Great Croatian wall. Oysters in croatia Lesser moan croatia on the map

It is generally accepted that Normandy serves the most delicious oysters. But it turns out that not only this country can please gourmets with fresh clams. The famous food of millionaires is also successfully grown in Croatia, where there are several oyster farms. The quality of local mollusks is in no way inferior to Norman ones and perfectly combines with amazing Croatian wines.

Exclusive Croatian delicacy

Mali Ston is a small village on the Peljesac peninsula in southern Croatia. Despite its small area, the town managed to gain fame as the most famous gastronomic place in the country. And all thanks to fresh clams. This is where one of the largest oyster and mussel farms in Croatia is located. Many tourists come to Mali Ston to enjoy the taste of fresh, freshly caught clams from the sea, complementing the refined meal with quality wine. This Croatian village is the only place in the world where small round oysters are grown. For the sake of breeding such mollusks, it was even forbidden to conduct construction in this area, leaving the territory exclusively for the safe life of marine life.

If you are interested in looking at the process of growing shellfish - go on an excursion to the oyster farm. It won’t be boring for sure, because they will not only tell you what happens with the clams before serving, but they will also offer you to taste oysters with different sauces and a glass of white wine. The Peljeszac Peninsula, among other things, is also one of the famous region with extensive vineyards. From the most popular grape variety Plavac Mali, excellent wines are obtained: red wine Dingach and white wine Postup.

What restaurants serve such a gastronomic exclusive? There are many similar establishments in Mali Ston, but the Captain’s heap is considered the most popular. Kapetanova Kuča.Here you can safely order any seafood - just three steps from the water, everything is so fresh that any of your choices will bring you a lot of pleasure.

Oyster festival in Dubrovnik

You can also try fresh oysters in the famous tourist center of Croatia - Dubrovnik. At the end of March and the beginning of April, the gastronomic festival “Festa od kamenica” takes place here, dedicated to these delicious mollusks. The time of the celebration is due to the fact that during this period the oysters are the most mature and, of course, the most delicious. Therefore, it is worth visiting Dubrovnik in the spring not only for the sake of beautiful nature and fresh air, but also for the sake of the most delicious sea delicacies. After all, what could be better than a meal of fresh oysters, sprinkled with lemon juice? The dream of every gourmet!

Spring however – not the only time when you can taste delicious oysters. There is a misconception that in the summer mollusks are not suitable for consumption. But after all, it was during this period in Croatia that the weather was beautiful, the riot of colors and the fresh sea breeze create the perfect atmosphere for relaxation. Can't you treat yourself to a delicacy on vacation? The fact is that the appearance of such an error is connected with certain long-standing rules. Previously, in order to preserve the number of oysters, mollusks were not allowed to be caught during their breeding period (just from May to August). Now this ban has been lifted, and the rule has become a myth that should not be taken seriously. Therefore, you can safely pamper yourself with this sea delicacy all year round.

A paradise for seafood lovers

One of the many picturesque places in Croatia and an oyster farm in combination - the Lima Canal. The unique bay in appearance is very reminiscent of the Norwegian fjord. You can get there by water, making a small cruise, or by car, while admiring the picturesque coast of the Adriatic along the road. The Gulf of Lima is an ideal habitat for mollusks, because the sea water here mixes with finger water, and sunlight penetrates well.

Therefore, the local restaurants always serve exclusively fresh oysters from a local farm. The most popular institution in the Lim fjord is Viking. The varied menu of the restaurant allows you to go beyond shellfish only, because the natural bay is rich in various types of fish and octopuses, squid, mussels, scallops. If you want to try everything all at once, we advise you to order the “Ribna Plata” dish - grilled seafood platter. And do not forget to order the most popular wine of the Istrian Peninsula Malvasia- (Malvasia) This light white wine with a characteristic floral aroma will help you to enjoy the gifts of the generous Adriatic Sea. The best producer of this wine today is considered the Kozlovich trademark ( Kozlović).

The next series of posts will be about our again brief, three-day, but very eventful journey through the south of Croatia. I have been to Dubrovnik many times, because we drove by and the first stop on our way was the city of Ston, located on the isthmus connecting the mainland with the elongated Peljesac peninsula. Actually, these are two separate towns, Veliki and Mali, located on the opposite slopes of one mountain, connected by two lines of medieval fortress walls. Today's post will be devoted to the Big Moan, separate posts will be about a walk along the wall and Little Moan.

