This is when the day turned into a miracle. We arrived at Lukovdol and parked by the Post Office, which is the center of the town. The town has 115 people. This is the area that Antionija Palijan was raised. She is dad's mother. We were across the street from the museum and Ante saw some people by museum. He went over and started visiting with her and explained that we were trying to find out where Antonija had lived. This woman turned out to be the curator for the museum and as Paula and Ante visited, she went inside and made a phone call. She called Darinka Mikic because she thought she might be our relative. It turned out that Darinka is dad's cousin. Darinka just lived down the street from the museum and she told us to come to her house. Before we walked down to Darinka's house, the curator took us through the museum and showed us pictures of our relatives. It was absolutely amazing. The curator then walked with us to Darinka's house. As we were walking to Darinka's house, Ante was saying how it was pretty remarkable that we found the curator because she is not usually at the museum at this time of day. We told Ante it was a miracle and that God was looking out for us. These are pictures of the town, the museum and the walk to Darinka's house.
The Post Office
The School House where dad's mother and all of her family members attended.
The Old Cemetery in the Center of Town
The Museum
Zdenka, Dad and Paula
This is where our family journey began. Zdenka is the museum curator and she recognized Lynn and Lori as Palijans. She could not believe how much we looked like the Palijans. We laughed because we always thought we looked like mom's side of the family. We would have never met Darinka without Zdenka's help. She went out of her way to teach us about our family and help us find the house where our grandmother was born and raised. She was amazing. The pictures below hang in the museum and Zdenka pointed out how the people were related to us.
The 2nd man on the right is Gurag Palijan. He is dad's uncle. He was Antonija Palijan's brother.
Danica Palijan
This picture hangs in the museum. It is a Ladies Association that was formed between WWI and WWII. The first woman on the left on the first row is Darinka Palijan Mikic. She is dad's cousin and she is 89 years old.
This is the special beaded hat that the Ladies Associations wore.
The street to Darinka's house.
The Fire Station
Darinka's House. She now lives in Zagreb with her daughter during the winter and lives in this house in the summer. The winters are too harsh for her.
Darinka and dad.
Visiting with Darinka. She served us homemade strudel and homemade syrup. It was delicious. She recalled stories of dad's mother and then told us about her family. She had two children, a boy and a girl. Her daughter teaches at the University in Zagreb and her son moved to the United States and was an inventor. He had over 100 patents. He worked for Snap-on Tools. She showed us plaques that he was awarded for his inventions. He has passed away. I still have more to share but I need to quit. It is 2:00 a.m. and morning will come early. Needless to say, it was an amazing day meeting Darinka. It was like she was just waiting to meet us. She was delightful and it was a very touching afternoon. Even Ante thought it was remarkable. We could not have done it without him. He opened the way for us and was able to translate for us. He is just remarkable! We did not leave her house until 6:00 p.m. and we still went on to Gorenci and Mrkopalj. We got home very late tonight. I will finish this tomorrow.
Darinka's kitchen
This is the house that grandmother was born and raised in. The house still belongs to a family member. Franjo's oldest son inherited the house. He is deceased but his wife still lives there. She took us inside and showed us the house.
The property where grandmother lived is right on the Slovenia border. These pictures show what the area looks like and you will see the lumber. Every house has wood stacked by their place. They heat and cook with wood. Darinka still cooks with a wood stove.
Lumber Yard
Gorenci
Gorenci
This sign means you are leaving Gorenci. We left Gorenci and drove to Mrkopalj. This is where Milan Crnkovich was born. Milan is Dad's father. It was only a 15 minute drive from Gorenci. When we arrived in the town there were people visiting outside the church. Ante and Paula got out and asked them if they knew any Crnkovich's, Gasparac's, or Radosevic's. A car came driving down the street and the people stopped the car. He was Marinko Gasparac. He told us to follow him to his house and he would visit with us. He really wasn't sure if he was related to us. He had a letter from a cousin from the United States that was asking him about genealogy. He said he looked for the information but he didn't have any luck. He said that the Crnkovich's had moved away. He told us that many people moved away because of the war and they had no way of making a living. Most of the homes in this area are now summer homes or people rent the rooms so they can ski in the winter.
Mrkopalj's coat of arms
The church in Mrkopalj
The cemetery
We stopped and had dinner at the White Rose on the way home. The food was delicious! We headed back to Zagreb. It took us around 45 minutes to drive back, so that gives you an idea of how close this area is to Zagreb. This district of Croatia has a very low population. As you can see from the pictures, it is very rural. The villages center around the church and the cemetery is usually close by the church.
The White Rose
