Heritage Journeys
Travel is always about people. What we do is always extremely personal. However, nothing is as intimate as unlocking a family story that has waited decades to be told. To reveal the physical spaces, the homes, the communities, and tell the history of one’s forbearers, is a privilege we do not take lightly.
For those seeking familial connections to the region or tracing their roots back to their motherland, we offer opportunities for local immersion, multi-generational travel, and heritage discovery. Each itinerary is distinct, unique to each travelers’ personal objectives on their journey to explore new lands, or return back to old ones.
We cherish the importance of heritage and offer our assistance to those seeking self-knowledge and the need to identify and appreciate their origins. When we link descendants across time and place, it is without question, the most meaningful work we can do. We pull from every resource, directing our full energies to this meaningful endeavor.
A message from our Founder & President
“The first of many Heritage Journeys I organized was an adventure of personal exploration, for the Histria Association of Women, based in Queens NY, which I am a longtime active member. My personal heritage journey sprung from my need to learn, understand and witness. I did not have a plan; I just followed my instinct. I have enjoyed sharing my passion, my heart, and my Italian-Croatian heritage with travelers since 1994. These years of cultivation have produced a priceless community of warm fellowship and friendships, a vibrant and elegant bouquet of happy memories, and people brought together, across borders and cultures, to share in precious moments of human connection.”
– Wanda S. Radetti
How we work
The spark for seeking a Croatian holiday often is lit by a family tie, with travelers not specifically seeking heritage travel. In our conversations with our travelers, if it is brought to our attention, they have a ancestral connection, we politely inquire, and when appropriate, offer our services. This region witnessed multiple waves of mass emigration over the last century. Travelers coming to us from Australia, Canada, Argentina, and of course the United States, may have a recent connection to an unfamiliar homeland.
When arranging heritage journeys for our traveler, the team at Tasteful Croatian Journeys engages on our vast in-country network to locate family members, retrace the steps of ancestors, and tell the history of a village and its inhabitants from a local perspective. With little infrastructure for heritage travel existing in Croatia, our road to making these connections is often arduous. A proficient knowledge of the Croatian, Italian and English languages, both written and spoke, is critical in this work. What works to our advantage is that while Croatia is a country of over 4 million people, local ties are very strong, with families remaining in a particular location for generations. The Tasteful Croatian Journeys network is built on nearly 30 years of personal relationships, and many associates who have become precious friends. It is this network which enables us to make familial connections.
We begin by gathering as much information as possible about our traveler’s family (names, birthplaces, and birthdates if possible). Then, the real work begins.
Our Croatia based Tasteful Croatian Journeys Concierge, Mirela Benic, serves as our primary eyes, ears, and voice on the ground, as well as our own Sherlock Holmes. She begins contacting the appropriate local institutions, such as the town’s registrar, the local church parish, etc. Often, one piece of information leads to another, to another, and through numerous phone calls we pull together the treads to wave a tapestry of information.
What our travelers say about their heritage journeys:
“I wanted to make special mention of the services that your concierge provided in locating our family members in Montenegro. My family in California had lost touch with our Montenegrin relatives over the past couple of decades, and we were not able to give you many details with which to work as you began the search. Nonetheless, after piecing together the information we were able to provide, your concierge located them and put us in touch. We were able to arrange a truly remarkable meeting with a multi-generational group that had gathered to meet us in Gornji Brceli, the birthplace of my grandfather. The photo of the large group below is from that amazing afternoon. (I am in the lower right, my brother is in the lower left, and my mother is, appropriately, seated in the middle of the photo.) Our interpreter, Mina, was tremendous…she worked quite hard as the language barrier was substantial. She did a wonderful job, and was (very endearingly) swept up with the rest of us in the emotions of the day. Although all 12 days of our trip were fantastic, that day stands out as a monumental event for our family, and particularly for my mother who had never seen her father’s homeland. You and your colleagues, and your concierge in particular, have our gratitude for making that experience possible.“
Mark Gustafson, September 2017
“How does one put into words the feelings of heartfelt joy and deep soulful connection with one’s ancestral and familial roots? I am no Hemingway, but I can assure you that we were emotionally moved to our very core, with hearts welling up, tears aflow, lips quivering and arms embracing, as we visited the village of Skare. We will always remember and never forget that your team, especially Mirela, researched, reached out and networked in our behalf with Djuro Pavicic, Jovo and Savka Poznic to make the arrangements for our visit to the village even more enlightening and memorable. We are so grateful to Mirela for her selfless efforts from the outset and throughout our journey. Hvala puno, Mirela!”
Daniel Skaljac, May 2019
“As for our meeting with our distant relatives, I would describe the experience as very emotional and surreal. We were able to visit the birthplace of my wife’s grandfather, the church where he was baptized and the local cemetery. Finally, spending a Saturday afternoon on the “family” farm and having lunch with our distant relatives was an experience of a lifetime.”
Dan Machacek, December 2014
“Our guide in Korcula said, and this is a paraphrase, ‘I’m thankful because our ancestors left this place as a gift for us today,’ as we stood in the shadow of that town’s lovey bell tower. I’ve read a hundred books about architecture, history, and world culture and hadn’t come to that resolution about our ancestors. Of course not every town is like Korcula, but it made me very emotional and made me think about what it is to be Croatian. It’s never been easy living where great empires meet. Croatians did not have Croatia for a long, long time. They’ve lived in Rome, Austria, Yugoslavia, Venice, Italy, and a cacophony of other places over the course of history. They never stopped being Croatians. That’s ultimately what our ancestors left for us like the Korculans of old left for the folks who live there now.
Ivan Oremus, July 2015
Seeing the streets bustling with tourists, full restaurants, busy shops, and fruitful fields is an indication that the wait has been and will be worth it. Most people don’t know it yet, but Croatia is a place they’ll want to experience. If they get 1/4th the treatment we did they’ll want to go back immediately.
You didn’t plan a trip for us, you planned a pilgrimage. For that I thank you.”
“Wanda arranged for us to go to my family’s island, Pasman, and connected us with cousins whom I had never met. I still vividly remember looking at the coast line from the ferry’s deck as we were traveling back to the mainland with tears in my eyes and saying to myself ‘I am home.’”
Lisa and Russell Jones, August 2015
