in later Christian legends is known as Galahad, a name very similar to Galgano. But this onomastic similarity is not the only one. Even more obvious is the link between Galgano and the name of one of the knights of the round table, Gawain (with some variations Galwaina). In addition, early versions of Arthurian legends say that the sword which the wizard Merlin thrust into the rock and Arthur pulled out, belonged to Gawain. In order to demystify to the end one of the most glorious pages of English romantic history we say the sword from the stone was only taken by prof. Garlaschelli, not King Arthur. Nevertheless, this act did not promote prof. Garlaschellia to English nobility. Nor later when he returned it into the stone. Like Pharaonic treasures, and their mummified bodies from the Nile valley, and the whole army of sculptures from the temples of ancient Greece, and the highest range of painting on ceramics of all periods, so the myths were transported across Europe, especially to England. First by horse-drawn carriages, then later by word of mouth. On all that taken treasure, the awareness of Europeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s own size was strengthened. Everything that was for centuries carefully created, painted, sculptured; all papyri and printed hopes and fears before Heaven, songs and customs, eradicated from their womb and now stands exposed in the air-conditioned museum showcases of England and the world. Those whose heritage it is need to pay a ticket for an hour/two to see their stolen history. â&#x20AC;&#x17E;What is history if not a fairytale that man accepts?â&#x20AC;?- says a man from Corsica Napoleon Bonaparta.

blow up what was left. Burned relics, pieces of colored glass, candlesticks, nails and remains of the crown of thorns. People will take all of this home, and the rest will be taken by the wind to the surrounding fields. From the fringes of the church will remain only the walls, like a rock in the mountains. The walls of the Cathedral of the Holy Spirit, devoid of human vanity and humility. A Cathedral without a name, empty of everything Catholics use to court with God. As an open box of chocolates where the crows ate the candy. Despite, or rather because of that, San Galgano's is the grandest cathedrals in the world. Even the great Hendaye Tarkovsky kneeled in it and turned it into a temple of God - his "Nostalgia". So, visit this building, come in and pray. Below you is the earth, above is the sky. But if you have faith, you are in the middle of God's love.

dr. Luigi Garlaschelli

CATHEDRAL SAN GALGANO God's temple for centuries was abandoned by the clergy and people burned its roof and altars. Crashed, burned, shit and pissed, but not destroyed, because they could not even touch the One who truly watches over this house, and that is - the Holy Spirit. Because the church is happy to step back from its titular, now have one saint and now another, and they often run away from everyone and go into solitude. It is in hibernation that loneliness moves in - the Holy Spirit. Churches are always those buildings that dominate the landscape, over the village or the city. As a mother hen is over her chicks, and because in various storms they are killed first. What those who burn churches do not know is that only wood burns. That only statues burn, the gold coating on them, carved seats, buckles and altars. What they cannot burn gets bigger as the flames get biggers, and that is faith! Faith kindled by the flame is stronger and the wind and of the holy books. After each fire, people will, according to old habits,

Garlaschelli throat had the biggest lump when he straddled a sword to get it out for a thorough review. After all scientific trials, the sword proved that the form and manner of making swords is typical of the 12th century. "It is made of a mixture of copper, iron, nickel and cadmium. We determine the exact proportions with the method of spectroscopy. We eliminated the use of modern alloys, and the results are in the medieval metal standard "- explained Dr. Garlaschelli. Garlaschelli has succeeded where other people have not. The sword is protected by a Plexiglas cover. It is after two crazed visitors tried to force it out and thereby damaged the sword.

BEACHES OF THE MEDITERRANEAN

zlatni rat croatia

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beach zakintosh greece

m e d i t e r r a n e a n beach saharun croatia

beach monterosso italy

p o s t c a r d s beach st. stefan montenegro

cala mitjaneta menorca

BEACHES OF THE MEDITERRANEAN tel aviv israel

albania

greece

Year after year, almost all the prestigious magazines of continental Europe engage in elections of the most beautiful beaches of the Mediterranean. People who live on the shores of the Mediterranean indifferently skip those pages, because journalists chose from those beaches that brought them magazines like theirs. In this way, the Hollywood ladies become the most beautiful women in the world, while the lovers of beauty in every high school and college find dozens of more beautiful ladies. An even better example is the Miss competition. There are no women competing here, only the ambitious among them. Even more frightening are elections for war heroes after the wars are finished. It is known that heroes can be only those who have witnesses, but what about those who were even greater heroes and died without witnesses. Nobody could tell of them heroism. Often families cannot even bury him, and they have indebted to their country more than the Apostles. It is similar with beaches, however inappropriate to connect. On the island of Brac (Croatia) is the beach Zlatni rat. It is visited almost as much as ZrÄ?e on the island of Pag. The entire Croatian Estrada walks around and has their pictures taken with this amazing piece of land sticking out into the deep, like a tongue. And just a mile to the north there's a small beach (between countless others) near the village of Murvica. What man would not give to own such property. And its surface is basically the same. But you will not find it on the Internet, let alone in the elections of the most beautiful beaches in the world. If the people of the Mediterranean would choose the most beautiful beaches, it would be a completely different picture. And there would not be so much sand. Perception of the beach to mainlanders is different from local residents. Here the sand is not as appreciated as the stone. People here know what the sea is like if it has sea urchins. Newcomers want a lot of sun, sand, a sunshade and a cocktail. Local people want a little shade, stone under their feet, olive tree overhead and spritzer. If the people of the Mediterranean would choose their best beaches, few of the popular ones would appear on their list. It is all like a girl from my neighborhood. I see her everyday close to my study, in the shop when waiting in line at the cash register. I have seen her walking "in hand" with her mother. And when she gets ready to go out, she is still "the little one in the neighborhood." But one day when she stands before God, and his secretary greets here with a slipper in hand, it will fit her like a glove. Angelina and other beauties from international magazines will frown in vain because the heavenly Apollo will not even look at them.

beach

ZRÄ&#x152;E croatia By: Igor Gluic

Zrče The bay facing the turbulent side of the island for centuries formed the pebbles on its coast. Pag is A too tiny island with countless similar beaches for the Zrče islanders to come in large numbers, so the bay was, ten years ago, except for the people of Novljana, only the destinations for a few Zadar families. And the writer of these lines often came to Zrče with family friends. Children ran along the beach, parents drank beer in the only bar, Calypso, in the northern part of the bay, then as quiet and peaceful as the summer home of retirees, I kept a couple of photos from those days, where children used one of the few elements of entertainment in those early years of Zrče.

