First visit back to Gradac

After getting to sleep in, we felt pretty well rested for the first time on our visit and we were actually up at a decent hour. It was also nice to have drama free evenings. =) We joined the family, who'd just returned from church, for a light brunch since we were having lunch with Anton B's family. Meals are serious marathons here, similar to Italy. You must pace yourself over the 5 or 6 courses that are served.

Turns out the concerns about getting married in the church were unnecessary. Uncle Dominik asked the priest after service if it would be okay for his son and his bride to get married the following year. The priest didn't even ask for details. He just nodded yes. Everything there is usually really relaxed. They don't have all these hoops to jump through or deposits to reserve a place a year in advance. It also turns out that the priest is leaving at the end of the year so I suppose he could care less what happens next summer!

So we headed over to Anton B's family home next door for lunch and a tour of their home. Their place has been under construction for a very long time (nothing moves quickly in Croatia). Last time we saw it there were just open brick spaces around the main house where everyone lived. This time most of it was finished, white walls, a sprawling front porch, and most of the rooms have windows and doors even if the room inside is incomplete.

The house is three stories high (not including the garage below) and includes a separate guest space, perhaps to rent out, Anton's room for when he visits, as well as room after room for future bedrooms and family room. There are random things stored in the spaces, like a very angry chicken, and two ram skulls. Staircases run outside the house and there's a balcony on the top floor with a view of the port. Unlike the States, they are not overly cautious, with yellow tape or BEWARE signs. The balcony does not have a railing yet and the stairs have no rail. It didn't necessarily look like there were plans to put a rail in even. They assume like most other countries, if you're smart and paying attention, you won't get hurt.

Down in the dining room, lunch was served. Two sprawling tables to accomodate the large party had place settings as well as the first course of prosciutto and cheese laid out. Anton's family was so sweet and we had to communicate mainly through translation though, spending enough time listening to the language and watching the gestures, we got the gist of some of the conversation. They filled us up on great food, finishing with ice cream for dessert, which Anton's nephew was particularly excited for.

We finally said our thank yous and goodbyes. Since there was time before dinner, we thought we should make the rounds to say hi to the rest of the aunts and uncles in the village. Some we missed either because they were still out working or napping for the time. But the ones we did get to see were thrilled we'd dropped in to say hi. We heard last time some of them were disappointed that we spent so much time at Uncle Dominik's and didn't come up to visit them so we needed to make a point to drop in a few times since we would be here for a longer stay.

Before dinner, we were invited for mussels at Cimo and Lenka's house. They are the sweetest people and have this great Croatian/ New Orleans accent since they've lived in New Orleans for so long. So there's a southern drawl to their English as well as the Croatian sound too. They had an obscene amount of mussels (which they plucked from the ocean by hand) steaming in a huge pot of garlic broth which was spooned out into a bread dipping bowl. Divine. We sent the picture to Michael who, in turn, responded back with something like, "I hate you". After that amazing appetizer and sharing some dirty, totally inappropriate jokes, us kids said goodbye and headed into Gradac.

Gradac is a fun port town with restaurants and bars dotting the shore. We made our way down to the Rock Bar, a great place to have cocktails especially if you can snag a table on the dock. Then you're out in the water, under the stars. Tihana was able to join us after her shift at work for a drink or two before we headed home. It was a great time spent chatting and getting to know Ayelet a little bit more. She is such a great fit for Anton!