From the fortress to the treasures of wine cellars

In my previous post I mentioned the redo of the junction next to our house and I was wondering when the actual work would start. No need to wonder that anymore, it has started this week. The crossing is closed for traffic from all three directions and detours are in use. Now we are listening the noises of construction site coming from both machines and people. There has been some great drama already as the locals do express themselves quite vividly when they feel like it. From our balcony we have a great view for site monitoring and in the morning I was having a coffee cup in my hand watching one of these drama situations. Despite the roadblock drivers just tried to go through as they have used to. There they were trying to move those barricades and at the same time the workmen were trying to prevent this activity both physically and verbally. As long as the road is even somehow accessible, it is guaranteed that every night after the workers are gone, the obstacles will be pushed aside and people will be driving through. This happened last night and certainly will happen today. So now we're just waiting to see when the first car has gone to the bottom of the pit in the dark.

During the weekend, we did a bit of domestic tourism with my hubby. On Saturday, we headed for a car ride towards inland and the town of Knin, less than 100 kilometers away from Split when taking those nice small roads. There we were interested in the fortress of Knin on the side of the actual town. It is actually Europe's second largest military fortress site or at least that has been said in several sources, although I do not know what is the largest. There seem to be quite many categories when listing these castles and fortresses in the world. After a little survey, I found a number of "second largest" fortresses and then even the biggest ones started to emerge from many directions. Let's just say that the Knin fortress is big. And old, at least since the 9th century the site has been classified as a fortress.

The fortress consists of a total of five parts that have had a different use at different times by varying amount of people living inside the its walls. It has been a actual city once, easy to defense against the enemy. Close by is the highest mountain in Croatia, Dinara (1831 meters), and the view to all directions is quite amazing. The fortress was a really great place for a history lover like me. You can wonder around in your own pace, take a peek from the loopholes of the walls and climb to higher levels to see the mountains and valleys around the fortress. I could not stop imagine how was it to live here in the Middle Ages?

View from the loophole down to the riversite.

After the fortress adventure, our journey continued towards Skradin. This small town located seemingly inland is in fact a nice active harbor. Skradin is the last place where even quite big boats can get along upstream the Krka River offering a very sheltered port for example during storms. From Skradin you can easily reach the most famous part of the Krka National Park, the Skradinski Buk area. At the price of a park ticket, you can take a half-hour boat ride from the harbor directly to the National Park. I strongly recommend this to anyone who is heading to the park. Another option is to rent bikes from the town and ride to the park via small road on a riverbed where cars are not allowed. This time however, we did not go to see the waterfalls as they have been seen few times already although they are just as wonderful every time. Instead we focused on getting some lunch. Due to the harbor and the influence of the park, Skradin is a rather vivid and idyllic place. Even when the season is already low, there still are several restaurants open. We ended up in Konoba Dalmatino, located just a few steps from the waterfront on the narrow streets of the town. The terrace was in the shade so we joined the other guests inside the restaurants. The shrimp pasta was tasty and a special mention must be given to the restaurant's own baked olive bread.

With full stomachs we headed to the nearby Bibich vineyard. From the small shop we picked up a few bottles of red wine named R6, already familiar to us. In addition, we asked to taste white wine named PS and is was able to get a smile on both of our faces. Bottle of that was also added to our bags. Bibich seems to like those short code-like titles for their wines, but there were also some labels with a bit more letters on them. Place is absolutely worth a visit, especially if the wines are of interest. Compared with the local price level, wines are a bit high priced, but also of high quality. Funny how I already think that if the wine costs more than 10 euros, it is expensive even though in Finland I could easily by bottles priced way more than that. Here in Croatia you can get a decent bottle with 5 euros or even less, makes you think twice paying 30 - 40 euros for one.  

The winery also organizes tasting events, a nice activity for a small group. Of course this must be booked in advance. There is also an exquisite restaurant on the vineyard which you have to pre-book. What a great idea for any special occasion for a small group to book a dinner and start with a wine tasting session. Based on what I have heard the risk of disappointment is very low.

Car trips through countryside are nice. We saw again many amazing, cool and even weird things made by both nature and man. After a full day when finally at home, it was time to open one of those red wine bottles that we just bought and continue spending quality time with a hubby. It was a rare treat that he had two days off right in a row. So there was no hurry in the next morning either.

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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.