Saturday, 15 February 2025
A Week of Earthquakes & Wine: A Wild Start to 2024? Albert Anthony

A Week of Earthquakes & Wine: A Wild Start to 2024?

Written by  Albert Anthony Feb 23, 2024

From Dubrovnik to Zadar, we saw a week of earthquakes but also wine festivals. Is this just the start of a wild 2024?

About a week ago, I happened to be awakened around 3 a.m. to the building shaking suddenly for about 10 seconds, before stopping. Some time around morning, I learned in regional media that there had been a 3.3-level earthquake near Zadar, and soon I heard from other residents they also experienced the shaking. Fortunately, there was no damage or injured, and instinctually I toured my neighborhood in Zadar as soon as the sun arose, to check on any damage or injured.

But, the ground did not stay calm for long, as a further series of quakes was reported a few more times by regional media this week, in different locations, stretching as far down as Dubrovnik to as far north as the middle of Bosnia.

To celebrate the fact that we made it to Saturday, what better way to top this week off that attending the Zadar Wine Festival 2024, going on for the 23rd - 24th of February at the Sports Center Višnjik, and seemingly with over 100 or so exhibitors from the entire region.

This was an opportunity to experience wine brands from as far south as Korčula island, to trying cheeses from the Zadar region and prosciutto sourced from hogs in the Slavonia region. A true tour of Croatia, I would say.

Zadar wine fest 4

What a great pairing to go with a bottle of white, for example, than to try local oysters from the region, served cold on ice, restaurant style. Or, if seafood is not your thing, I was pleasantly thrilled to try some smoked buđola made by local entrepreneurs from Polača, in the Dalmatian hinterland.

 Zadar wine fest 5

Today's vicious south wind, the famous jugo, or južina, did not keep away many people from the festival, the 2nd major food & wine related festival in Zadar in the last few months, and another reminder to me that spring and summer is just around the corner, a positive thought as we get to pause from earthquake alerts for a minute.

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About the Author: The Croatian & American author writes under pen name Albert Anthony and is an occasional voluntary contributor to The Dubrovnik Times. More of his photography can be found on his Twitter (X) channel @AlbertAnthonyCo

 

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