Rukavac

In the summer of 2004, we drove all over the island of Vis, wanting to see as much as possible in the short ten days of vacation. From the “base” in Ženka, we immediately saw a great beach for swimming in Milna. As our children were still relatively small at the time, Paula was 8 years old, Silvio was 6, it was an ideal place to play because of the sand, shallowness, and southern orientation. There was no crowd on the beach yet. Later we discovered Zaglav, which is not far away, and there were even fewer people.

In fact, one of the things I liked right away was that there weren’t a lot of people in general. I expected a lot of people, it’s the peak of the season, and no one anywhere. I appreciated that peace because of the work I do, in constant “moving” 355 days a year, so nirvana suited me in those 10 days of the year.

Somehow, maybe just because of that peace, I started looking at land ads. Like, while I’m already on the island, let’s see what’s offered and at which price. I didn’t have a real desire to buy back then, it was more of a curiosity.

I remember that I had an eye on the land in Rukavac, above the playground in the upper part of the town. Rukavac is the third-largest on the island and is ideally oriented south, so it certainly has the most sunny days of the year. And who doesn’t love the south and the sun?

On a small plot of about three hundred square meters, there was a board with a telephone number and the inscription FOR SALE! Standing on that plot, which had a beautiful view of the sea and the famous Srebrena beach about 200 meters away, I hesitated whether to call the number from the board.

In the conversation with my wife, the decision to call was made. A lawyer with a Macedonian surname contacted me and briefly explained that it was the land of her client, one of the former JNA officers, that it was in a construction area and could be mine for 50 euros per m2. As the euro had just hit the market at the time, we all converted euro amounts into German marks to see if something was expensive or not.  “A hundred marks, I told the lawyer, that’s too expensive. Maybe 50 but marks,” my father’s old merchant spirit spoke from me, though I had not yet decided whether we would “buy” anything at all.

The lawyer of course “declined” me with the words “that it’s a great offer and that it will be sold at that price right away” so there was nothing from the sudden purchase.

But the seeds of lust for the plot in Rukavac were still sown.