White house or pool house?

So, it has been said many times that the White House in Washington has been built using stones from Pučišća’s quarry. Some documentaries were also made depicting this legend. But, is it really true? The story goes like this: one Hungarian trader in the times of the Austro-Hungarian Empire allegedly purchased three ships of Brač’ stone and then sold it to the United States of America, to be used for the building of the White House. However, there is no real evidence proving that such a stone is part of the White House. But, since we are very optimistic and lean more towards the story that says the second house in the complex was actually built with Brač stone, we will say – yes. There is some truth to this legend!

Musical evening at Pizzeria Marin

On the occasion of marking the day of the Municipality of Pučišća on September 30th, 2020, pizzeria Marin organizes a big party. Come and enjoy some homemade lamb delicacies as well as the performance of the klapa Kuroj around 7 pm! See you in as many numbers as possible!

Our nonna’s recipe for hrostule

Our nonnas (grandmothers) hold the secrets to many delicious meals which made our childhoods so happy and sweet and our stomachs so full, especially if the meal in question is – hrostule. One by one, we try to write the recipes down so one day, we can make some for our own grandchildren and pass the tradition onto them. Luckily, as our nonnas grow older, they are more willing to pass the recipes on.

Here’s one of our favorite recipes, for a pastry which gets eaten so fast one wonders was it even worth the trouble and many hours it took to make it. But it was. It always is. So, here’s a recipe of one nonna from Pučišća, for hrostule, hrustule, or hroštule.

WHAT YOU NEED

× eggs (depends on the number of people you want to make them for, 1 egg is enough for 2 people)

× rakija (homemade, of course)

× flour

× sugar (both granulated and powder)

× pork fat

× rum or some other aroma, or as nonna likes to say “smell” (usually pear extract)

× pinch of salt

× lemon or orange peal

Old recipes usually don’t include specific quantities, especially for flour, so you’ll have to be a bit creative and intuitive in deciding how much of it to use. For flour, our nonna likes to say – “as much as it drinks!”. When it comes to this recipe, quantities depend on the number of eggs – if you use 3 eggs, then use 3 tablespoons of rakija, 3 tablespoons of sugar, etc. 

(1) Mix egg yolks with sugar, rakija, and fat. Mix egg whites and add to the previous mixture. After mixing it together, add flour “as much as it drinks” or as you deem necessary until the dough is nice and soft. It shouldn’t be hard to roll out the dough, so don’t use too much flour. Leave it covered for half an hour and then proceed to step two.

(2) Divide the dough into smaller pieces (usually 4 smaller balls), and roll out the first one. Try to make it as thin as possible, without the dough breaking. If needed, add a bit flour on it. Cut it into 1.5 cm wide strips and lay them on a kitchen towel.

(3) Heat up a big pot of oil for deep frying and carefully add the strips into the oil. Before putting them in, try to make a small bow out of the strip.

(4) It doesn’t take long to fry it, so be very careful they don’t burn. Take them out and put them in a colander which you put on top of another pot, to collect excess oil and for them to dry a bit.

(5) When hrostule cool down a bit, transfer them in a bowl and sprinkle them with fine sugar.

(6) Our nonna says that you know you made good hrustule if they have these small bubbles on them.

Dobar tek! Let us know if you used this recipe and how it turned out!

One lovely weekend picking olives near Pučišća

Island life is dictated by certain events, and olive picking is one of the most important ones. Many of us (or at least the author of this text) can’t wait for summer to end and autumn to show its colors cause this usually means – olives will soon be ready for picking.

Olive picking means leaving behind your dancing shoes (cause you most definitely won’t have the energy to dance when you need to get up before the sun!) and putting on your dirty old clothes, a couple of layers, some of which you will eventually take off, as soon as the sun starts to shine over your olive grove. Ours is on a drive from Pučišća to Postira, when you turn left near Bračuta.

It’s not big – there are a total of 40 olive trees, which is not much, considering many people own even more than 100! This usually means we will get enough olive oil for the entire family and the entire year. If we’re lucky and the year was good, we just might have some to sell.

Sights like this sure help when waking up early!

Olive picking starts early in the morning – it’s a job which takes up a lot of time, and we all want to be finished before the great cold comes in or the strong winds throw olives to the ground. Also, many of our family members work during the week and the only time available for picking is the weekends. Adding the fact that the sun sets so early these days, getting up early, however hard it might be, is a must.

As soon as we got to the olive grove, we put on our saket, which is a bag or a waist pack which you tie around your waist to put picked olives in. Once your saket is full, you untie it and pour the olives into a larger mesh bag or a plastic bin. We like to keep our olives “clean”, so we make sure to remove all the stems and leaves which make olive oil taste a bit more bitter. However, sometimes you end up picking more than you planned – like this weird mushroom we found!

