Croatia: Bears, Mills, & Feast of the Assumption of Virgin Mary (August 15, 2025)
On the third day of Croatia my true host shared with me …
BEARS!
Okay, I’ll get to that, but first let me tell you about the Feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Mom, if you’re reading this blog post, this one is most certainly for YOU. Growing up Catholic, I wanted to be “Pope Bill the First,” and I’m not even kidding about that. I was an alter boy and extremely active one at that. I volunteered for most masses and enjoyed playing an active role.
My mom’s mom and dad (my nana and grandpa) said the rosary every night and I would often join them. As we’d go around and say 10 Hail Mary’s while meditating on the mystery, then pray the Glory Be and the Fatima Prayer, I would feel a sense of clam and relaxation. I genuinely enjoyed this time.
Today, I see this as my very early entry into meditation through prayer. While I don’t consider myself a Catholic, I do consider myself spiritual and am active in the Unitarian Universalist faith tradition. So when my host, Nikola Maras asked me if I was interested in joining him, his wife Ivana and youngest son, Maro and their next door neighbors to an outdoor Catholic service on the Feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, I was excited to participate.
Outdoor mass for the Feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary
We left the house at 7am to get there early (around 9am) for a service that started at 11am and would go until 12:30pm with a feast to follow. Many of the participants walked to this service as a pilgrimage and some walking for a full 24 hours or more (some as many as 48 hours). I could be mistaken, but I believe the church we went to was called the Church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary and this was it’s biggest event of the year.
As we secured our spot, we had time to walk around and I could imagine my grandparents being in exactly a spot like this when they were alive. They used to bring a blessed statute of the Virgin Mary to special events just like this one. The whole event brought me back thinking about what life for both of them must of been like as they traveled to church services such as this one.
So here I am, three days into my journey into Croatia and I find myself in such an incredibly unique experience — one that brings me back to my own childhood and anchors me back to my grandparents. If I could have “summoned” anyone to have this surreal experience with me, it would have been my Uncle Paul (my mom’s youngest brother) who is not only a fellow Unitarian Universalist, but also shares my fascination and a certain reverence for our family’s Catholic upbringing, history and culture.
In all my years growing up Catholic, I had never had such a large outdoor gathering like this, nor the rich community aspects of everything surrounding it such as the 1-2 day walking pilgrimage prior and the prepared feast afterwards. And boy oh boy was it an incredible feast.
Not only did Nikola Maras cook a massive BBQ of delicious chicken and pork, as well as Ivana Maras, prepared a host of side dishes, including fresh vegetables from her garden, we were joined by their next-door neighbors Mira Klobučar and her husband, brought a second feast that included homemade prosciutto and Ajvar.
Which, by the way, if you’ve never had Croatian Ajvar, what they hell are you doing with you life?!? This stuff makes Baba Ganoush taste like a bland “starter” for Croatian Ajvar. I’m serious and I LOVE Baba Ganoush more than hummus. I could have Croatian Ajvar and … well, anything because it’s that delicious. (Sorry, Mira, for devouring your family-sized jar. If it’s any consolation, I did the same thing to Ivana’s jar the night before when I was first introduced to this nectar of the gods).
And the thing about eating in Croatia, there’s some unspoken rule about guests never leaving a meal with any hunger. Both families made enough for both families to eat only their supply … twice over, so needless to say we feasted.
After the giant feast, we climbed another mountain. This one wasn’t quite as tall or challenging as it was a weather station and if you wanted to, you could drive nearly to the top (but what’s the fun in that?)
At the top you could see the islands on the other side of the mountain. That was fun and, of course, the more clear the day is the better you can see the islands.
And yes, the peak of the day was seeing bears. Croatia has a bear sanctuary where volunteers come from all over the world to take care of these bears. I’ve never seen a bear so close up — not even in a zoo as far as I can recall. These bears were HUGE and so close you could pet them. I didn’t, of course, because I’m not an idiot (and there’s an electric fence that subtly reminds you to keep your hands to yourself). But they were astonishing to admire as they went about their foraging. I think these were the biggest bears I’ve ever seen.
And yes, I’ve seen bears in the wild in Montana as well as Yellowstone National park. Usually I’m in my car holding a pair of binoculars that I just can’t seem to adjust in a way that helps me see the bear clearly. It’s more like a brown or black bear-like blob that moves behind a tree just as I’m correcting the focus.
This was completely different. Clear shots for cameras and you could gaze at these magnificent creatures for as long as you wished. You could ask any questions to the volunteers who were happy to chat with you about them. This was bear heaven — at least on my side of the fence. The bears seemed to have it really good but of course I couldn’t help wonder if they’d be better off on their own in the wild. But given that they were in captivity, I admired these magnificent creatures for all their power, beauty and incredible mass.
To round out this incredible day, we visited a historic mill. This was one of those mills that used the natural spring water to churn the mill that rotated the grinder that pummeled the flour that made the bread everyone in the town ate.
What’s impressive is how much of the old mill is still standing. Sure, renovations have been done to turn some of it into a historic bed & breakfast with very private and serene rooms. But you can still walk the train tracks that hauled the milled flour and stick your feet in the seven degree celsius water (which both Maro and I did because … well, why not?)
When the water is that cold, your feet go numb pretty quickly and then when you take them out you get a bit of a fire sensation as they return to “normal” body heat. Whim Hoff, what are you doing, man? How can this be fun? Of course, both Maro and I smiled for the camera. We can’t let on just how cold our feet are or the burning sensation as they defrost in real time. Just keep smiling and telling yourself the pain will go away soon … like really soon. Okay, it may all be in my mind, but I’m really aware of my feet right now. Damn that was cold!
Back home (after the mill), we still had a full feast chilling in the trunk, so all of us took out the feast from lunch and did it all over again for dinner. This time, we sat in the lovely backyard of Nikola and Ivana Maras joined by their next door neighbors who cheated a bit and brought a few reinforcements. They saw how much I loved their homemade prosciutto. I did. I unapologetically devoured the reinforcements along with what remained of the Croatian Ajvar (you knew that was coming if you were paying attention earlier).
Yes, when I stepped on the scale the next morning, I could see the evidence of indulging in a double feast, but it was totally worth it. Home cooked meals by not two, but four incredible Croatian chefs was too much for any kind of restraint. Feast today for tomorrow we die (or something like that). Besides, those majestic bears never once had to worry about how much they weigh. Okay, that’s justification and I’ll get back to regular eating tomorrow. Maybe even a water fast, but no regrets today. Yum all the way around.
