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If she had to say something succinctly about herself, it would be "knowledge and recognition that she has lived tradition, heritage and culture all her life", are the words used to describe herself Božidarka Ščerbe Haupt, guide and lover of cultural and historical heritage.
"I feel completely a man of the sea, scrap and jagged stone", she tells us, adding honestly and vividly that she sometimes feels as if she herself is "jagged and sharp, just like our coastal stone".
On the other hand, the story goes on, very soft and tender memories of her parents and other ancestors from the island of Rab, as well as all their stories, which she believes have determined her through life.
After completing his studies in German and Italian language and literature, Božidarka - as the famous call him Darek - starts working in tourism, where the then Dalmatian tourist, Regular Tours, takes her under his wing and shapes her into a guide 'ready for all times'.
"I fondly remember how, in the 80s of the last century, without cell phones and GPS, we arrived everywhere on time and found our way through every opportunity or adversity. We used to stop by the tobacco fields and offer our guests an indescribable experience of touch, smell and admiration", he recalls.
It was the forerunner of what we now call 'storytelling' with the difference that back then they didn't have to come up with many stories because they were all around them.
"We lived them! Today I'm a bit sad because I have the feeling that some coves and sea woes are going in the right direction 'Once upon a time...' It is not pleasant to think that in the end we are left with only a story", said Darka nostalgically.
The guest should be delighted
Since the advent of the Internet and the availability of information in the palm of your hand, tourists come prepared and know what to expect in the destination. This is precisely why guides, as well as all those who design trips or walks, have to look for information that is less available. "Visitors need to be interested and excited", he believes.
Guides find strength in stories and tradition, a heritage that is truly cherished, telling guests stories recorded by the first foreign travel writers who arrived in our region and beyond.
"This is very interesting for them, and who knows, maybe it will encourage them to make a record, a diary, something that will later be included in future research.", he states.
Her emphasis is very often on the Grand Tour. "Maybe that's exactly what makes me innovative. Our walks are not for mass tourism, all of us storytellers bring ourselves into our projects and that cannot be multiplied", points out Darka.
A lot of cruise ships come to coastal Croatia, so the guides are forced to do already established tours designed by travel agencies for the sake of earning. These can be very nice tours and the guests will be very satisfied.
Nevertheless, the agencies themselves and various platforms have been offering programs for individual guests from cruise ships for a few years, so it is always possible to achieve some cooperation and offer your own project.
Telling stories
"I can say that our tourism is based on a story. And talking is a powerful tool! We have all been involved in storytelling since the very beginning of tourism in these areas", continues the experienced guide.
Even the former motto of the Croatian Tourist Board, 'Mediterranean as it used to be', alluded to stories and memories, tradition and preservation of heritage, to everything that can be experienced, tasted, and once existed.
"Today, when the concept of storytelling has reached us from outside, we act as if we have discovered something new. On the other hand, there is a bit of a fear that we are not overdoing the 'games'. Personally, I fear the loss of originality as we seek ourselves in something that others teach us", our interlocutor is honest.
We must not forget the fact that tourism in our region has been alive for over a hundred years, sometimes even 150 years. We have to be careful so that the methods of interpretation that come to us from the outside are applied to us in an acceptable way so that we don't lose what we already have, he says, because in the end we might only be left with a story.
He cites the example of Split, which lost some extremely valuable small shops and an old pharmacy. "Now we really only have a story left about it.. However, if that's the case, it should at least be told, because in the end, in addition to souvenirs, tourists also take home stories that are dear to their hearts.", points out Darka.
As she deals with cultural tourism, the links between space and people, various relationships that reflect on culture and heritage are important to her. He likes to connect and shape the past through the present.
"After all, this is also the reason why I am not in a costume while running my projects, although I am careful about what I wear in order not to create a link with what I am talking about through color or some other detail.", he tells us.
What needs to be changed
She is satisfied with the direction in which Croatian tourism is developing. Many places managed to extend the season, either with congress tourism, or with outdoor activities, events, or with food and wine offerings.
"There are also various cultural and heritage events. We have a lot of things, we are on the right track", he points out. However, she is not satisfied with the infrastructure and the economy in general as it follows tourism.
"We have already said that some places on our coast celebrate 150 years of tourism. That's a lot of time, too much to start construction and road works every year before or at the beginning of the season.. started looking for catering workers who were forced to go elsewhere due to the winter closure", he comments.
And then what happens? Decisions are made to reduce tourist capacities, especially small apartments, but still no decisions are made to improve the infrastructure and speed up those economic branches that are crucial for the development of (tourist) life.