And then it started. Someone knowing business more than others walked the bay properly understanding the flow of time, and what followed is already history, sung at numerous international portals. For clubbers, and those wanting crazy summer, the Croatian Ibiza was opened. Four huge habitats of entertainment: Aquarius, Papaya, Noah and Calypso gobble up their clientele which during the summer months come from all continents, just like the sea surged into the Titanic. Australians, British, Americans, French, Italians, Croats ..., up to 18,000 young people of all races and skin colors consume their last body fat in wild parties where alcohol flows like tap water and foam (an indispensable prop in these places) flows in streams. Music, lighting, sound system, and even though some might not like it, it sounds worldly. There is no improvisation. Sound is like at large concerts, treble does not "tert", the lighting is glamorous; all is at the highest professional level.

What is noticed at first glance is that there are much more men than women. As the world in this century rather leaned to the gay side, maybe it is a natural balance. The paddling pool with water has a hundred dancing guys who seem to have come to the party because of one another. However, according to the looks luring the girls. I believe that the majority is of heterosexual orientation, if it matters to the youth at all. Sex is plentiful, but what about love? There is always less love than expected. It is as a rule occurs in some less wild areas, and without notice. In the fall or winter, somewhere at a bus station, the library, the local coffee shop, school, in college, usually by accident, no partying and no foam. It should be said that in 2002 ZrÄ?e was declared tidiest and most beautiful beach on the Adriatic, and with its facilities, equipment and natural beauty, this beach in 2003 won the prestigious Croatian award - the Blue Flag. However, we must mention that kitsch is a common

companion of these places, thinking first of all of the huge artificial palm trees that for reasons known only to idiots who designed the environment and distorted this natural habitat of beauty. The sea is, without exaggeration, is crystal clear. Those who know the Pag Bora do not need explanations. During autumn, when the last bathers leave the scene the time comes for cleaners that few seas in the world have. Due to the contact of hot and cold air masses in the mountain , especially in the winter the famous Pag Bora is born. A cold, strong, dry wind that swoops down the southern slopes of the mountains down to the sea and quiet land and in no time creates a hot wild scenery of tiny sea droplets. In winter, invisible from the partygoers, this peaceful cove turns into a raging whirlpool, so again in early summer it greets is visitors as a quiet corner of paradise. With palm trees where salt cannot endanger the chlorophyll.

The beauty of vice Ada Bojana The Adriatic Sea was named after the town Adria, at the Apennine coast, in the province of Rovigo and the channel Bianco, between the river Adiga and Po. The various names changed with various civilizations that inhabited its coastal and continental states. The ancestors of Montenegrins called it the Dioclitian or Slovenian sea. From Podgorica to Ada Bojana, the road leads through the tunnel Sozina, Sutomore, Bar, Ulcinj and from there, twenty kilometers separates us from our destination. This is a faster and shorter route. The second and more vivid part is separated through Virpazar, next to Lake Skadar, the old road through Murić and Vladimir to Ulcinj. The first route is broader and you will reach the destination faster, however, the old route around the Skadar Lake will enrich your trip with wonderful natural landscapes. The view of the peaks of Prokletija across the lake, the forest through which you will pass in the national park part, beaches and islands of Lake Skadar, the undulating landscapes of Vladimir will make your trip memorable. Do not to rush and love the nature. Ancient Olcinium Ulcinj, an ancient Olcinium is on the Montenegrin coast. The current appearance of the city includes traces of many eras, from the Illyrian period, Middle Ages, through the Renaissance, Baroque to the Ottoman period. The current old town of Ulcinj was created in the V and IV century BC. This is confirmed by cyclopean walls, as well as a found stone altar dedicated to the goddess Artemis. During various epochs, different names were related to this city until the eleventh century, when in the Papal Bules it is named Ulcinj. The old town of Ulcinj, surrounded by high and firm walls, with a lot of famous buildings from its long history, was destroyed in the 1979 earthquake. Today, it is rebuilt as the new city and many new and representative buildings have been bult. Of cultural and historical monuments in addition to the Citadel, the old city walls and towers of Balšića along which the Church mosque is located, the palaces of Venice, Ulcinj is also known for its mosques. Montenegrins and Albanians live in Ulcinj. In addition to the rich tradition and the modern development of the town, Ulcinj has managed to preserve its natural beauty and rich flora and fauna. Ulcinj is subject to the influence of the tides from the Ionian Sea. The Strait of Otranto is situated 160 km from Ulcinj. The

