Last Day on Dugi Otok

On our last day on the island we hiked from Sali to Mrkotin ( the southern point of the peninsula) – the entire route was on gravel roads so easy going but 17.8 km long. We had been told that there was a coffee shop/restaurant and a boat taxi to get to the next island and the end of the peninsula but when we go there it turned out both were on the other side of the channel on the next island. Seems the boat taxi was closed for the season as well. Several sail boats were passed through the narrow channel as we sat and ate our sandwiches.

There is an old Roman ruin called “Villa Rustica” at that point – the remains of an old Roman building from many years back. Now there is only the foundation and maybe a meter of wall remaining. One praying mantis landed on Russ’s pants leg – cute.

The area was the home of Illyrian people a few thousand years back during the bronze age. You still see the burial mounds today – rectangular piles of stone up to 2 meters high and something like 3 meters to protect the dead. One photo is of a burial chamber – the Illyrians believed in reincarnation so the dead person was placed in a small stone box in the fetal position – got to be ready for rebirth!

All in all it was a nice afternoon walk.

In the evening we went to a cafe and ice cream shop on the bay and noticed the TV was on a Turkish channel. Turned out the owners were Macedonian Turks that had emigrated to the island from Macedonia 40 years back. 

The family speaks Turkish and several other languages including Croatian and English. They explained us that all minorities have right to receive education in their mother tongue. So they go to Turkish schools and speak Turkish at home as well. It seems most people in Croatia are multilingual. Italian is common due to proximity naturally but in school several languages are offered. Everyone from store clerks to taxi drivers, waiters, waitresses and window washers speak English.