Dolac Market in Croatia

One of the joys of traveling is meeting strangers with whom a chance conversation sparks a sense of kinship that feels like destiny. During my recent journey through the South of France, an unremarkable leg of the trip involved a shuttle from the train to the Marseille airport. Exiting the shuttle bus, I struck up a conversation with two women. Americans by birth and artists by trade, both had been traveling the world for months. Next up was Croatia, which they had visited earlier. I was fascinated by these adventuresome women with their lust for travel. One of them, Rachel, asked if I’d been to Zagreb in Croatia. I haven’t. She went on to describe the market, and I immediately knew that we are like-minded souls who enjoy visiting markets as a way to discover the local culture. She planned to return to the Dolac Market while in Croatia. I’m grateful that Rachel accepted my invitation to write a guest post as a way to share her observations, photos, and experiences. I’ve added it to my wishlist of destinations. You might too after reading her account. Enjoy!  ~Marjorie 

(Guest post and photos by Rachel Button) 

In the center of Zagreb, stacked atop a staircase to the north of Trg bana Josipa Jelačića, is Dolac Market. Dolac has been a major center of trade in the Croatian capital since 1926. Over the years, this tradition has not lessened in the slightest: farmers from surrounding towns and villages flock to Dolac every day to sell fruit, flowers, veggies, herbs, homemade jars of honey and jams, cheese, nuts, and meat. When I first began my visits in June, I quickly realized that Dolac is subdivided into two spaces: an outdoor market, and an indoor covered market. The outdoor market sits directly atop the covered market, and one can easily maneuver between the two through various sets of stairs.

I do my shopping in the outdoor market, which is primarily a source of produce. The tables here are organized in a grid-like pattern, and each is shaded by a festive red umbrella. On bright days, the sun above the market shines through the umbrellas and casts brilliant, saturated red light onto the people and produce underneath.

As I push my way through the aisles, every farmer I pass emits the Croatian word “izvolite,” which translates to “here you are.” Everyone is eager to present their harvest, to catch a meandering eye. Whenever I do decide to stop at a table, the farmer invariably presents me with a plastic bag, gesturing for me to fill, fill to my heart’s content. If I scantily fill my bag, say, with a few tomatoes, or a single onion, the farmer will press me, “kilo?” implying I should buy an entire kilogram. I often hear the phrase, “jedan za tri, dva za pet…” which means one item for three Croatian kuna, two for five. Sometimes I will relent, taking the additional food, other times I am more firm. In either case, the energy of this interaction, the repetitive phrases of the farmers, the bits of Croatian I add to my vocabulary, all of it excites me and entices me to continue my pacing and browsing.

The farmers are always very friendly, treating me with a knowingness and familiarity that I assumed would be reserved for the locals. One day, I handed a farmer a cucumber and a few tomatoes to purchase. She placed them on her scale—one of those old fashioned balancing scales, where you manually add brass weights. Unsure of how to estimate my weight in relation to price, the woman tossed a cabbage into my bag and looked up at me, smiling with five fingers raised, “pet kuna!” Another time, I bought a couple potatoes and onions from a different woman. Also unsure about my price, my weight not quite reaching one kilogram, she looked around her table and decidedly tossed a pear into my bag, rounding my total to eight kuna. There is something about this lack of precision, these relative values, and the randomness of what I sometimes leave with (ingredients I often have no clue how to prepare) that I love dearly.

When I first began my visits to Dolac, there were several items I did not recognize. You may have noticed the pale, white peppers in some of my photos. Before my time in Croatia, I had never seen peppers like this; I had only been acquainted with the typical reds, yellows, oranges, and greens. An at-home Google search revealed these to be white Hungarian peppers, a variety of pepper known for its sweetness and crunchiness. Apparently, they are a strange sight for visitors from other parts of the world as well. I often notice tourists pause in front of these veggies, staring or stopping for a photo. Since my arrival in Zagreb, I have had the opportunity to sample the white Hungarian peppers. In my experience, they do not taste especially sweet, but they are crunchier than other peppers!

Another interesting item I have noticed in Dolac is parsley. Here, they sell parsley either loose or attached to the pale, root plant. Initially, this brought me much confusion: I saw the same label, “peršin” for both normal-looking parsley, as well as this strange, carrot-like thing with parsley-like leaves. It took me a long time to realize that both of these items were indeed parsley. Croatians use parsley roots in soups and stews— apparently, it works well with other roots and tubers, such as carrots or potatoes!

In the fall, Croatians are absolutely crazy about chestnuts. There are countless chestnut-themed desserts, and on most street corners you will find a vendor standing above a grill, roasting chestnuts. In Dolac Market, some of the vendors sell “kesten med,” or chestnut honey. I highly recommend this treat, which is unlike any honey I have previously tasted. It is sweet and rich, with a subtle, bitter spice in the aftertaste. Since buying kesten med, I have been finding every possible opportunity to use it—in my tea, on toast, in crepes, you name it. I will definitely be buying more before my departure.

Dolac Market is unique because it feels like a window into which I can truly observe Croatian culture. I can see the full spectrum of the Croatian population, from the rural farmers to the city-dwellers of Zagreb. I can witness the way people shop, the items they are drawn to, and the importance of certain foods. I love having an excuse for these simple exchanges: my need to buy food allows me to interact with the farmers, to observe their mannerisms, and better understand Croatia as a whole. Fortunately, I am in Zagreb for a few more weeks…meaning there will be plenty of time for more market visits.

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Rachel Button is an artist and writer, currently traveling through Europe with a friend. She first visited Zagreb in June of this year, and she is currently in Zagreb for a little more than a month. Rachel recently began a blog in an attempt to document her travels. Check it out at hippospit.com.