Travelling to Croatia with the dog

Our whole gang visited Finland for a week. The biggest result of the trip was the hubby´s knee operation, now there are two small arthroscopy holes waiting for the removal of the stitches and the man around them is learning to walk again with that leg. It´s getting better day by day and the recovery has gone well.

The second result of the trip actually came before we even left and was actually related to our return back to Croatia. Since it is perhaps more commonly relevant to someone than reporting on hubby's knee, I will take it for a more detailed observation in this piece of writing. It is about travelling to Croatia with the dog and more specifically, the role of rabies vaccination in it.

Tiuku at our summer cottage in Finland enjoying the peaceful evening by the lake.

For her whole life, 13 years, Tiuku has been given all the shots of the Finnish vaccination program. That includes also the rabies vaccine first yearly and now a couple of times every three years after Finland introduced three-year vaccines. The latest vaccination was a year ago just before we moved here and according to passport entries it is valid until 21 August 2019. In Croatia, however, dogs are obligated to be vaccinated against rabies every year instead of the three-year cycle that has already been widely implemented elsewhere. Until now, we have always entered the country  with vaccination less than a year ago, but now that we returned from Finland two days ago it was a little over a year since last rabies shot. I was in any case going to visit the local vet to get the echinococcosis treatment required on arrival to Finland, so should I take that rabies also?

I spent many hours surfing the web looking for clear information about whether Tiuku is ok with her valid vaccination given in Finland or should we get a new one. I could have done something more productive with that time since I did not get any wiser on the matter, but rather frustrated. I found a recent document published by the Croatian Ministry of Agriculture, where it was understood that the country accepts a long-term vaccination as long as its validity is clearly marked in the passport, but then in the same text it was referred back to the period of that one year. The matter could have been justified in both directions on the basis of that document. The same thing happened in all official texts, especially the more recent they were. Finally I ended up thinking that we will take the the vaccine just to be sure. It would be better than being stopped at the airport by customs officer upon our return.

So we went to see the vet. There I explained the situation and a really nice doctor immediately stated that he would not be happy to put the vaccine on a dog that clearly has it in force and the chemicals are already in her system. Since even he did not know for sure how this country really deals with this matter, a new hunt for information started. I mean, how hard it would be to have some clear instructions regarding this matter? Surely I´m not the only one getting frustrated with this? More and more often tourists are accompanied by four-legged family members and there are also big international dog shows in Croatia. And yet there we where all marvelling this confusing local system.

After several phone calls (the ministry and also a professor who was familiar with this matter) the result was that when talking about another EU country Croatia accepts vaccinations made according the vaccination program of the country of origin. Vaccinations must be clearly marked in the dog's passport, including the name of the vaccine and the batch number (those are in that small sticker that vet sticks to passport), the date of vaccination and the last date it is valid. This means the three-year rabies is ok. 

According to the vet, Croatia is heading towards a three-year cycle too and apparently these requirements for the dogs coming to the country have eased a bit cause of that. Therefore, there is a wide variety of information available on the web as well, and indeed the latest instructions are in no way unambiguous. But the good thing for us is that Tiuku is not in need for a rabies shot until August 2019. I thanked the vet and his team for a very thorough clarification and that echinococcus pill. With the blue-white wings of Finnair we traveled to Finland to enjoy the quite fresh air (about 15 degrees at the most) and experienced, among other things, such an exotic natural phenomenon as rain. That is something we haven´t seen here in Split since the end of May ...

What then is the ultimate truth? What was the customs officer's view of this confusing matter? Hard to say. No one in either country was interested in our little white traveller nor her passport or the markings in it. Let's see it again in couple of weeks time when we take the next trip with Tiuku. Then no knees will be operated (hopefully at least), but we will be heading to enjoy the autumn colors of Lapland and hiking as we have done for 15 years. Until then, we will enjoy this time at home in the nice late summer heat again. And dream about those rains.

Figs in three different way

In May came cherries, followed by strawberries. In June matured velvety soft apricots, peaches and nectarines, July brought grapes and watermelons. Now in August dark purple plums are glowing and sweet figs falling from the trees. Next we wait for yellow lemons, mandarins and oranges. The fruit season in Croatia is glowingly colorful, fragrant and super tasty.