By: Radmila Krgović, Photos: Milija Čabarkapa and TO Ulcinj

Ulcinj Municipality covers an area of 255 km2. This city is characterized by all the benefits of the Mediterranean climate. Compared to other cities in Montenegro, Ulcinj has the most hours of sunshine a year (an average of 2,567 hours per year) and the least rainfall. Thanks to the favorable climate conditions, there is a well-developed production of Mediterranean culture here, from citrus fruits to olives. Ulcinj has over 80,000 olive trees, oranges, pomegranates and is adorned by palm trees, and many other subtropical cultures. Along the coast of the municipality of Ulcinj are more cliffs and lowland parts - beautiful sandy and pebble beaches. In addition to the sandy island Ada and Velika Plaža, the longest and most beautiful beaches on the Montenegrin coast are here; to the northwest are Mala Plaža, Valdanos, Vučja jama, Kruče bay and others. Bojana River The Bojana River (alb. Buna, lat. Barban) is the largest river of the Montenegrin coast. It is the connection between the Skadar Lake and the Adriatic Sea and is 44.5 km long. Much of its length is the border between Montenegro and Albania, from Borja to the mouth at the length of 24.5 km. Near the village of St. Nikola, the river divides into two branches. The right sleeve and Ada Bojana belong to Montenegro and the boundary follows the left sleeve. The river has, except this flow, an underground flow below sea level. The Bojana River from the mouth of Obotija is an average of about 4m deep and the upstream depth reaches about 2m. It flows through plains, and has a small drop (17%). Approximately 1.5 km from the exit of the lake in Bojana, it flows into Drinjača (Drina and Mal), part of the river Drim, which just before the mouth receives water of the mountain river Kiri. The width Bojana flow in that part is 800 m. The level of the river depends on the level of Skadar Lake and its tributaries. The highest water level of the river is in December and January and the lowest in September and October. According to the the amount of water it brings to the sea, it is third river, after the Nile and the Po River in Italy. Mixed in it is salt and fresh water to create a unique eco-system. Thanks to their unique characteristics, here there are more than 140 species of fish and 300 species of birds. Bojana is a composition of fresh and salt water from the sea. Island Ada Bojana The Ada Bojana Island was formed by the deposition of sand around a sunken ship. The sand over time created an island which has become an oasis of nudist tourism on the Adriatic. This is an uninhabited island. In the mid seventies of the last century, Ada began to work as a nudist hotel complex, which with its beauty, the immediacy of natural resources, the blue sky, which flows into the sunset, on the horizon of the sea of i nfinity, won the hearts of tourists who visited it. The sand that is with its structure comprised of medicinal minerals makes Adu a wondrous place. The trans-

parency of the sea, the richness of iodine and other minerals in the sea on the island of Ada, creates a mysterious morning in which the sun's rays shy show the sand and steps in it, while the sulfuric mist withdraws before the dawn sunlight. The water is warm, shallow and even one hundred meters out to sea, it does not exceed a meter in depth. The fine sand reflects sunlight through its transparency. It is as though you are in a spa. The calm sea calms all restless feelings, while light sand keeps tracks of steps, which are deleted from the sandy beach at the speed sunrise. Here the evenings are calm. No noise, crowds and not too many curious people. It is as though you enter into a timeless zone that brings everything into balance with yourself, and then with the whole environment. As the sea proudly reflects in the sunset and sunrise, so does man in the encounter and parting of the night and day feel happier, more cheerful and relaxed.

Ada then and now Ada is known for foreigners who were the only guests here, mostly from Germany. The situation changed in the nineties because of events in this region. However, Ada was able to resist all temptations and again return to its flow. The Director of Ada Milorad Miličković conveys impressions of Ada then and now. "Ada started construction in 1972 but it worked partially. Wooden homes are synonymous with Ada and these were made in 1972. There were fifty of them and with them, Ada began as a nudist resort. Ada now has 600 beds, three types: L, A and D. The guests then were mostly Germans. There were also French, Dutch and English, but, nevertheless, most were Germans. They are here now, but not to that extent. In addition to these 50 homes, there are 270, 70 type L and 180 type A. Now we have the most visitors from Czechoslovakia, then Germany, Russia, Italy. From the region, visitors are mainly from Serbia. The season runs from 01 May to 15 October. "Ulcinj Riviera" in the composition of which Ada is, as well as my staff, was able to keep Ada. The bridge that we built in 1987 was a big mistake because Ada is no longer what it was at the beginning. Before the bridge, no one could come to the island except for nudists. Since then, we have mixed guests because nudism was declining. Who comes to Ada always comes back. With our will and the will of ours visitors, we manage to preserve it. Foreigners are delighted with the beach and nature because they have sports facilities: horse riding, volleyball, tennis, boat rides around the island, soccer volleyball etc. The Ada area is 600 hectares and the length of the beach is 3,800 m. We have one legend of a visitor who in previous years came to Ada and did not want not to be a nudist. After a few days of persuasion, she becomes a nudist. When she was “released”, she could not persuade again to dress. All day she walked naked on the beach. It is that nudism. People are reluctant to be nudists and when they undress and see what it is like, they enjoy it. Until these events in 1991, Ada was purely a nudist resort. Just one year we did not work in the nineties. The first guests after the war were from Serbia. They also came from the other countries in the region, but mostly from Serbia. "