Olive picking is not hard. It takes time, you have to stand up all the time (or if you’re more skilled, sit on a branch picking those that are way up high), but the fresh air and great company make it a great trip and even better exercise! It is also very satisfying knowing you’re a part of the centuries-long tradition of olive oil production. We also love the fact that we are creating our own food – olives which we grew ecologically (our grandparents laugh when we mention this because our generation made a trend of something very normal to them – not so long ago, all food was eco!) and which we picked by hands, are soon to become oil in which we’ll enjoy for months to come!

But, our favorite part must be marenda – breakfast or brunch however you wish to call it.  There is always some homemade wine, bread, cheese and fruits, and nowadays salami, cookies, or just leftovers from yesterday’s meals. We opt for some coffee and a lot of mandarins. Marenda takes time in the middle of the picking so you don’t get too tired or bored, but so you can fill up on energy for the rest of the working day. It is usually served as a picnic, on the table cloth spread across the ground, or on a table in front of a small shed, such as this one.

Once you’re done with olive picking for the day, you start picking around, whatever else (edible!) grows on your field (and only yours, don’t go stealing around). Do you know what these are? Have you tried them? We call them manjiga, and google translate says its bearberry. They’re not ripe yet but we found few to try.

After a long day in the olive grove, we head home, tired and sleepy, but happy and with a huge grin on our faces. Each time, we hear and learn something new – stories of our ancestors, our relatives, or just some old funny songs our grandparents sang when they were younger. Somehow, most of them could be described as mating songs! 🙂 Guess our elderly had more interesting lives than we give them credit.

Once we’re home, the next thing we must do is put all these olives we picked into a huge container and pour sea over them. This is an old technique that many don’t use anymore, but our grandparents are certain that it makes olive oil taste better. And who can argue with decades of experience? So, we head over to the port of Pučišća, pour some sea in cans, stop by for a beer, all sweaty and stinky (but it’s ok, cause it’s that time of the year) and head back home. One more day of olive picking is behind us, and one more is in front of us. We spend the rest of the day playing games, waiting for the appropriate time to go to sleep. Six in the afternoon isn’t too early, right?!

Welcome to Pučišća!

Welcome to one of the prettiest small places in Europe – Pučišća! Here, we’ll share many interesting facts and bits about Pučišća, so stick around!

We can not even count how many websites and magazines in the world have listed Pučišća as one of the most beautiful small places in Europe! We could easily stop our description here since it should be more than enough motivation for you to visit this little piece of heaven, but still. Here are the basics you should know traveling to Pučišća!

Pučišća (we know, hard to pronounce, isn’t it!) are known for many things, not just beauty. They are called a “13 towers port” since it used to have 13 towers guarding it against repeated attacks by pirates. It sounds like a movie, doesn’t it?! Well, the history may not have been pleasant for this lovely place, but Pučišća still maintained its character and beauty for centuries.

Today, this most charming place is also known for its long masonry tradition, with the quarry most popular due to the legend that the White House in Washington was built with stones taken out of it. We know it was, you try to oppose it if you dare! 😉

This is also the biggest municipality on Brač (not counting the city of Supetar) with around 1500 people living in three villages – Pučišća, Gornji Humac, and Pražnica. The latter is a true example of how people used to create villages out of scattered homes. They are also an example of the best-preserved archaic speech, which some locals can’t even understand!

Pražnica

Gornji Humac, on the other hand, is one of the oldest and most prominent settlements in the history of the island. However, this is a place full of scars of time, especially from the World War II period. But, Gornji Humac emerged like a phoenix from its own ashes and is full of taverns and inns today.

Gornji Humac

See the amazing miniature of Rome’s basilica!

Maybe you’ve already seen the handiwork of Josip Radić – his amazing stone belfries of Dalmatia, but now he has created something out of this world – a miniature replica of Rome’s basilica of St. Peter!

The miniature basilica project, made in a 1: 200 model, Radić started creating in 2014. And while the Roman basilica is 138 meters tall, this one is about 200 times smaller, about 200 kilograms heavy, and according to the author’s words, about 8,500 hours of work have been invested in it, persistent and painful, over the past five years.

The Basilica is housed in the church of Our Lady of Botak, a former parish church in Pučišća, where everyone can see it. And you definitely should! Take a look at our gallery, and keep in mind that photograph can never really show it’s magnificence – you simply must see it in person!