Today I got eight kilos of figs delivered on my doorstep. They came from the brother of our landlady, picked today, organic and so ripe as possible. There went my plan to clean the apartment, instead it was going to be a sweet fig day. Fortunately, I had washed laundry yesterday, so the drying rack was free and no reservations for the next few days. So, figs are pierced by the wooden skewers and on they go to the drying rack. I had came up with this plan as a drying method when I ordered those eight kilos few days ago. It is airy and I can move the whole batch on the balcony as needed. The result should be sun-dried, easy to store yummy bites. Just have to remember to wipe the wires on the drying rack, there may be some stickiness at the end of this project ...

About a third of the whole pile of these goodies ended up into the kettle, the most ripe and soft ones. Added just a little sugar and of we go. After about one hour of cooking and the quick mixing with the blender, I had a smooth super good jam ready for the jars. I so much see myself enjoying this heavenly stuff with some cheese and red wine later on when the evenings get chilly. At his point, the word of warning: a boiling bubbly jam shoots dangerous darts that are quite uncomfortable when bumping into your skin. Hard mixing prevents the worst attacks, goggles are almost recommended.

Need to test this output also as a tasty sweetener in my oatmeal porridge breakfast, probably healthier than emptying all the jars with cheeses and wine. Couple of jars may also end up in Finland as we pop in there next week. 

I think the best way to enjoy figs is just to eat them while they are fresh and juicy. The most commonly found variety here produces yellowish green fruits that are reddish brown inside. They do look a bit different that those green and violet ones you mostly see in the shops elsewhere. I have seen some trees with those dark ones hanging in them but they make a minority of all the figs here. Some sources claim that fig is the sweetest fruit in the world, with as much as 70% of its dry weight being sugar. No wonder that the fresh ones dribble this glossy liquid that makes sure the eater ends up with sticky fingers. And keyboard.

Start of something blueberryish

It´s time to go international. And this is it now. I have been writing a blog called Kaikuja ja kiekuja in Finnish for one year, ever since this moving to abroad actually started to become reality instead of a dream. I will continue to do that, but since there seems to be some kind of demand from my non-Finnish friends to serve them and the rest of the world better, I´m starting this English version as well.

So welcome, may this be the beginning of something big and beautiful. As a toast for that, here is some blueberries for you. They are hand picked by me from the Finnish forest. You can almost taste the juicy flavor right?

To make the extra long story shorter, here is a little roundup about what´s up: 

So we (me, my hubby and our jack russell terrier Tiuku) used to live in Finland. By looking at the map, you may find that little piece of land from northern part of the Europe, between Sweden and Russia. Yep, that´s where we are coming from. To be more exact, we come from the capital of Finland, Helsinki. Anyway, my hubby was offered a job from Croatia in March 2016. We decided to crab for it and first he came here alone to check it out. By the late summer we had come to the point where I quit my job and put our home in Helsinki out for rent market. In last November we drove to Croatia with the little stuff we could squeeze into our car. We spent the winter on the little island called Murter and now since April our home has been here in Podstrana. Never heard of it? You may have heard about city called Split here in Croatia? Well, this is just next to Split, about 10km to the south by the cost line. 

My tittle nowadays is housewife. During summer my hubby is away quite a lot cause of his job, at the moment also. So maybe from time to time I´m also desparate. You know, from the tv-series...? Anyways, this means that our "normal life" at the moment is pretty much about me and Tiuku at home, doing this and that. Let´s see when the "normal life" is including hubby again, at least next few weeks he is still more like a visiting star in it. 

This is not going to be a diary of my everyday life. That might be boring even though I don´t feel bored but still reading about it could be a different thing. This is going to be me wondering what I come across, telling something I see worth telling for and there will be some stuff related to Finland also cause I do watch this world through blue&white Finnish eyes (those are the colors of our flag, my eyes are really just blue). I suppose most times I will write my Finnish blog and then more or less translate it here. But there maybe occasions when the original text is going to be here and then perhaps translated to Finnish page. Let´s wait and see. 

Feel free to comment, ask questions, maybe put a smiling emoji. Or just read and enjoy the ride. 

There will be pictures here, more in Instagram @kaikukieku so check that out too and push the Follow-button.

Until next time then. Bye or bok as we say here in Croatia.