The storm during the night wasn’t as bad as Sandra had feared – it rained fairly hard from time to time, but didn’t seem that major. Left the motorhome, did yoga by my tent, ate a rather sparse breakfast – must go to the store – went for a ride just after 10. Turns out today is a holiday of some sort, so lots of kids in the playground here, and most businesses are closed – need to get a haircut tomorrow, I guess, if I can find a barber (my hair is almost an inch long on the sides!).

Not much of a town, at least on this side of the river. The Zitomislici Monastery is right across the highway so went and had a look. A couple of folks were just leaving, so had the place to myself.

As I entered the ‘foyer’ a young monk came up and opened the inner door for me – wow. I wasn’t expecting what the inside was like.

The Monastery has been on that site since at least the 1600’s, as it was renovated in 1602. It was torched in 1941 and most of it’s treasures and manuscripts were lost to the fire. Then it was completely destroyed in the war of 1992-95, before being rehabilitated in 2005. The beautiful paintings inside were done in 2012, according to the monk.

I ended up spending around an hour altogether, including the graveyard and lighting a candle in an outdoor three-tiered stand filled with sand to catch the dripping wax.


Just as I was leaving a van with six or seven people arrived – my timing was perfect.

Took a side road when I left the monastery but eventually it just looped back to the highway. Went back the way I came, then past the campground and over the bridge to the rest of Zitomislici on the other side of the river. Again not much of a town, but did follow the road beside the train tracks until the road ended, then back to the store I got directions in front of yesterday. Loaded up on veggies, etc – likely stay a few days where I am and was almost out of everything.

Got back to camp right before it started raining again, made soup and fresh veggies for lunch, in addition to what I thought was tuna that I got at the store. When I opened the can I was a bit surprised – it was actually tuna covered with ‘Mexican style vegetables’ – beans, etc. Actually not bad, but not what I had expected.

The flip-flop fix didn’t hold – strap was flapping again so tried something different. I sowed the strap on to the sole, pushing the needle thru 1/4 inch of rubber with the handle of my Swiss-army knife – that thing is so useful! The next larger town I’m in I’ll have to buy some sandals or something, I guess.

Went up to the terrace/bar are to sit at a table and play cards. A girl came over and asked if she could play with me – showed me a kind of rummy. Played for awhile – her name is Marianna and she’s from Osijek in north-east Croatia. I believe her aunt and uncle are the owners of the campground and she also just started working here. She speaks very good English, which she learned as a kid watching cartoons and movies. They don’t dub very many shows here so almost everything is in English with subtitles. Might have another change of plans and visit the area she’s from instead of going directly to Zagreb.

Restaurant got busier so Marianna had to work. Treated myself to dinner – skewers (pork) with fries and grilled vegetables. Skewers and zucchini were grilled over wood on the outdoor grill – both very delicious – cost me about $9 including tip. Took left-overs back to the tent for breakfast tomorrow.

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