Some large hotel chains do not even try to extend the season, but plan in advance which day they will close their doors. Some of them are not even interested in the local level, they do not offer local food or local drinks, he reveals, and in small towns everything goes quiet when the hotels close.
"I therefore welcome all small hotels! As far as I can see, many work throughout the year or most of the year, and they also participate in the creation of the tourist offer. While some service industries sleep in the winter or go abroad to do work, tourism workers prepare for the next season, they never stop", he emphasizes.
Many of our places try to attract tourists, foreign or local, in winter. But how to get from one island to another if you don't have a boat? "How can you visit, for example, Apoksiomen during the Night of the Museum, which, among other things, should also be used for tourism purposes?!", he asks the authorities.
In order to help tourism and not weaken it, it is necessary to act on all branches of the economy, he warns. Concession licenses for restaurants and cafes in the old city centers should not be issued only for part of the year.
"It should be the same with all the remaining small shops, if we can't get back the ones we lost irretrievably", he thinks.
Tourism is not just a story, it is a reality in our society! There is almost no person who does not directly or indirectly participate in tourism, and that is why other branches of the economy should be at their service, adds Darka.
Changes for the better
He notices that many communities have woken up and are looking for new and original ways to present their local communities, which he considers excellent.
"I remember that a few years ago in smaller towns I would come across the closed doors of tourist offices, their working hours were ridiculously short. That has changed a lot. Ubiquitous social networks played a big role here", he says.
Today you can see who is working, the competition has started who will better design summer days and events, and there are really a lot of them and many of them are of very high quality. There is always room for growth, he believes, and there are many people who are trying to enrich the cultural offer.
"When we talk about growth, today we see countless different types of education where it seems that everyone is competing to teach others, and others again where to enter and from whom to learn. That's good", he says.
In the beginnings of her work in tourism, almost 40 years ago, there were teams of people who designed programs, and guides were trained through agencies that invested a lot in them.
"Not to mention the course itself for a licensed tourist guide - we were taught by renowned art historians, the late Kruno Prijatelj, Ivo Babić, Tomislav Marasović, Nenad Cambi... All these people when they teach, or have taught, tell stories", he states.
Anyone who has had the opportunity to listen to them knows that their lectures "provide an additional certificate, one that would suit a true storyteller today!"
Today, many can get involved in creating a tourist experience and designing tours. "It's good that there are various educational workshops, so I expect big surprises. If at least two people from each workshop come out as creators of the tourist offer, that is already good", he believes.
'Exploring Croatia With Darka'
In addition to tourism, she was engaged in foreign language lectures and translations. Since she was very involved in all fields, something had to be left behind, and the decision fell on education.
"In 1994, I opened my own professional activity, which I closed this year after 29 years of independent activity. I retired, but there are still many plans and projects ahead of me, I don't intend to stop", we find out.
During the pandemic, she discovered a new creative energy in herself. It was a time when she couldn't come to terms with being still. She greatly missed movement and socializing with people.
"PI started the YouTube channel and blog Exploring Croatia With Dark, where I present our country in my own way. Through this activity, I designed several projects, and all of them were received extremely well, and most importantly - live", he tells us.
It was not difficult for her to come up with these programs, since extensive literature on heritage, culture, anthropology, ethnology, archeology, art passed through her hands as a translator... She had a lot of information at her disposal that just had to be put in the right place at the given time.
She is especially proud of the thematic walk with Marko and Darko around Split. "The walk was designed to mark the Year of Marko Marulić and 500 years since the publication of his Judith. But even today it attracts attention and I present it, not only through moving around the city, but also through presentations", he tells us.
Until recently, she offered the walk through her business, and now she conducts it in cooperation with cultural and tourist institutions. She is especially grateful to the Center for Culture and Lifelong Education Zlatna vrata and the Tourist Board of Split, which recognizes and supports her projects.
"For this project, in the Year of Marko Marulić during Advent, I also made a quiz for the cultural manifestation of the TZ Split 'Let's click on culture'. On that occasion, I printed a calendar with photos and parts of the text from the walk", he states.
The participants of the international scientific and professional gathering 'Enhancing Heritage Experience - Exploring Cultural Routes', which took place in Šibenik in March 2023 as part of the 8th Day of ICARUS CROATIA, had the opportunity to experience the English version of the tour. Then she defined this walk through the Grand Tour project 'Darka Walks With Marko' Defining a Project in Frames of the Grand Tour - Cultural Tourism.
