OK, so we went for a wine tasting tour to the Peljesac peninsula. That’s awesome, isn’t it?! But that’s not what this post is all about. We drove along Dingac wine growing region, and enjoyed the most amazing views you can imagine. But that’s not what this post is all about. We’ve seen the nicest turqouise sea ever. But this post isn’t about that either.
I want to tell you about the old man we met in the village of Trstenik.
After visiting three wineries on the peninsula, we took a beautiful mountainous road through the wine-growing Dingac region on our way back home. When we reached the village of Trstenik, we impulsively decided to stop for a coffee. The sun was shining, cafe had a seafront terrace, and we could snap few awesome photos. However, an unexpected folkloric experience awaited us.
As we stepped out of the car, one local appeared in front of us – a tall, tanned old man. In a low voice he was offering to us his homemade cheese and prosciutto. I was confused and pointed to my father-in-law (let’s call him a mustache-man; hope he’s not reading this), the leader of our tribe. He’s experienced man, accustomed to such intrusions of locals. He explained to the old man that we weren’t interested, and when it seemed that our stop in Trstenik would end with a simple coffee just as we planned, my brother-in-law appeared. At this very moment, he felt like having some cheese curd. “What’s curd?”, the old man asked at first, but he corrected himself quickly as my brother-in-law was repeating the question. Of course, he said, the last piece of curd is waiting for you.
We followed him to his cellar. He let us inside the old, dusty cellar. The cellar is not renovated, he explained quickly, because his foreign customers love it the way it is. He would disappoint them if he renovates. He was a skillful storyteller.
I don’t need to say that he didn’t have any cheese curd. But skillful old trader didn’t waste his time. We were sniffing the local sheep cheese (or so he said) in no time. He tried to sell us local prosciutto too. But we remained firm there.
If you wander, of course that we haven’t seen any sheep on the peninsula.
We overpaid for cheese, but underpaid for the experience. At the other thought, we should have bought some prosciutto too.
And the cheese actually tasted very good.
When traveling, do you have a way to say NO to locals who try to sell you all kinds of things you don’t need? How do you handle situations like this?
I have a very firm no! Usually I never get asked twice, and then if I do there is always The Look that I can fall back on. It’s very good yet usually I am so sweet and charming ;)