Although I am not a big fan of artificial villages and folk-Disneylands, Etnoland “Dalmati” near Pakovo selo was not a bad idea. It was imagined as a traditional hamlet that would give a good picture of the traditional life in the hinterland of Šibenik. Unfortunately, it does not look good… Instead of lovely, typical stone houses and several trees like almond or mulberry, there are two stone buildings, a toilet and something that looks like a hangar… all that on a huge lot of reclaimed land with almost no vegetation…

The good things are, on the other hand, the exhibition of traditional life and food. The food – peka – is simply DELICIOUS! One of the better peka I had in some time!

The exhibition of traditional life is housed in the stone building called “Didova kuća” – Grandpa’s house. The house is divided into several exhibition rooms. The first one is the bedroom…

Our guide was Ana and she was exceptional and her English perfect. The story of the bedroom tells the story of the relationship of men and women who rarely spent time together.

The second room is the room that shows the hand weaving and traditional clothing manufacturing. All from wool. A variety of traditional toold is housed here as well as some of the lovely samples of traditional clothing and “accessories”.

The dining room is lovely and probably far better equipped than most of the old ones. This would be probably the dining room of the richest person in the village.

The most authentic room is definitely the so called “Black kitchen” – part of the house for cooking and preparing food. The name comes from the char left on the walls. This particular kitchen looks like the one I remember in my grandmother’s village. The sharp scent of smoke brings memories. Especially the one coming from “šmrika” wood.

There is also a wine cellar as part of this building and part of the tour. As previously mentioned, this was a very good idea and parts of it have been nicely done, but overall feeling is missing that authenticity and the looks of the genuine village. It is more targeted towards larger and corporate groups with the show in the amphitheater than to the individual visitors, but one can always join a group for a small fee.

Peka is worth the visit!