In the grey veil of a January morning, I stepped off the plane in Zagreb, the Croatian capital cloaked in a biting minus-eight chill. But this wasn’t just travel; it was a pilgrimage. Armed with a freshly minted putovnica – my Croatian passport, the culmination of four years of paperwork from New Zealand registries to London’s embassy – I had come to reclaim a sliver of heritage.
My grandfather, Rafo Dankov Nobilo, had left the island of Korčula in 1926, at age 25, bound for Auckland’s gum fields. He was never to return. Now, nearly a century later, I was following his ghost through Croatia’s mosaic of ancient fortresses, emerald islands and hidden villages, unravelling family threads long frayed by time and distance.
My journey took me across almost the entirety of Croatia – the lush green farmland of Osijek in Slavonia, the Istrian jewel Pula, the almost too-popular Dubrovnik. I drove north to Split, stopping at the ancient ruins of Salona, the birthplace of Emperor Diocletian in 244 AD. In Split’s Marjan area, I offloaded my London single-speed bicycle and cycled to what would become known as Spalatum – Diocletian’s Palace, a 1,700-year-old Roman relic and the nucleus of modern Split.
My grandfather’s birthplace was Korčula. In Lumbarda, on the southern tip of the island, I wandered terraced fields and crumbling ruins, seeking the 10 parcels of land bequeathed in his will. Shared among siblings and complicated by Croatia’s turbulent history, the inheritance remains a puzzle I’m still piecing together. Relatives have claimed the family house, and ownership webs tangle with unknown names.
Further explorations took me to Hvar’s lavender fields and up the coast to Rijeka, a gritty port city blending Italianate architecture with industrial edge. Osijek offered Slavonian flatlands dotted with baroque churches, a reminder of Croatia’s diverse tapestry. In Primorje-Gorski Kotar, misty mountains cradled hidden lakes, a world away from the coast’s glamour.
As summer comes to a close, I’m feeling settled for the first time in perhaps a decade. Croatia was a search for roots, but now I don’t feel as though I’m searching for “home” any longer. Perhaps I have found it.
Ryan Thompson is a UK-based menswear and lifestyle writer, whose work has appeared in, among others, the Financial Times, Mr Porter, The Rake and Ape to Gentleman
