Generalski Stol

As may notice, Generalski is extremely close to the word General, which is exactly what it means, and stol being the word for table, thus making Generalski Stol translate to General’s Table. It is south of Karlovac, the major military base in Croatia, and thus was a hot spot during the war in ’91. Most every adult in the town was enlisted to help in the battle and the other side of Mreznica (the river that runs through the city) is still covered with land mines, luckily there are no houses on that side of the village.

Ivana’s mother’s side of the family all grew up in Generalski and inherited a house there, where they farm a vegetable garden, raise chickens for eggs, and collect apples and pears to make rakija (alcohol). Ivana and I went to Generalski for a total of six days but in two trips of three.

Recently the weather keeps getting hotter and hotter, so it was relief to get to some place we could swim. And the river is one of the cleanest I’ve ever been in, the water is just the right temperature and all along the river are the really small but beautiful waterfalls. As you can probably guess, everyday we went swimming at least once, if not twice.

Everyone in Ivana’s family comes to Generalski around the same time (vacation time), though Mace (one of the sisters) lives their almost permanently.

When we arrived we had just heard the news that the rooster’s only partner in life had died two days before. Ivana and her family believe this to be the only monogamous rooster in the world, no matter how many chickens were around he would only court the one. But before I left they had bought two more for him, so maybe his ways had changed. He was an old rooster, nearly 5 years (I think the average is 3 or maybe even younger).

When we weren’t swimming I was getting a lot of reading done, or helping the sisters do some things, or helping make food or clean, or finally, protecting Ivana from the rooster or killer bees. The rooster had a tendency to attack people, but as long as you carried a stick and showed it you were the boss he left you alone. And as for the killer bees…I never swat one because I’d never seen one before and they were still freaky to me, but Zlata (Ivana’s mom—her name translates to Goldie) killed them in about 2 two three swats and a good stepping on.

During my stay in Generalski I developed an addiction to the soft drink Cockta. A Slovenian substitute for Coke, but it tastes nothing like Coke, it is less sugary and has a completely original taste, and it uses different kinds of sugar and not as many preservatives and artificial sweeteners.

The village was mostly an escape from the heat of Zagreb. The river made the day livable again and swimming really refreshes your spirit and makes you feel great, so it was really nice to spend the amount of time there that I did.

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Part of trip: Europe Trip 2

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