Since I was a child I always imagined how great it would feel bottling up a sensation, a thought, a feeling, or a dream so I could reopen and experience it later. I am clearly not the only person who has thought this. I love how in Roald Dahl’s, The B.F.G. dreams were kept in bottles to be blown into children's rooms, or in Erin Morgenstern’s The Night Circus where whole rooms were filled with jars of experiences to be opened and re-explored.  So many times this year I have stopped, inhaled deeply and tried to capture that moment forever, just to hold it and not to let it go.

When we walked into Fedra Gamulin's chocolate shop “Gamulin Chocolates” in Jesla I had the overwhelming sensation that this was not a chocolate shop, as much as it was a place where the sensation of the Dalmatian islands was being packaged so you could take a part of the island home.  The smells of lavender, the sweet seedy dried figs and the sticky homemade almond taffy mixed with the warm comfort of melted chocolates. She lives and breathes this island, creates her works of art, and then slides her perfect hardened creations into a bag, ties them with a sweet lavender ribbon and you are left with a bit of Dalmatia to take home.  

Fedra seems to be born to make chocolates.  She based many of her creations on grandmother’s recipes.  When she talks about the process of making chocolates, I heard her speak more of childhood memories, smells and feelings than I did of actual ingredients.  She only makes chocolates she enjoys and her creations feel like the ultimate expression of who she is and the island of Hvar. Her bobbed chocolate brown hair, easy warm smile and playful gestures made me feel like I stepped into Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and anything was possible.  She danced and laughed around her golden brown shop lit by the sparkling globe lights that mirror the sparkling handmade chocolate pralines on the counter, warmly showing us how to make chocolates.

This is the first year Gamulin's shop is open and the girls had a blast, making their own bars to capture their own island memories.   Next year she plans to put out a few tables and offer coffee with chocolate spoons. I can’t think of a better way to enjoy the Croatian tradition of sitting for hours and enjoying a coffee than to do it with the sweet local chocolate.  And after coffee, take a piece of Hvar home in the form of a Gamulin chocolate. Too bad for our friends and family that our adventures continue, otherwise my bag would be full of delicious chocolates and you could experience the Havr Island as well!