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Fishing stories Fisheries is a profession without which tourism and life on the coast is unthinkable. Is it possible to live off fishing, what are the anecdotes and which fish are most often hunted is something we can learn from Perica – Pesa Batrićević, a fishermen from Ulcinj. "Since I have been twenty-five, I have been fishing in Ada; a full forty years. Here you can catch fish in the oldest and unique way in Europe, nets, kalimers and pinars. Pinars are for eels and can catch bass or other fish species. Previously, there was fish galore here. Now we have carp and all sea fish because of salt water entering the Bojana River. Fishing is depending on when and where the fish is. For example, in the winter we hunt with Cipol nets. The most famous fish is the Bojanka and it is an autumn fish. It is an indigenous species. In October it released roe, and later when it gets out, we fish for it. We fish it with nets and these kalimers in smaller amounts. In addition to the preserved nature, Ada is also recognizable for its healing properties, because here the sand is full of iodine, various minerals and is especially good for women. In Ada the sand is constantly renewed. You see how this estuary is narrow, but in the winter it expands greatly. It used to be over 250 m long, but when winter comes it is all cleaned. I'm the fisherman that capsized at the estuary and drifted 15-20 km out to sea and in the end I was rescued with an overturned boat, during the biggest storm. That was two years ago. We turned over before dark, so I said, "praise the sea but stay on the mainland," but I love so much water, and if I could, I would sleep under water. I saved a lot of people. I even received a medal for bravery from Tito during the earthquake "- concludes Perica. Ulcinj wedding Munib Abazović, a caterer from Ulcinj, who is also an amateur director. They were beriberi and above all loved art. He inherited from his father Redžep who had a Usta Hamuj group (usta in Albanian means master). Redžep the forties of the last century, for the first time staged in Ulcinj a wedding with the Culture Artistic Group "Bosko Strugar" from Ulcinj, which showed all the customs of a wedding party in Ulcinj. "I as his successor followed in his footsteps, so in 1995 I founded a new Culture Artistic Group " Zana. So far I have done two projects as an amateur filmmaker: the drama "Calendar" and last year I staged the story of the famous Spanish slave, writer, Miguel Cervantes. It is assumed that Miguel Cervantes in 1571 was captured by an Ulcinj captain and brought to Ulcinj together with Blacks. It is important to emphasize that in Ulcinj from that time until today, there are traces of blacks who live here. Ulcinj was known for fishing and olives. These two branches were very important for the life of someone from Ulcinj, which means, if you did not have a boat, and at least a five roots of olive, you were not able to even get married. These Blacks were here with Miguel de Cervantes, who in his book "Don Quixote" describes love with Dulćinea. Dulćinea is from Ulcinj. With this drama, I won second place in the Bijelo Polje festival of amateur theaters "- Munib says proudly.

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fishmarkets catania / italy

santorini

athene

tunisia

malta

istambul

egypt

jerusalem

atena

Cabanyal green market and fish market By: Pau Sanchis / Photos: Ana Borja

The market Cabanyal is located in the neighborhood called

fishermen from Cabanyal are a traditional emblem of the

Cabanyal-Canyamelar-Cap de Franca in Valencia, where the

market. Cabanyal today is not a fishing village, only a small

inhabitants are still considered separate place/village. In fact,

number of boats come from the port, and those that are

when they move to the center they continue to say “going

located along the coast the beaches are not allowed ashore

to Valencia” It is true that this old fishing village, despite the

as not to interfere with the swimmers. However, respecting

destruction throughout history and the social changes that

the Central Market, here you can still find the best fish and

have occurred in recent decades, has its own identity which

seafood in the city. Cabanyal is one of seventeen markets in

today can become additional value. As a journalist Felip Bens

the city that still has its original function (the other, such as Colon which was a gem of modernist art of Valencia restored and renovated into a shopping center). The building is from 1958 and covers an area of 3550m2. It is located at the entrance to the town and extends to the street Blasco Ibanez connecting it with the city. Although it does not really stand out with its beauty, with its specific sounds and colors and scents, it is a spectacular and unforgettable experience for tourists, as well as the everyday life of the locals. PEOPLE FROM THE SEA This Market is still witness to their way

wrote in the first cookbook of the cuisine here, that Cabanyal

of life, and most of them live exclusively from the sea, and not so long ago. Most of the population

is a unique place worth preserving their traditions, and that

of this place consists of fishermen, shipbuilders, butchers,

is important to maintain a market where one can "find all

carpenters, and sailors. The village was established thanks to

that our ancestors used to prepare delicious dishes." On their

these occupations. The first constructions were used primarily

website we see that they have a bar, two wineries, three places

for the storage of fishing equipment for sailors who lived in

for snails, two herbalists, three places for eggs and vegetables,

the fishing districts of the city, halfway between the sea and

and so on. The most widespread are the butcher's shop and

the Albufera lagoon. This allowed them fishing in the winter

pastry shops, and above all stands with fruits and vegetables

in sweet and calm waters, and in summer at sea. By the early

and the fish market (according to the web page there are 24,

eighteenth century, when they began to form settlements on

although the conversation with fish saleswoman Amparo

the coast, just before the introduction of trawling, a special

–working on this article- there are 18). Products from the

type of fishing was nourished with boats that go in pairs (15

gardens of Valencia, and the sea, which are transported by

and 20 meters depth), which moved together, connected

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with nets to form a shape of a bovine head. The name of the

THE LAST ASSAULT

fishing method is connected to a distinctive form of nets,

Late 20th century, especially the first decade of this

and not the fact that the boats were moving back and forth

century marked the definitive break-up of the block.

drawn by cattle, even though this picturesque seal remained

Valencia in 2007 hosted the 32nd America's Sailing

recorded in a number of recordings of French and English

Cup, and the facilities for the occasion destroyed the

travelers. And the painter Joaquin Sorolla captured this sight.

fish market and the boat dock. A few boats that have

This system has been very helpful even though he was at the

until now remained, are cornered in the south stream

mercy of the political power that they, due to reasons known

recreational port, which did not bring good to any. Plans

only to them, prohibit or rashly permit it. In the 19th century

are to build a road that would connect with the center of

the villages became settlements and in 1837 a municipality

Valencia Cabanyal, which should bring down much of

called Poble Nou de la Marnakon merged and became a

the neighborhood. Fifteen years of resistance of the local

city. Also, in the mentioned century, when the annexation

population for survival ended in victory after the recent

was completed, the construction started of a network of

change of government, and stopped the plan to build roads. However, it is a bitter victory, as well as all the battles that the men and women of the sea had to have against the Storm. Destroyed or lost was a lot of heritage, allowing for years the districts/suburbs to separate, which has led to the relocation of a large number of residents to other areas. However, Cabanyal manages to hold its colorful facade painted in the colors of the sun and the sea, and the market still has their famous fish Aladrocs (like our sardine), cuttlefish from beaches, Valencia Clotxines shells, clams and various types of fish that is not purchased by many people because the fish has a lot of bones, but they are a lot tastier (pajeles, verdeles, etc.), as Amparo and Felip say.

