On a tour of Croatia (Vantage Tours, June 2006) we ate lunch in a small village in the hills of Primosten at Jurlinovi Dvori. What a precious time! This is just a few kms from the coast outside of Sibenik. It is a well-hidden group of charming stone-built settlements, grouped into two villages. The villages are surrounded by fields of grapes, olives, figs and almonds.

Jurlinovi Dvori is in Draga, a small village. It is a farmhouse built in the 16th or the 17th century, and now protected by the state as architectural heritage, that holds a collection of art, tools and other artefacts, presided over by the local priest.. Jurlinovi dvori is actually composed of several simple stone cottages set in a circle, that have functions of a typical farm - a kitchen building, a dining room, a sleeping house, a chapel, and a courtyard with stone benches.

Our lunch was a simple Dalmatian meal: grappa to start, then bread, soup and small fish. Our host, Father Don Stipe... more