postcard 17: sea turtle saturday
being a tourist in our own town
It’s stormy and grey, both inside and out, so we don our rain jackets and take Hazelnut on a speedwalk armed with pastries and coffee from the bakery before shaking off the wet and ducking into the military fort turned aquarium at the end of the peninsula. We walk past it daily on our morning strolls, but have yet to venture inside.
We wander past tanks of fish that apparently live in the sea right below us. There’s octopus and eels, rays and dogfish that poke their heads out of the water and look like begging pups. In between tanks there’s memorabilia from the World Wars and it's a weird juxtaposition, like most things here in Croatia, but it works. This aquarium is known for it's work to preserve Mediterranean sea life and we examine Noble Pen Shells, rescued from the coast just a few years ago when a parasite threatened to send them into extinction. Our favorites are the sea turtles. The aquarium rehabs dozens each year and we meet the most curious baby named Keti who swallowed a fish hook and follows us back and forth behind the glass. Each summer they release the ones who are fit to return to the wild and we write the date down so we can see her swim back out into the Adriatic.
The rain stops but the wind is icy and fierce. We head inland and walk the muddy country roads between olive groves, and past crumbling stone walls, a practice we’ve dubbed “rambling.” There’s wild boar tracks in the mud and the leaves mix with overlooked olives along the sides of the road.
We try a new coffee shop and order cookies and cheesecake and vow to do one new thing a week this year. It’s easy to get in a rut, even when you’re living so far from anything familiar, but I’m reminded of the importance of treating life like a vacation. Going to the bakery on a Tuesday and skipping grocery shopping in favor of wandering down a new path and being a tourist in your own town.
The thermometer drops and I think maybe we’ve gotten weak because we’re shivering in our down jackets and beanies and gloves even though it’s barely freezing. The cold front brings clear skies and glassy water and we linger too long watching the cormorants fish in the shallows every day on our walk.
We play hand after hand after hand of rummy and I manage to make chili crisp that’s fairly close to our favorite Fly By Jin and we drizzle it on everything and think of home.
Our cooler is stocked with cheap Croatian groceries and our ski boots are packed and ready for our first trip of the New Year today.
Until next time,
Mikaela
My heart, outside my body❤️