It’s been a busy week for the artists, and with the weather heating up again it’s time to head for the beach. It’s a short walk around the coast to Soline, where we can find a shady spot under the trees. Four of us go round in the morning, with another couple joining us for lunch at the nearby cafe. We’re getting towards the end of the week, and the afternoon is a chance to finish off paintings, or work on our mini-paintings for the swap tomorrow.

In the evening, we drive up to Pitve for our special dinner at Dvor Duboković, complete with live musicians. The view from here is spectacular, especially at sunset.

View from Dvor Duboković

Our dinner is a traditional Dalmatian peka of roast meats, along with grilled vegetables, ham and cheese. The artists gather round the grilling area to see the peka in action. It’s a large cast iron bell which goes over the tray of food, and then rings are put on the outside and filled with hot embers from the fire. The food is slow-cooked over a number of hours and smells wonderful by now!

Peka cooking

To start with, we have a selection of home-made liqueurs – wild cherry, rose and travarica. The most popular was the rose liqueur, which happens to be one of my own particular favourites, though I must say the wild cherry was also wonderful! We were shown the row of jars on the wall with the next batch in progress.

Liqueurs in progress – rose on the left, wild cherry on the right

After wandering around for a while, enjoying the atmosphere of this very different kind of restaurant, we’re called to the table as the food is ready!

Artists ready for dinner!

By 8 o’clock the musicians arrived, and we were treated to a selection of Dalmatian (and other) songs. I love the way they sit casually at a table, just like other guests, only these ones play music and sing! And we all sing along in the chorus, whether or not we know the words! The highlight of the evening was a superb rendition of O Sole Mio, which really shows off the power and purity of Duje’s voice. And, of course, Frankie singing Proud Mary is always special. Some traditions are more recent than others!

Table of musicians

Another wonderful evening at Dvor Duboković!