Saturday, May 14, 2011

ROW Lecture Tour - Croatia 2011

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From the UK I flew to Croatia, and of course one of my first ports of call was the farmer's markets to not only purchase a supply of fresh raw food, also to see what was available in the way of organically grown produce. And this photo shows a group, small though it may be, of dedicated organic growers. The array of food they had available was indeed quite astounding, given the time of the year, with the snows hardly melted.



My host for my visit was Marijana and her family, who most graciously welcomed me into their home, providing me with all the comforts, and more, of a five star hotel. Marijana also fulfilled the role of interpreter, and very comptently too.

One day we visited one of the family who lived in this exquisite mountain cottage in its delightful setting on the top of a mountain ridge. 


Lunch was in the family room, which was a very warm and friendly place to be. It consisted of fresh ripe fruits with a most happy time being had by all.




Growing on the nearby slopes was/is such an array of wild edible plants that I almost felt as though I could live off them alone.


In the corner of the room was to be found a spinning wheel, a family heirloom still in good working order


This plaque tells us of the history of the building and the original owners of it, portrayed in the following pictures.


Because I was unable to take a photo of the entire building, due to its imensity, surrounding trees etc., I have use a photo of an airial photo to endeavour to give some idea of what it looks like and its size.


This life-size sculptures is a portrayal of the original owner just prior to his departure to France where he was to be be-headed.
In the background can be seen the original stables and dungeons with the main building to the left.


This is the courtyard of the main building.





And in this view we are looking down the inner corridor which faces the courtyard and from which all of the room s open or are accessed.
The building today is maintained as a Museum, and is gradually being restored as the money becomes available with only a relatively small portion being as yet open to the public.




One of the enthusiastic audiences that attended the lectures.


Marijana making a few introductory remarks.


And Marijana hard at work with her raw food prepartion and demostration.




 I was very agreeably surprised to find that Kraljevic was the birthplace of Rudolf Steiner the founder of the Spiritual science Anthroposophy, the Wldorf schools, and Bio-Dynamic Farmimg and gardening.
This is the house in which he was born February 25th 1861


And this is the plaque on the attesting to such a fact. We were extremely fortunate to be able to visit on the very day, and at the very time that a group of schhol children were also visiting, and had the opportunity to see inside.

 

This a room which has been set aside in the house and decorated in the era of the time that Rudolf Steiner would have lived there.


Here we see the room which is used for the functions of the local followers of Rudolf Steiner.

 

And this is the building which is currently being renovated and re-built with donations and
lots of hard work by the local people to be a Steiner Centre.






















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