As always, at the beginning there is a bit of history. This area was inhabited in the era of the Illyrians and Romans. Activity begins to manifest in the early Middle Ages, when various Slavic proto-states are fighting for the peninsula - zhups, owned it for some time in the original city, we will call it Old Ston was a little away from today, on the slopes of Goritsa hill. There, to this day, the church and the remains of old buildings have been preserved. (Unfortunately, on that trip, this place fell out of my attention, as well as something else, but I will certainly make up for it in the future). At the beginning of the XIV century, the city was occupied by Dubrovtsy. It was then that the construction of two separate cities began, connected by walls and protected fortresses. This place was very important for Dubrovnik both strategically and economically. The Ston fortification system protected the peninsula from land, and most importantly, it defended solana, the site of salt production, which functions to this day. In those days, salt, when there were no refrigerators, salt was a strategic product, compared to today's oil, and the possession of such a serious source of income was simply vital for the Dubrovnik Republic, which, in order to maintain de facto independence, had to constantly pay tribute to its formidable neighbors - first Byzantium, then the Serbs and Bosnians, and then the Turks. This continued until the beginning of the 19th century, the time of the end of the Dubrovnik Republic. After the Napoleonic Wars, these lands were ceded to the Austrians, who took apart part of the walls that had lost their military significance.

During our stay in Ston, the autumn Balkan weather constantly changed from affectionately sunny to formidably cloudy and vice versa. But it didn’t reach the rain. Therefore, do not be surprised at completely different skies in the photographs. All of them are made almost at the same time.

2. The first thing that usually happens here is the traveler who arrived in Veliki Ston (or more often just Ston). The city, the fortress wall above it and two walls encircling the mountain and leading to the Little Ston. A row of houses, which you see on the left in the past, was also closed by a wall; Austrians dismantled it as unnecessary in the 19th century.

3. City blocks are correctly drawn rectangles, we went for a walk among the old buildings of Ston, inspect the city, and at the same time drink coffee somewhere.

5. A very interesting house, preserved Gothic elements - windows. And curiously - on two windows there are three separate widely spaced upper eyelets for Venetian shutters. There are four lower consoles, they are located as usual - along the edges of the windows.

6. I think a great place to have breakfast.

7. While we are waiting for breakfast, you can take a short run with a camera in the area in order to make a few “atmospheric” (I don’t understand the full meaning of this word, no one can explain it to me, but they often use it in the comments regarding my photos).

8. A wonderful portal, and pulls to find out what is behind it.

10. Near her city fountain. After all, there were no water pipes, but when it appeared, again not everyone had it.

11. Near the town hall, Fort Veliki Casteo. The name is not original, "big castle", as you understand, means. On repair. Remake it in full. And here's what immediately catches your eye. The inner part - the old medieval one, before the era of firearms, was built by the Dubrovsk citizens when they received Ston, i.e. at the beginning of the 14th century. But the external frame, obviously later, of the XV-XVI centuries, is Venetian in style. Remember the fortress walls of Kotor or the Old Bar. Meanwhile, I could not find any information either about the time of the rebuilding of the fort, or about the fact that Venice owned Ston at that transitional time. Firearms appeared, and all the old fortresses had to be rebuilt in connection with this revolutionary change in hostilities. The riddle. Either Dubrovnik built on the Venetian technology, or ordered the Venetian craftsmen.

12. We go around on the other side. A typical Venetian bastia adjoins an old (now new, remodeled) wall.

13. It is a pity, because of the reconstruction do not go inside. But there is a quadrocopter. Yes, it is. The old fort framed by walls and low turrets is a bastion of the era of the first artillery.

14. Well, since we took off, it makes sense to immediately show from the air everything else, interesting. Here he is the Big Moan as a whole. Before us are the ruins of the church of St. Vlah, about it a little later. To the left is the monastery of St. Nicholas, I will show it in a separate post. But behind the monastery the western section of the wall is similar to the fort from the previous photo, the high medieval walls are framed by low, the era of the appearance of firearms. From here they are practically invisible, I am very sorry that I did not go to that part of the walls. Another reason to visit Ston again.

15. Raise our flying machine higher. Everything in the palm of your hand is a fort (as I understand it, before it was connected to the city wall into a single whole, the city, walls that go up the mountain, and even a piece of the same solana fell into the frame.

16. Here she is, solana. And the old building has been preserved. Look, his wall was reinforced with buttresses, apparently, tended to fall.

17. We will return to the ground and continue our walk. Church of St. Vlah, the patron saint of Dubrovnik. Also under repair. History says that the first church was here back in the 14th century. It was repeatedly destroyed, and suffered the most destructive earthquake in these parts in 1667. In its present form, combining elements of Gothic and Byzantine style in masonry, it was built at the end of the XIX century. A new 1979 earthquake destroyed the church again. Now restoration work is underway, again not to get inside.

Croatia, Dubrovnik, Ston, Dubrovnik – Neretva, Croatia

general information

The town of Ston Croatia is considered one of the most attractive tourist destinations. This small settlement in South Dalmatia is located at the junction of the Peljesac peninsula with the mainland.

Ston is located 70 km from Dubrovnik. You can get to the city by taxi or bus, daily running on the route Dubrovnik - Korcula.