streets that are parallel to the sea, and are also lined with

THE ART OF FISHING

channels that end up in the sea. This original method has

Life at sea has never been easy, although fishermen and

been expanded and modified in order to get land by the

sailors talk about their work with a lot of passion, however,

sea and has also changed and first dwellings. Huts made of

the truth is that whenever it was possible the family left the

flammable materials were increasingly replaced with fire

villages seeking a more secure future for their children.

resistant buildings. These houses of the late 19th and early

Currently, there are a small number of boats coming out of

20th century were built at a time when the city expanded,

Cabanyal and a small number of fishermen who are among

and now forms the main architectural attraction in the area.

the last in the village. While drinking a beer in the bar Pepa's

This popular and naive modernism that mimics the freedom

son, a bar with name of Ca la Mar (pun in Catalan, which

of modernism (despite the changes and destruction that was

means "sea houses", "squid" and "house by the sea"), tells

rendered by the 20th century and bombings during the civil

us that we should not be nostalgic for the past, but should

war, then a flood in 1957, and urban development in the last

preserve their traditions and customs. "We must not allow

third of the century) make this place unique.

the loss of traditions, and although we are now tourist

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beaches, restaurants should offer food that is typical of our

in prefabricated houses made of canvas. In fact, Amparo

area. Currently we have individuals who offer this." Pep

tells us that there are still fish markets which delivered to the

Martorell in his papter El mon mariner del Cabanyal (2001)

docks, but there are less and less of them, and for everything

collected old stories from sailors, shipbuilders, fishermen and

you need to go to MercaValencia, which is a large shopping

wives of fishermen. For example, there were a variety of skills

center in relation to other markets in the metropolitan area

that were used by the old, but also modern fishermen. We

of Valencia. â&#x20AC;&#x2039;â&#x20AC;&#x2039; MercaValencia offers fish from every coastline,

have already mentioned trawling in pairs, which has changed

from Tarragona to Alicante's. The uniqueness of this market

with one boat with the introduction of the motor. There are

is respect for others which are supplied here, the most notable

other differences, such as rall (net) or bolig, as well as nets

being the inherited knowledge about fish that are at the fish

for all types of deep fish and oily fish, for example.). In any

market of Cabanyal-a., Because "nowhere can you buy fish as

case, there are very few boats coming and selling their catch

here", confirms Felip.

AMPARA’S STAND Stopping in Ampara offers much diversity. She confesses after questions that the fish that has fewer bones is easier to eat, for example. grouper and tuna. This is the reason why boneless fish are costly, especially tuna. In the tour we see they have partridge, anchovies, red mullet, sea bass, sea bream and mussels. There is also a good offer of shrimp and crabs, which the old fishermen love and want, and are sold for a high price. There is a big difference between people who buy fish

all their life and consume certain types of which are very tasty but difficult to eat (and cook) - because a lot of bones, while most of the other customers got used to eat fish without bones, like to eat escalope/meat. At the market you can find high-quality tuna - "like this, see what a nice red color it has, it cannot be compared to what you find in shopping malls, which can even be black, so if it does not sell, it is filleted in boxes and we do not know how old it is. "While talking to Amparo, even though we arrived later in order to not disturb her, several people were served. Those who wanted cleaned fish, frog fish or a pound of shrimp, and those who came to pick up an order made the day before by telephone. These are the values of a market such as this one. "Here you can ask whatever you want and we will try to get it for you, and if you want cleaned fish will do it for you right now." "The problem is the hours" - says Amparo - "it is not easy to harmonize the modern way of life with normal market operations. We need to harmonize a little, because the competition is very strong.

If we want to maintain and preserve the market, we have to find a compromise in working hours because the quality of our products is not questionable. " In fact, although we at the beginning of the conversation we were told that tuna and grouper are the most sold, in the notes we found many names of fish and seafood on the offer: hake, anchovies, monkfish, mullet, finishing de playa, cuttlefish, squid, octopus, partridge, etc. At the end of the day the stand was nearly empty, which means that nearly all fish in the offer found a buyer. Amparo is still smiling in spite of everything because people that love fish still come to buy directly from them. A hot morning in August. Nearby is a full beach, but it is best to complete the work day with mussels in one of the taverns, where they still know how to store seafood.

OIL PICTURES IN THIS ATTACHMENT ARE THE WORK OF THE VALENCIAN PAINTER JOAQUINA SOROLLE / Showing fishing scenes from Valencia.

s e e

o r g a n

a n d

g r e e t i n g zadar / croatia

t o

t h e

s u n

c r o a t i a

Nikola Bašić z a d a r

Photos: Ivo Pervan, Stipe Surać, Marinaprojekt, Archive INFOGRAFIKA actually worked on a plan for docking cruise ships, and I added the two characters in the area, which are now well-established to the extent that they have become the new urban contemporary metaphors if Zadar. Who is interested in cruisers anymore!?

It is enough to visit the Sea Organ in Zadar only once. To the only place where the Mediterranean plays music. When approaching, everything looks like a major summit of Jehovah's Witnesses. Thousands of people standing or sitting, alone or in a group, usually embraced. People of all ages, races and ethnicities for hours in silence listening to the tone that the limited pentatonic scale can create. In addition, they lean their cell phones on the holes where the sound comes out, and dial someone close to them, that remained at home, away from Zadar. They call their mothers, grandmothers, friends ... so the mother and grandmother, and friends of some distant lands, hear strange sounds of the sea together with them. In the satellites that transmit the sounds of mobile telephony, the sea organ is probably the most performed piece on the Earth.

