In the beginning of September, my parents and I went to the village of Orlic in Dalmatia (Croatia). It is a small, beautiful village, 350 kilometers away from Ljubljana (Slovenia), where my father was born.
About 25 years ago, the war completely changed this small village and the lives of the local people there, forced them all, young and old, to leave their homes, vineyards, spacious fields and orchards, precious animals, farming machines, basically everything, everything they loved so much and work so hard for. People had to move out and find life in other countries, all over the world. I can still remember how stressful these times were for our family, especially for my father. It happened suddenly, overnight, when they had to leave everything behind and go the unknown where. Village was totally empty in just few days. We were only able to watch everything helplessly from Ljubljana via radio or television reports. Due to broken telephone lines, we did not know, what is happening to our loved ones, waiting for every voice of their for days, sometimes even weeks, thinking: where they are, whether they are together, how they will survive, are they safe and whether they are even alive.
After the war, only a few people returned to their homes, mostly older ones. Village will never be the same as it was before the war started. Today the light is burning in only few houses in the village. Time just stops there, it’s that peaceful and beautiful at the same time. In the embrace of nature, with the sound of birds, crickets and leaves in the wind time somehow doesn’t exist anymore. It is so calm. Of course it only feels that way, time, unfortunately, exists everywhere and it can not be stopped. Time is slowly shutting down the last lights around the village. Sadly every year the village is getting emptier. There are very few of our relatives still living in the village. Younger people are returning back, but only for a short visit, for vacations and to bring back memories, after they are all soon back to their lives, which they started from zero 25 years ago.
I spent 4 beautiful days with my parents. Every time we arrive, we live in a house that belongs to my uncle, now living in Serbia with his family. At that time uncle’s little house was considered to be the most beautiful and most tidy one in all the valley, so beautifully did my uncle take care of it.
We spent some time with relatives, talking, joking and having fun. We enjoyed in simple food, eating mostly the fruits of nature, drinking wine and raki. The nature, the fresh air and the sunsets behind the Velebit hill… It was just perfect.
Throughout the day we worked around the house and on the field. The field is just 100 meters away from uncle’s house, where we grow Helichrysum Italicum plant for our new family project – BIOR. In the meantime, we tried to take pictures of ‘uninvited intruders’. See the gallery and try to find them…