Ston was founded in 1333 and today consists of two parts - Mali-Ston and Veli-Ston. In the Middle Ages, these places belonged to the Dubrovnik Republic and were a very important strategically and economically region - in the shallow bay of the Ston isthmus there is a salt deposit, which is mined in our time.

Sights of Ston

The main "attraction" for tourists in Ston is, of course, the "Chinese Wall of the Mediterranean," as many call it. Rich in sights, Croatia boasts such an unusual structure. The Ston walls on the mountain are partially preserved after the earthquake and have recently been restored. It is the longest defensive complex in Europe and the second longest in the world, after the Great Wall of China, of course.

Construction began in 1334 to protect the Dubrovnik Republic and, most importantly, the rich salt marshes of the Isthmus of Ston. Today, you can walk along the walls and explore several towers and fortresses.

Still in Ston is the Franciscan monastery of St. Nicholas, considered one of the largest in Croatia. The complex of buildings in the mixed Romano-Gothic style has been preserved almost unchanged from the XIV century. We should also pay attention to the masterly decorated bells of the monastery.

For the small town of Croatia, Ston’s cultural heritage is truly great. For example, in the city there are several historical buildings of the Renaissance: the Princely Palace, the Palace of Djordjic, which now has a Museum of Medieval Sculpture, and the Sorokovich Palace of the 16th century.

Ston solans, that is, salt marshes, have been the most important “asset” of the business of the Dubrovitsky Republic for many centuries. The ancient enterprise today is, first of all, an inexhaustible number of stories about the Romans, Greeks, Venetians, Slavs - all those who have ever controlled or tried to capture the Stonsky Solans. Now solans occupy an area of \u200b\u200b500,000 square meters, of which 430,000 square meters are pools with sea water, through which water is slowly and manually driven and crystallized.

In the bays near Maly Ston there are plantations where some of the highest quality oysters in the world are grown. Some of them are exported to Italy and France. Oysters of Croatia, despite the "elitism" of this product, are available to everyone who comes to these places. The most curious can go to one of the farms with a guided tour, and just gourmets will find clams in almost all Ston's restaurants at very affordable prices.

Excursions around Ston and the surrounding area

Travel Agency Dubrovnik Sun

Address: Bokeljska 26, 20 000 Dubrovnik
Phone: + (385 20) 43-63-63
www.dubrovniksun.hr

Travel agency Avantgarde services

Address: Sv. Križa 3, 20000, Dubrovnik
Phone: + (385 20) 41-74-99

The next day we drove towards the island of Mljet, highly recommended by big Croatia lovers. On the way we stopped in Trsteno, where the largest and oldest plane tree (650 years) in Europe grows. After making sure that he was nothing interesting, they tried to walk around the nearby Arboretum Botanical Garden, which is famous for its unique trees and plants. Entrance to the arboretum 40 kun. But he didn’t work: some movie was being shot in the garden ... I don’t even know if we were upset: on the one hand, I wanted to check out the beauties of the local garden, on the other hand, it was raining at night and started to walk in the rain somehow did not smile much.

Therefore, we drove further towards the city of Ston with the hope of catching a ferry to the island of Mljet at 10.15. To be more precise, the ferry itself departs from Prapratno, which is 3 km from Ston. We had time for the ferry, but driving along the main street of Ston, we decided to take a little walk around the city. Fortunately, right on the central square there is a wonderful tourist office, in which we got maps of the city and its environs, and also found out where you can taste the local delicacy of oysters. Although the consultation was very veiled: 4 restaurants in Ston himself and 2 restaurants in Maly Ston, and where you can taste them is up to you. We noticed that not a single tourist office in Croatia (unlike, for example, the USA) recommended any particular restaurant to us: at best, we were told where the largest cluster is located, but they didn’t say anything specific, carefully avoiding sharp corners in conversation (fines for covert marketing, are they afraid?).

The city of Ston (1333) is very small: 580 inhabitants. It is located on a narrow isthmus connecting the peninsula with the mainland, and therefore was an important strategic point. To protect the local saltworks and summer residences of the nobility, a powerful defensive complex with long thick walls and powerful towers (14-16 centuries) was erected here. Unfortunately, due to frequent earthquakes, most of the architectural monuments have not been preserved.
The city of Ston is divided into 2 parts: there is simply the city of Ston (or Veli Ston), and there is the Small Ston (Mali Ston). The Big Stone is famous for its vintage wines and the "Chinese" wall, the largest stone wall in Europe. Its length is already 5.5 km. Tourists, by the way, have the opportunity to walk along this wall. There is both a short route around the Big Ston and a long one: the wall reaches right up to the Small Ston. Of course, we could not take the opportunity to climb this wonderful sight, and at the same time enjoy the views of the ancient town. A wall ticket costs 30 kunas.