Do you manage every time to get something out that you call a bi-product? Bašić: This is a process. I often like to describe this process as the aspiration to achieve a new threshold of freedom. When you enter into a project, you are constrained on one hand to many conditions, on the other hand there is the desire to achieve a certain goal. The achievement of this goal for me is to reach a new degree of freedom. The resolution of a number of restraints that have captured us from the start. Whatever the degree of is limitation bigger, need more creative tide to tear down all the barriers is greater too. And finally, when that happens, one feels the joy of having been freed. It is a pleasure to create. And that, of course, is not characteristic to only architecture, but every creative activity. In the end, that is what makes this work always surprisingly new, always exciting and always challenging otherwise. Every job is a form of service. You need to know serve well. To a client, individual or community, someone who put tasks in front of you. You identify with them, but with that identification, for the service, you need to realize your own goals. You must self-realize yourself. You must find a way that will allow you to express what you want to say with a project.

Nikola Basic with his Sea Organ and Sun created a new expression, a sort of "ground-floor architecture". To become, as an architect, world famous with an object that you cannot see fifty paces away, now that a venture. It is pure art; materialized poetry. Bašić: This project is something that is characteristic to many of my projects, and that is, I would say, the effort to, in addition to the narrow framework of the program we had to meet, create added value, something that might be called – a plus program. In many of my projects I am in that annex, what would be a butcher jargon presented “zint”, the one thing that you have to buy and would not to buy it due to the fact it is bone - I tried to make the theme of that. A theme for itself! Over that content I once managed to twist things to the extent that the subsidiary became the main theme. The bone prevailed the value of meat that we all aspired to in the beginning. It happened in Zadar at the Sea Organ on where I

That is not the case with modern architecture? Bašić: The architecture is now lost a authority of

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the designer, especially the engineering authority. Architecture has turned into something which, through the reference images, creates a "style and beauty". Today, when a project is presented before it is shaped, it is illustrated with the web iconic vocabulary. It is always illustrated with something that is already done. Spokespeople of architectural studios explain to the client that the project would look "like the one in Paris, like the one in Dubai, and this, as on the Maldives." When an investor makes a click, that is grounds for architectural creation that, ultimately, must match the chosen matrix. Key decisions are no longer in the field, they were moved to architectural practices in sterile offices of managers, economists, lawyers ... So the architecture, instead of having a social position as it always had, has turned into an "institution" in charge of creating "beauty". An ungrateful and almost humiliating position.

BaĹĄiÄ&#x2021;: Today, architecture, like everything else, is becoming expendable. Less buildings are being being built to last. Their life is consciously planned as a commodity of short duration. Something that disappears, that you can knock down or replace. Everything must be done quickly, everything must sell quickly and be used quickly. In such circumstances it is very difficult to strive for higher goals which, in idealized form, are attributed to architecture. Each call is sublime, and the architecture is associated with this grand achievement that marked civilization, and every young person who wants to be in the architectural profession wants to achieve this dream. But it is an almost impossible goal, particularly when viewed from the position of small peripheral countries. Today "great works" in architecture are created by architectural stars that produce capital. These stars are created by marketing agents and the fruit of marketing projects. Architects are created

Does this mean that Vitruviusâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s thesis of his "Ten Books on Architecture", where it is said, in simple terms, how architects have to be the smartest people of the community. The smartest, because their structure implies knowledge the sociology of society, psychology of human nature, artism painters, craft builders and urban music. With all of this, it has to act on the emotional makeup of the man behind the pagan times, for the "certain something" that is in us, and we do not know how to decipher it.

as movie stars and singers are created. These people are capable and talented, but they serve corporations, corporate architecture, which is testimony to success and power. Buildings of multinational companies become metaphors on a planetary scale, promoting a global symbol of the modern world. How does that fit in Croatian architecture and the architecture of other smaller countries, particularly those located on

Do you believe in a global conspiracy of “destroying the identity” of small nations? Bašić: I have already said something about it. Whether it is consciously or unconsciously, but it is clear that this complex of a small nation that we carry in ourselves influences it. People who in historical times have been blocked out on all sides. I guess it is because we are always fascinated by the "new world". Because of this fascination we want to prove and say that we know we can do what they do. Now that our country is opening, we meet with other cultures and people in the most direct way. People of different cultures are increasingly coming to us. In these meetings, we become more aware of our own culture and values, which does not exclude a dose of criticism that should keep regarding some things. We see that the world is not such a superior and brilliant as we thought when seeing it from the outside. We have become an area of interest of capital that comes in various forms, from different reasons, motives and environments. Investors from different backgrounds, cultures, educational levels are arriving. While meeting with them, we realize that we can give a lot more to them than receive from them. How much we receive, we can surely return. In their "offer" there is a lot of "scrap".

the edge of the Mediterranean? What attitude to take in relation to the dominance of globalization trends primarily conditioned by capital and marketing? Bašić: A lot of architects from smaller countries think that construction should be in such a way. It is increasingly determined by our position, and this should be different. We do not need to be an isolated, xenophobic back burner of the world to in order to capriciously force our own way. But we need to recognize what is embodied in our architectural culture and inherent to our area. Inherited values must be transposed into modern times, and even in the future. When criticizing the situation in our profession, I always trying to strive for recognition of these values. According to these values, the world will appreciate us much more and prefer "to have" us, instead of constantly running for something that is "modern out there". We are not ashamed of our culture, but we build new values on it. How to defend ourselves? Bašić: We need to start respecting ourselves and work on ourselves, nurture ourselves. The values of our own culture that we left should be removed from oblivion, and preserved through the education of the new generations. I look with great sadness at what is now happening with our area. What is our trace? What will we inherit from our heirs, that is to say that we left them, except for the terrible mess, chaos and certificates of behaviour that is ultimately wasteful and destructive? We are not going to leave, we want to spend all we have in our short duration. What has changed for thousands of years now gets exponential value. Soon we will not be able to put our finger in something that has the character of primary nature. Everything will be dealt with anthropologically, so to speak nicely, or spent. We will leave a consumed country to future generations.. There are fewer of us, but we spend more. How to get out of it? I think that should be influenced by upbringing and educationally. In the long term: If Croatia, and therefore I think of the wider area of the Mediterranean countries, understands the area as its greatest value, then the culture of areas must be included in school and educational programs, and from the first grade to raise awareness about it. Then there will be ugly houses, illegal construction, or sold heritage. These are fundamental measures that the society has to activate. We have to teach them about area constantly and in every age, because our cities and villages are testimony that we have failed in the culture of area. Some will say: "It happened to Europe too." It's not my business! I know examples where that did not happen, so why not excel that.

