Bakar, Bakarska vodica

Foto by: Miljenko Segulja

We entered Bakar by the old  main Roman road built in the 1st century BC (renovated of course) that follows the coast of the Bakar bay.

Foto by: RI prsten - Klaudio Vrancic

The area was inhabited in the 3rd and 2nd millennium BC. This great cultural heritage can be seen everywhere.  The area was marked by  the Roman Empire, then by the Croatian noble families Zrinski and Frankopan, and in  the 1779, Empress Maria Theresa awarded Bakar  with status of the free royal city.

Bakar is distinguished by its narrow streets and squares that  will take you to the church of St. Andrew (the third largest in Croatia), Roman and Turkish houses, Kastel that overlooks the entire Bakar gulf  , who was known as the maritime, trade and fishing center of the northern Croatian coast. The view of the  Bakar's sea(bay) will sail to your memory a host of people who have sailed, trade and left their mark here - the Illyrians, Celts, Greeks, Romans, Byzantines, Venetians and Croats who settled area in the 7th century.

Foto by: Miljenko Segulja

Bakarani (people from Bakar) would offer you Bakars' biscotti and Bakarska vodica of which they are particularly proud as part of their cultural heritage.

Bakars' biscotti are delicious biscuits (pretzels) that you can buy only in Bakar, fresh or twice baked. It is overdone so it could last more than six months as it is dry and in the past  it was very convenient as food on long voyages and was carried instead of bread on long fishing trips, traditionally dipped in red wine, tea or latte. Today biscotti are one of the symbols and souvenirs of Bakar.

Foto by: RI prsten - Klaudio Vrancic

On the eastern slopes of the hills surrounding Bakar Bay, from Bakar to Bakarac are dry stone walls of Bakar. Construction  of dry stone walls began in the 18th century, during the reign of Maria Theresa. With her permission locals paved the ground and planted vineyards. In those new made plots women brought soil on their backs where was planted grapevine "Belina".  Famous sparkling wine Bakarska vodica was produced from that grapevine.

Foto by: Miljenko Segulja

If you leave Bakar by "magistrala" highway to Rijeka and stop in the parking lot of the "Vidikovac" restaurant you will have a beautiful view  overlooking Bakar,  the Bay of Bakar, and the visible remains of dry stone walls. Dry stone walls were declared in a 1972 a protected area and are included in the register of cultural monuments.

Foto by: Miljenko Segulja

Throughout history, male members of the families living in these areas mostly worked overseas, in the construction of the Suez Canal (1858-1869),  as laborers, sailors or shipbuilders in many shipyards.

Women in vineyards performed all the necessary work as spraying, sulfuring, weeding and maintaining the vineyards and cellars, to making and selling wine. Each hostess know in detail the production of the famous sparkling wine called - Bakarska vodica, and that perserved the winemaking tradition.

Foto by: Miljenko Segulja

Bakarska vodica is a sparkling wine that is made from white grape varieties. Mostly prevailing belina, but  they also used a little Žlahtina, Muscat white .... probably the recipe for manufacturing sparkling wine was given by Napoleon's soldiers or someone brought directly from France. Bakarska vodica contained commonly about 50 g / l of unfermented sugar and that is why is placed in a sweet sparkling wine.

After more than half a century of squalor, in 2002 it is established an agricultural cooperative based in Dolčina Praputnjak. The cooperative began reconstruction of the part of Bakar terraces and planted them with the grapevine varieties beline. Unfortunately amounts are very small. Today is planted several thousand vines. We can only imagine what it used to be when the slopes of the Bakar Bay grew over 100,000 vines.

Foto by: Miljenko Segulja