ZELJEVIĆI
There are many abandoned villages in Dalmatia. Sadly, enough, but
people started abandoning those villages after the second World
War. Hard rock and scarce soil barely made the living possible.
So in search of better existence, people started leaving villages
and building houses at the foot of the mountain, along the main
road. Instead of virgin nature and humble but peaceful life they
confronted all the difficulties of urban life and the exhausting
work at the factories.
Ever since the old stone houses have been fighting weeds, ivy and
hundred years old oak branches. Roofs and walls gradually give in
and it won't be long before every trace of some of these unique
houses will be lost for ever.
There is one place I like most. That is Zeljevici, a god - forsaken
village dating back to early 19th century, situated on the slope
of a mountain overlooking the see, about 10 kilometres away from
the place where I live.
In this village, free from crowd, rumour of voices, of children
laughing, one man nevertheless wishes to preserve and bring back
to life his grandfather's house. He keeps returning to do a thing
or two, but mostly to bring food to the village's only inhabitants:
a dog and her puppies.
Sometimes, when the sun is low in horizon, a look over the vast
sea area downhill, shining like gold, can revive the sensation of
all the beauty and serenity that permeated life in this place so
many, many years ago.
Who knows, perhaps one day soon people will start abandoning cities
and returning to the places like this - to their natural sources.
A huge forest fire swept through Zeljeviće in summer of 2001. Human
negligence or intention, all the same. The roofless house was left
without its old shutters as well.
As I watch these lonely houses
in the nameless bays of Central Dalmatia...
All those forgotten and burned down
mills and palaces of the more modest landlords,
the remnants of which are nothing but a stone
and the weak blood of the climbing plant
dripping upon it.
There isn’t even a single memory left
as if driven away..."
Arsen Dedić
One year later...
...One more year later...

Duće, Old Village
The village of Zeljevići is unfortunately not the only one.People
abandoned many other Dalmatian villages as well.There is nothing
left but memories,glimpses of the unexpected passers-by, old windows
and the time relentlessly passing by.
LUBENICE ON THE ISLAND OF CRES
Lubenice, a small town situated on the cliffs of the western coast
of the Island of Cres, is one of the special locations of the Croatian
Adriatic which is hard to forget once you visit it.
A cluster of densely lined up stone houses, with a bell tower and
the gothic Church of St.Antony, has a great view of the open sea
and the Kvarner Bay. The town has only 15 inhabitants – the lucky
ones. When I arrived there, driving up a narrow road bordered by
the dry stone walls, it was already sunset.
There is a chapel of St. Nicholas at the very entrance to the settlement
which was opened and a candle was burning in a wall niche. One could
choose either to pray in the silence of the chapel, or to enjoy
the special light the setting sun spilled over the house walls and
the surrounding landscape. I felt happy. As if that place knew I
was coming and welcomed me in the best possible way.
HAMLET PODUME, TUGARE
The life returns slowly to the hamlet Podume in Tugare near Omiš.
This is one of the renovated houses in the vicinity of the chapel
of Saint Roch which offers a great view of the slopes of the Mosor
Mountain.
KUČIĆE
Not abandoned kid from Kučiće village.