From the height of one of the towers of the stone wall, wet squares are visible. We decided that this is the place where salt is mined. The salt plants of Ston are the oldest plants in the world to date. Moreover, today salt is extracted using the same technologies as it used to be in ancient times.

We decided to follow a long route, but after some time it turned out that the wall was over, but there was no further move ... Going back to the hill to the hill was lazy :).

A little walk around the city

and drove to Little Ston. This part of the city is known for breeding oysters and shellfish. When you go from the mainland to the Peljesac peninsula, you can see plantations on the right hand in Maly Ston Bay, where oysters are grown. Really curious.
The town itself consists of two restaurants on the bay and five neglected courtyards.

We went around the whole town. Tourists in pairs are looking for where to eat those same oysters. Looking at the huge, but empty halls of restaurants, you somehow do not dare to enter. As a result, they waved a hand, sat down at the smallest and modest table in the far corner. After 10 minutes it turned out that this was the thieves table in the restaurant: at okroshka, overlooking the sea. 20 minutes after we settled down, 3 tourist buses arrived, and the restaurant was immediately filled with excited Chinese and Japanese tourists eager for oysters. As if they have a shortage of fish in Japan and China.

By the end of our lunch in the restaurant there were no empty seats. And when they paid, we were presented with a kilogram of local salt as a gift. And where are we going with her? Excess weight in baggage? But throwing it to us was a pity. And then it was very useful to us :).

If you think where it is better to go there are the notorious mussels and oysters, then I still recommend you Big Ston (where we had lunch already on our way back): it’s both cheaper and somehow more comfortable. Most of all we liked the restaurant right by the large parking lot opposite the tourist office. Sure, don't get lost.

Yadrolin ferry (adult ticket 30 kunas, ticket for transportation of cars 140 kunas) brought us to the town of Sobra on the island of Mljet. Travel time is 45 minutes. While they were waiting for us to be launched on a ferry, we examined the sea with a cloud of sea urchins. Swimming without slippers is not safe there.

At first, they decided to visit Salpunara beach, which is located on the eastern end of the island. The beach is sandy, the entry into the sea is excellent, it’s nice to swim, there is no wave. The beach is in fact wild, but there is a kiosk where you can pour delicious coffee, and you can also rent a sunbed for 25 kunas. In general, there are few people. In general, I really liked it there. It’s only a pity that on this day we had a lot of interesting things, but there wasn’t so much time. Then we drove towards the national park, which is located in the west of the island.

Our hotel was located right at the entrance to the park, in the city of the Executioner. We tried to check in so that I could leave my things and walk with a clear conscience, but it didn’t work: at four in the afternoon there was no one in the hotel. We went to the park, logically assuming that in the evening we will have more chances. So it, by the way, subsequently turned out to be. Plus we, in an apology, were presented with a huge plate full of grapes. Nicely:)

Entrance to the park costs 90 kuna per person. You can enter the park by car, you do not need to pay for the car. At some point, the road in the park ends, at this place there is free parking where you need to leave the car, and then move around the park on foot. It's nice to walk around the park.

Doesn’t resemble anything?

This is the same blue helicopter on which the wizard carries five hundred popsicle!

In the park and in the city, you can rent a bike or boat. If you arrived by boat from Dubrovnik, you can rent a bicycle in the city itself. The cost is from 40 kunas per hour to 240 kunas per day, a wide choice of options.

The price of a ticket to the park includes 2 shuttle rides from the entrance to the park in the town of Polache to the lake, as well as a catamaran ride to St. Mary's Island.

In a good way, especially if you are by car, you can go to the park for free. Despite the rather large number of ticket offices at the entrance to the park, nobody checks the tickets, everything is based solely on the consciousness of citizens. Perhaps the meaning of the ticket is a boat trip to the island of St. Mary's, but in half an hour that the boat is on the pier, this island can be walked along and across three times.

However, many bathe. The calls to the lake are excellent. There is nothing special to do on this island.
Amused fish flying over the water. Either one school or another school of a school of fish flies amicably above the water, creating a sensation of a white shiny rainbow.

In the park Mljet 2 lakes: Big and Small. Most people bathe either on the island of St. Mary (which is located on the Big Lake), or on the Small Lake. Big and small lake are connected by a small bridge. In fact, a small bridge is a channel between two lakes. It’s funny to go into the sea on one side of the bridge and swim to be on the other side of it.

The water turned out to be salty. Which is generally logical, since a large lake also connects to the sea through the same strait, which is called a large bridge. We found out this moment empirically, when, on the advice of an aunt in the tourist office, we decided to go around both lakes along their perimeter. I had to return in the same way.

In general, the impressions of visiting the park are positive. The island is suitable for those who want a secluded holiday, to be left to their own devices.

A memory photo next morning :)

  Croatia, September 2013.