The walk is unique, since it is timeless - like a time capsule into which we can all easily move and in which we can all find ourselves.
"It was especially interesting for me when I did a project for Zlatna vrata as part of Croatian language classes for Ukrainian refugees. Then the story about language and politics started. It was a living representation of the modernity of human associations, both of those humanists at the time of Marulić, and of us today.", he describes.
'Who designed this? God, it's so good!'
She also writes about the walk in the article "Journey through Dalmatia - From Grand Tour to Storytelling" published in the magazine "Ethnologica Dalmatica", where she explains the moment that leads her to storytelling, which is very important for this project.
"I would like to mention one more very interesting detail related to this project, which I presented both at the Night of the Book and at the Night of the Museum. Then I played a little with symbolism and presented the attendees with specially designed packets", says.
Namely, on the bag on which she had the flyer printed, she attached carob (in the future Marko also stayed on Šolta), Trogir ravioli (considering that he dedicated his first work to Trogiran Jerolim Ćipik) and Hvar paprenjak (because Petar Hektorović so solemnly visited Marulić's residence on Šolta).
She tied it all together with wool. Thus, she symbolically summed up literature in two sweets, which delighted many. With that, they toasted with a glass of fig wine, because Marulić, among other things, traded in figs.
The following project was also carried out with the support and cooperation of TZ Split, and it was recognized and accepted by the 'Smojinih 100' committee, so that many citizens could enjoy the 'Dir around town - Đir Velin Miston'.
For that project, she made a selection of texts from Smoja's Veli mist and put them in a brochure, from where she would take out parts of the text while walking, which would then be read aloud by some of the people present. They followed a well-planned route that followed the plot and location from the book. Everything was peppered with interesting facts about Split from the time in which the story is set.
This walk is exceptional and special precisely because of the involvement of the audience. Different speeches and accents of the readers could be heard through Smoja's words, and this is precisely what he himself often writes about and characterizes his characters through language, dialects, accents... emphasizing the colorfulness of the inhabitants of Split.
"It was nice to my heart when, while doing this tour, I heard people from the side commenting: Who designed this? God, it's so good!Darka tells us.
Novalja and Rab
The third project is related to Novalja, and it was created in 2019 when, at the encouragement of her husband, she started to deal more with Novalja.
"This year, the Tourist Board of the city took me under its wing. Throughout the summer, as part of the Historical Traces of Novalja event, I presented my story about water, which describes the history of the city in a unique way", he says.
The story is full of symbolism, legends and storytelling. For this walk, she acquired a wooden chest that alludes to Novalja reliquaries
In it she put her precious objects that complete the walk: a woolen sheep through which she talks about the self-sustainability of the economy and tourism, but also about the art of making various handicrafts, a Roman weight for fishing nets as a link to the tradition of fishing in these areas, and a small vole, Murex brandaris which is a link with the plumbing and the dyeing of fabrics with purple color in the local fulonics.
"I take out objects at certain points of the walk, while the rest of the movement is already imbued with heritage elements that the now deceased architect Dominik Kunkera brought into the city space while designing the contours of today's Novalja. But there are also newer monuments that help me tell the story", we found out.
It actually starts next to Zlatko Ćular's sculpture, Kate Novaljka, who is carrying laundry on her head. This sculpture is an original and interesting introduction to the Story of Water. Once, the mayor of Novalja was there and told how he still remembers when women took clothes to be washed in the bay.
"Of course, I used that in future tours, and the guests would then exclaim - Wow, how old is that mayor?! But the tour ends exactly where the year of the water's arrival in Novalja is engraved, and then they realize that it wasn't that long ago", he describes.
Not only foreigners took part in the walks, but also many people who have owned real estate in Novalja or elsewhere on Pag for decades. They were the ones who were extremely satisfied, because as they say, they had never experienced Novalja in such a way before.
"I have designed some other projects for Rab, but for now I have only carried them out to a small group of people. All of these are author's projects, original and recognizable. Fortunately, I speak several languages, so, in addition to Croatian, I can offer my tours in English, German and Italian", he states.
Today, many tourist guides are designing new projects, and in that respect, he says, she is not special. She is glad that no one intrudes on other people's work, so that everyone remains recognizable and special precisely because of what they come up with and implement.
"Some guides may not have that much experience and find it difficult to reach the market, but there are commendable projects in Croatia that educate and promote just such young people", points out Darka at the end.
Cover photo: Gorana Galić (With Marko and Darko around Split)