You have worked on a lot of sacral objects Bašić: When I talk about religious architecture, I do not believe in any kind of avant-garde approach, because it is necessary to achieve cultural continuity and communication, even in the abstract. And avantgarde crashes, breaks and promotes something new. Religious architecture is not the medium in which you can experiment endlessly. In designing churches, I have always sought to strike a balance; achieve modernity and leave plenty of associative elements with which they can establish communication with the people, who will at least recognize them after more “readings”. I tried to extract these elements from our tradition. I think the Church of St. Cross in Nin can build a complete corpus of contemporary and totally distinctive Croatian sacral architecture. That little church contains a message about a world view expressed in a touchingly modest way. All the art historians asked to define it typologically and Mladen Pejaković, a man in the field of applied art, discovered its secrets, recognizing in it an astronomical "light machine" that communicates with the heavens and which is based on respect for the laws of God.The manner in which light is introduced to the church is one of the most common ways to achieve transcendence and a mysticism of a sacred space. And it is this light that is fantastic in St. Cross in Nin. Everything is written with light.

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Since there were no clocks then, the time was marked by the sun at certain places in the church. On the feast of the patron, Saint Ambrose, rays of sunlight fall through the door to the bowls. If Americans had such a thing, the world would never hear the end of it. Unfortunately, we did not use this experience as a starting point for the recent construction of authentic Croatian sacral architectures. And this is not a typical Croatian experience. Many small cultures will recognize themselves in this. Are there examples of creative resistance, showing disobedience to global capital? Bašić: Finland, a small country, has managed to make its design and architecture a recognizable brand. It is not easy, but possible. I would be pleased if we also could, the people in these small areas, at least value some attempts and reach a critical mass of individual efforts, saying: "There, that is it, we are in this track." It is not a question if we have that "something" or not, but do we want to affirm this and in this affirmation overcome other interests. We have our own souvenirs, but we do not see them and we do not recognize them. When everyone is singing on each side, nobody hears anything. It should be understood; fragments should be gathered in one place and presented as a whole. Then they will sing together like a chorus. This will promote the product and country. Finland is an example of how this is possible. Do you see an exit from all of this? Will we one day recognize our value? Bašić: Today, we should discuss about how we think, what we do, the way we live has been transferred to some economic category. In this way, architecture has become an economic activity, the city has become an economic category, as well as tourism, and we simply have forgotten, or the moment is such that we cannot even think or speak about it, that the city and tourism and architecture are social categories and, if you like, spiritual categories. If we cannot recognize and balance this, then the results will be devastating. Nikola Bašić's project was selected at a tender which arrived to the addresses of twenty Croatian sculptors and three architects. "When I came to the area where the tragedy occurred, I did not see anything more than what I see from my own childhood. Only stone and stone walls.

memorial park

SIGN A sign of cross is shaped in dry stone walls of approximately 1,2om height and 0,60m width. Cross vertical is 25,00m long, horizontal 15,45m (golden section). Crosses are laid transversally onto the contours, in rule coinciding with geological strata. Average terrain slope of 25% results in 10,00m height increase. Site morphology by increasing crosses´ height makes them so visible from afar.

INTRODUCTION

SIGN PERSONALIZATION

On the Kornati National Park biggest island the greatest tragedy in history of Croatian fire fighting took place on 30th August 2007. On rocky landscape, almost without vegetation, in undisclosed circumstances, a blaze swallowed lives of twelve young firemen.

All crosses have same dimensions and shape but individual site morphological characteristics result in signs´ variations. Further sign personalization consists in inscribing victim name on the most visible stone. Besides the name, messages, Bible citations or verses chosen by family and friends are also inscribed on in-built stones. Contrary to artistic determinism each personalized sign is so left open for content wise, intimate and symbolic individualization,

LOCATION On Kornati islands original forests were brought down in order to allow cattle breeding and olive growing, turning this green archipelago into moon landscape. Ownership dividing, control of cattle movement and protection of olive groves were not possible without stone partition walls. A “stone cadastre” was so created, abstract dry stone grid of impressive proportions and seemingly enigmatic purposefulness.

COMMEMORATIVE SCENARIO Memorial area entrance is shaped in form of open, 15, 45 m diameter round chapel of St. Florian, firemen´ patron saint. A memorial dedication is inscribed onto the stone wall, identical to that of crosses. The chapel middle is meant for wreaths, candles and prayers.

PREMISE

PARTICIPATION

Memorial programme had to be realized without using any foreign materials or procedures in the protected area, relying on authentic materials and tools. Land art that in the design process and use of materials found in situ represented that procedure by which in that extraordinary Kornati landscape a memorial was realized without causing any conflicts.

Kornati tragedy created in Croatian society a trauma caused by feeling of helplessness and collective guilt. Already in the competition concept the intention to build this memorial by volunteers´ participation and without mechanization was stressed. The building process project was so raised above authority of technical project enabling emotional and creative interaction of participants and the author. With bare hands 3.ooo volunteers from all over Croatia in exceptionally difficult and quite dangerous effort, learning from local experts forgotten skill of dry stone construction, “built” themselves into the memorial, becoming its mental substance. They are witnesses and participants of an act of social repentance which created a feeling of cathartic redemption becoming ever more part of people’s memory.

MEMORIAL PARK Memorial area was created on the very site of tragedy. Dry stone crosses´ signs were built on the place of every fireman’s death Crosses of megalithic dimensions connect those dispersed tragedy places into coherent memorial area. By their imposing size they communicate in large panoramic views of archipelago land and sea area.

