2008 ROW Lecture Tour - Slovenia and Croatia

During my annual visit to Slovenia, my friends, Don & Jana, had arranged for me to include a visit to Croatia and present a lecture to interested people there. This was another first for me, as well as being of great interest, in-so-far as Croatia is not yet a member of the European Union, and very much under-developed in the Western sense of the term. Yet it this old world atmosphere, with slower pace of life, less stress, and quite often more friendly people, that is its charm, and attractiveness.

This is a photo of an altar in one of the beautiful old churches which are to found dotted all over the country. It is most unfortunate that the light was so poor, and my flash was unable to fill the space sufficiently for you to see it in all its magnificence. I was impressed by the fact that it was so different from anything I have seen elsewhere.



This is the type of housing and countryside to be found in the area in which I was staying. It is very rugged country, with very steep mountainsides, mostly wooded still, and snow clad in winter. The houses cling to the mountain-sides, surrounded by postage sized fields, and there is a river flowing through the centre of the valley. Access from one valley to the next is by winding mountain roads with hairpin bends, and precipitous drops over the edge.



This view gives an idea of the garden plots which are cultivated by almost every householder in which they grow as much of their own food as possible. Fortunately the soil is deep,rich and fertile, having been maintained over the centuries by purely organic methods, the age old traditional method. And as far as I could ascertain, very little, if any, artificials continue to be used to this day.




Every inch of space is utilised in the towns and villages, there being so little flat available, it being mostly mountainside. This is a small bowling area tucked into a river bank behind the surrounding houses.





This is another view to give you a further impression of the ruggedness of terrain. In most instances, it would appear, that the sides of the mountains are shaly rock, to which the forest precariously cling to.




In Croatia we visited a community which has a guru, a young man, born in Croatia, and which owns a number of properties in different areas. It has a spiritual base with its philosophy being very eastern and very fundamentalist Christianity too. From what I could gather, they have a number of government contracts to supply services to the government, the exact nature of which I was unable to ascertain. This photo depicts an area in the main room of the house, remniscent of an alter.


This is another area of the main room which is a TV viewing area. It appeared as though there were about thirty people living in this house which was in the state of construction to provide living space for all. There did not seem to be any limit of finance, and state of the art equipment was to be seen everywhere, fittings, and construction materials used being of the highest quality.


Everything in the name of "Progress". The car is supreme, and people's lives and lifestyle are secondary and expendable. This is a photo of my friend standing in front of what used to be her home in the centre of her organic farm. As is usual in these instances, when the government decides to take over your property, the recompense can never repay you for the loss incurred. And as they had decided to build a highway through the centre of her property, such was the case. A very delightful, secluded area, on the bank of a river, totally destroyed by the incursion of a highway. A very sad ending to my visit