IMAGE SOURCE | Josip Radić – kamene minijature, svjedoci vremena i vjere | Župa sv. Jeronima – Pučišća

TEXT ADAPTED FROM | Informativna katolička agencija

About the basilica:

The Papal Basilica of Saint Peter in the Vatican (Italian: Basilica Papale di San Pietro in Vaticano), or simply Saint Peter’s Basilica (Latin: Basilica Sancti Petri), is a church built in the Renaissance style located in Vatican City, the papal enclave which is within the city of Rome.

Designed principally by Donato Bramante, Michelangelo, Carlo Maderno and Gian Lorenzo Bernini, St. Peter’s is the most renowned work of Renaissance architecture^[2] and the largest church in the world.^[3] While it is neither the mother church of the Catholic Church nor the cathedral of the Diocese of Rome (these equivalent titles being held by the Archbasilica of Saint John Lateran in Rome), St. Peter’s is regarded as one of the holiest Catholic shrines. It has been described as “holding a unique position in the Christian world”^[4] and as “the greatest of all churches of Christendom“.

7 reasons to visit Pučišća in 2021!

There are many reasons you should visit Pučišća, a small village on the island of Brač (Croatia) as soon as you can, but we’ll stick to just 7, as listed on the blog d.rifter.

#1 IT’S ONE OF THE PRETTIEST SMALL PLACES IN EUROPE

This isn’t just us being biased, this is a fact. Many travel blogs, news portals and such, listed Pučišća among the top 10, 20, or 12, prettiest small places in Europe (proof #1, proof #2, proof #3). And for a good reason! It’s position in a bay on an island sure helps this, but also the centuries-long tradition of stone masonry which is visible on every corner of the village – from stone houses, white roofs (once traditional and usual for almost every house in the village, so much so that one poet once wrote it seems its always snowing in Pučišća) or bright blue, turquoise color of the sea (because of the stone dust from a quarry nearby), and so on. We could go on for ages, but instead, let us share some pictures to prove the point.

#2 IT’S STILL RELATIVELY UNKNOWN

For decades, people of Pučišća focused on quarry and stone cutting. This is why they didn’t pay much attention to tourist promotion, and which is why it is the place on Brač (one of the most popular of Croatian islands) with the least visitors. With the stone cutting industry slowing down, Pučišća are becoming more and more oriented on tourism, making this the perfect time for visit – before it gets discovered as the jewel it is, becoming overcrowded with visitors!

#3 IT’S THE HOME TO ONE OF THE LAST STONEMASON HIGH SCHOOLS

It is often said in Pučišća that people here live with the stone, off the stone, and for the stone. With a centuries-old tradition of masonry, they are proud to have a stonemason high school – a sculpting academy, which is unique in this part of Europe and one of the last ones in Europe, altogether. Students not only from Croatia, attend this internationally renowned school, to craft their skills and learn how to create beautiful art of stone. Wouldn’t you like to attend such a great looking school?!

#4 THIS MIGHT BE THE CLOSEST YOU GET TO THE – WHITE HOUSE IN AMERICA!

Weird, right? It has been said many times that the White House in Washington was built using stones from Pučišća’s quarry. Some documentaries were also made depicting this legend. Not only the White House but also the parliament in Budapest, Diocletian palace in Split and so many more stunning buildings around the world. But, is it really true? The story goes something like this: one Hungarian trader in the times of the Austro-Hungarian Empire allegedly purchased three ships of Brač’ stone and then sold it to the United States of America, to be used for the building of the White House. No concrete proofs are there for this story, but we choose to believe it. 

#5 DALMATIA’S BEST DONUTS ARE MADE HERE

Croatian donuts (krafne) look a bit different from what you might expect, but they taste just as amazing. And the legend says that the best ones are made in Pučišća, by Grikula family. You may choose between jelly, chocolate or vanilla filling and we love them the most in the evening, freshly baked, and sold on the promenade.

Photo by @checa_emigrante

#6 YOU CAN DOWNLOAD THE FREE GUIDE & MAP OF THE VILLAGE, MADE BY LOCALS

A few years back, locals decided to create a “use it” map for Pučišća, since it didn’t have any. This special type of map is made entirely by locals, showing their favorite places, stories, secrets of the village, ones you won’t find on your typical tourist maps. It was written in English as well as the local dialect, which most of Croatians couldn’t understand as well, making it a learning experience, too. The map was made in 2016., updated in 2017., so some of the information is outdated, but still, it is a great source of interesting bits and pieces of Pučišća.

