Brseč is a small Istrian town where time moves differently, where stone speaks and cats decide what matters. In this episode we walk through narrow lanes, past Glagolitic script on the walls, and arrive at the understanding that some smaller places — and some smaller parts of ourselves — need to be discovered slowly.


Ćakula Café is a slow Croatian podcast for diaspora and heritage speakers at A2–B1 level — for those who want not to learn the language, but to recognise it as something that already belongs to them. Sit down, pour a coffee, and go slowly.

Hosted by Tihana Klepač, Associate Professor at the University of Zagreb and founder of TalkTime Croatian at talktimecro.com. The Saturday Letter from Zagreb lands in your inbox every weekend — essays on language, culture, and belonging in Croatian. talktimecroatian.substack.com.

VOCABULARY LIST

  1. miris (MEE-ris) — smell, scent; the sensory memory of a place before you can name it
  2. nema žurbe (NEH-mah ZHOO-beh) — there is no rush; one of the core rhythms of Croatian life
  3. glagoljica (glah-GOH-lee-tsah) — Glagolitic script, the ancient Croatian alphabet, still written on the walls of Istrian towns
  4. šterna (SHTER-nah) — town well or cistern; the gathering place around which village life was built
  5. tvrdoglavi (tvr-doh-GLAH-vee) — stubborn, obstinate; used here with affection, of a town that refused to disappear
  6. bura (BOO-rah) — the fierce northeasterly wind of the Adriatic coast
  7. promatraj (pro-mah-TRAHJ) — observe, watch; an invitation to slow attention
  8. biti prisutan / prisutna (BEE-tee prees-TOO-ahn / prees-TOOT-nah) — to be present, attentive; a state rather than a task
  9. kale (KAH-leh) — narrow stone lanes in Istrian towns, from the Venetian calle; the word for the street itself, not just its gutters
  10. razumijevanje (rah-zoo-mee-eh-VAHN-yeh) — understanding, comprehension; deeper than merely knowing
  11. fjaka (FYAH-kah) — that particular Adriatic state of unhurried being; coastal melancholy that is also peace

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