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Nikola Bašić

I realize that the wall, on Kornati, is the only means of expression. As material. As an age-old gesture from Kornati farmers. As an exclamation point between man and cruel nature. At first, I explore something symbolic, something like the type of early Christian chapels, the floor plan. The chapel with collapsed walls. It seemed at first that all communicates with each other, but already at the first thought was that this could be seen as a false archaeological heritage, I gave that up. " On one of the islands of Kornati National Park, there are the ruins of an old town, a frequent target of curious tourists. If you

are an organized tour they will be told that what they see on the high cliffs of the Isle of Man are the ruins of a stone scenery of the film "The Long Ships" with Mary Shell in the lead role, from the 60’s. But if the tourists are without a professional guide, their selfies will record a remarkable archaeological site.

"The idea of the CROSS has brought doubt, among other things to whether they are all dead believers? Nevertheless, I remained on the idea of the cross as a symbol of hope of civilization, as an expression of deep reverence for the dead. Then other doubts, one or more crosses, what schedule, if more than one? Will

my drawing disrupt the natural composition of an authentic space? When I visited the place of Calvary with witnesses of the tragedy, I recorded the point where every deceased died and where he was found. Then it occurred to me that on every inch of the rocks should be an intersection of one cross. Twelve stones,

upgraded composition and format of the crosses, was the following: There is no beautifying crosses, stone carving sand so on. Drywall must be strong and not nice. Used are only picks, levers, and pickaxes to remove stones from the ground. The hammer was banned. No stone carving. So many people wanted to

each of which was at the altar of a young life in twelve intersections of crosses. That is how the composition was created. It was drawn by destiny, not my pen.

be included that we were taken aback. One morning my phone was ringing. It was the Minister of Culture Mr. BoĹžo BiskupiÄ&#x2021; and asked if we can accommodate a dozen of his Turopolje people who want to come to work. Thus, the main investor of the project asks for ten people who want to work without a salary for days on bread and water. It was a biblical time of fellowship in pain, and I think that was the biggest value of the project. This intangible substance that is carved in the collective memory of our people. In every stone, and there are kilometres of stone walls, there was dripping sweat and prayer for the souls of the dead. "

Three thousand people took part in the construction of the crosses. Three thousand volunteers: relatives, friends, firefighters, farmers, fishermen ... all from Istria to Dubrovnik and the entire Croatian mainland. On the island of KornatI were vast rivers of people united in pain. All with a litre of water and a sandwich suffered the scorching heat and storms for a hundred days. "My only commandment, except of course in the

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“What we see is the work is one of the greatest of all European builders, our Dalmatian farmer. Snatching rubble off the land - for a few olives, a couple of chickens, for lifting three grapes or a spinach patch, one by one, the Dalmatian farmer made these walls which cannot be compared to the Great Wall or Great Pyramid, nor the building of the

Renaissance, or the total psoriasis of modern architecture. Entire islands are caught in these corsets, tied to belts, to finally get the economic zero, a blank crossword puzzle, to the joy of birds and lizards. What we see, are dry-stone walls of Dalmatian tears.“ Veselko Tenžera

The Croatian Ministry of Culture adopted the modality of stone walls as protection of intangible cultural property. The skill of building "in the dry" is protected at the national level.

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donkey Apostle of goodness of the Mediterranean

There is little in the Mediterranean recognizable as a symbol of its region â&#x20AC;&#x201C; the mule. They admired them, yesterday writers and philosophers, today tourists. All are happy to take photos with them, especially the children. You do not have to worry about exposure, the donkey is still, as though he is taught to pose. In vain tourists pamper and love it, the mule does not respond, because his DNA does not know tenderness and love. While his first cousin - a horse, from the moment it is born enjoys respect and appropriate care of the owner, and the mule was and remains a symbol of suffering. With calmness he stands all the troubles of time: rain, snow, ice, cold and heat. He does not not bend under the weight multiple of his own. He equally takes all the troubles exploited on him by his owner. His skin is rough because it was not stroked by anybody. Only when he was young, when he was playful, he looked like any child. But since his instincts whisper of the suffering that awaits him, small mules are rarely separated from their mother. When it reaches one year of age, its slave service starts and does not stop until its deaths. Service devoid of love, gratitude and stalks of clover. "... People are most angry when you call them mules. But a mule is obedient to God's will, patient, submissive, hungry, soaked, wounded, eaten away by time and adversity, stabbed by proboscis flies, hornets, mosquitoes. What does a mule have out of life? It is born and plays a maximum of one year. Then it begins loading cargo, carrying water, wood, grapes, stone. Mules could take all of the world to the sky. If under cargo it reaches for leaves along the road it gets a stick in the ribs, if attacked by insects and sinks under the weight, again it gets it in the ribs, and even his boss saddle him with stones for penance. Twenty years a mule groans under the burden, until old age and exhaustion, and then - death. A cruel death for all the credit in life. Rarely did any mule in his career taste a clover, except on the day of death: his boss carries clover in front of the muzzle and lures him through the rubble, the donkey walking, groping, and sometimes running. Above the pit the boss gives him his last meal: a stem of clover. Then he pushes him into the pit, on the skeletons of previous mules. That is how man acts with a mule after a life of faithfully and obediently serving. "... / Nicholas PuliÄ&#x2021; - Krka upstream, 1972. / On the Kornati archipelago, today a National Park in Croatia, all the inhabitants of the village until recently would bring their old and worn out mules on a small island, and there they were left without food and water, to die. For days the mules wandered around the rocky island, drinking sea water and suffering in torment. On the Greek island of Paros locals at of the day, so not to worry about them during the night, would raise the mules on their houses with flat roofs with cranes. There they would remain until dawn, a hundred cubic yards of concrete, without fences and without straw. But the owner would sleep peacefully, knowing the mule cannot escape from the roof.