FREE MAP & GUIDE TO PUČIŠĆADownload

#7 BEAUTIFUL MUSIC THROUGHOUT SUMMER

Summers in Pučišća are always filled with amazing music, thanks to the International summer music school Pučišća, one of the longest summer traditions on Brač. Each summer in July and August, for over 20 years, musicians gather in Pučišća to participate in music courses, held for a range of instruments in classical, jazz and pop music. Instructions are delivered by highly qualified musicians from leading music academies and conservatories from Croatia, Europe, the USA, and Russia. And, at the end of these courses, participants perform free concerts to show what they’ve learned.

Photo by International summer usic school Pučišća

BONUS REASON | You can stay in a castle or a lighthouse!

Pučišća are known also as the bay of 13 towers, which were built to protect it from pirates, etc. Today, only few remain, and you can even rent one of them for your vacation! If you prefer solitude, then we have an even better option for you – a lighthouse! Now, there really is no sound reason for you to not visit Pučišća this year, agreed?

We could go on and on. But, the best way to enjoy this place is to just visit it. As soon as possible. If you need tips on where to stay, find a perfect holiday home on our website, or information on how to even reach island Brač, click here. Then, explore the rich history and tradition of stone cutting, visit the school’s workshop, try some donuts, buy some stone souvenirs, stop by for a free jazz concert, and just explore. And tell the world the story of the prettiest small place in Europe. PUČIŠĆA.

How to reach Pučišća during the pandemic?

We’re bringing you all the information you need, on how to reach Pučišća!

Pučišća, voted many times as one of the most beautiful places in Europe, is located on the north side of the island Brač in Croatia, which can be reached by sea and air. Once you reach island Brač, there’s a quick ride to Pučišća, depending on the direction you’re arriving from.

Before we continue with explaining the ways to reach Pučišća, let us first answer some of the questions you may have about travel during the pandemic.

Here’s what you need to know about traveling to Pučišća during the pandemic

You must fulfill and evidence 1 of the following 5 criteria to be allowed access to Croatia:

#1 A negative PCR or antigen test taken 48 hours before arrival at the border.

#2 A vaccination certificate showing final dose taken more than 14 days ago.

#3 Proof of recovery from Covid more than 11 days and less than 180 days ago.

#4 Proof of recovery and first dose of vaccination more than 11 days and less than 6 months ago.

#5 Quarantine for 10 days or pay for a test on arrival and remain in self-isolation until a negative result.

Don’t forget, you will also need to show evidence that you own property in Croatia or have paid for accommodation, be that in a hotel, camp site, private rental, boat or other tourism provider.

Additional things to consider:

+ All tests taken and used as supporting evidence of a positive or negative result must be recognized by European Union.

+ All children under the age of 7 are exempt from providing test results should their parent or guardian fulfill the requirements.

REACH PUČIŠĆA BY AIR

Brač has its own small airport, situated in the middle of the island, just above Bol. More and more flights are introduced each year, and all the necessary information you may find on the airport’s website. Island has a direct connection by air with Austria, Belgium, France, Netherlands, Italy, Luxembourg, Switzerland, Czech Republic, Slovenia, and of course – the capital of Croatia. 

We must add that, since the COVID-19, many of the flights have been canceled, so make sure to contact the airport to get the latest news! Click here for the latest updates on flights to Brač.

The closest international airports to Brač are the ones in Split, Zadar, and Dubrovnik, with many low-cost companies flying there. There are regular bus lines between the airports and city centers, and from there, you can continue to Brač by ferry, catamaran, or private taxi boats.

From the airport, you may take a taxi or rent a car to Pučišća. Drive in the direction of Supetar, and when reaching Pražnica, take the road to Pučišća.

REACH PUČIŠĆA BY SEA

There are two ferry lines and three catamaran lines connecting Brač with the land, as of 2020, but reaching Pučišća is easiest via ferries since catamarans stop further from Pučišća.

The first ferry port is in Supetar, connecting Brač with Split, and the second is in Sumartin, connecting Brač with Makarska. More information about ferry lines and timetables you may find here. Distance from Supetar to Pučišća is almost the same as the one from Sumartin to Pučišća, but which ferry port you’ll arrive to depends on where you’re coming from.

Also, if you own or rent boats, you may just sail into Pučišća, which might be the best way to reach this place!

REACHING PUČIŠĆA BY BUS

Once you arrived at the island, either in Supetar or Sumartin by ferry, or Milna, Sutivan, and Bol by catamaran, there are a couple of ways to get to Pučišća. One is to hop on a local bus that connects the entire island with lines that are more frequent during summer. Booking your ticket via their free app can save you 5% every time.

If you prefer some eco-friendly means of transport, just hop on your bicycle and enjoy 1023 kilometers of bike lanes around the island!