I had nine gelatos in my two weeks abroad. I had a pattern at first, two in every town, but in the last place I only had one. Stratiacella (a vanilla with chocolate) and Rum Punch in Crikvenica, northern Croatia. Hazelnut and black currant on the island of Hvar. Kiwi and chocolate in Korcula Town. Punch and cantaloupe in the walled city of Dubrovnik. Red Bull (yup, really) in Sarajevo.

There is a lot of eating for pleasure, eating outdoors, and excellent food in these countries, Bosnia and Croatia, and gelato represents all three. The numerous side walks, on lanes that aren’t even large enough for one carriage, let alone cars, are dotted with cafes and gelato stores. The gelato is very prettily mounded, in waves, and decorated….sliced lemon on top of the lemon, cantaloupe on the melon….beautiful and enticing. I found a picture; unfortunately I won’t be able to get my travelling partners’ pictures for a few days at least.

It was creamy, and delicious, and very satisfying. And what made it even better is that it was usually under a dollar, as low as 32 cents, usually 69 to 86 cents, maximum $1.20 in the very expensive place (Dubrovnik). So this indulgence was not a costly one.

The cantaloupe and rum punch (pretty much like rum raisin without raisins) were my favorite flavors. Red Bull was really not-so-hot. I am told it tastes just like Red Bull, but as I had never had Red Bull, I can’t vouch for that. I had heard Red Bull tasted like cough syrup, and as I love the taste of cough syrup, and can’t have it (the tasty kind has alcohol in it), I went for the Red Bull. Sadly, it was the last flavor I had...but it was the only one I had in Bosnia, so I have decided to only remember Croatian Gelato.

It is hard to beat strolling in a place where every sight is new, every sense is heightened, and you can have a little bit of heaven on a cone, to go. Gelato at sunset, in the warm afternoon, after dinner in the late evening. It was nice.

So much of the food was of such high quality: very honest food, with a minimum of ingredients. Flavors are enhanced by the simplicity. There is no low-fat, low-sugar as such. There is also not a lot of excess. For example, if I wanted lower fat items, I ordered items that were grilled; it’s not a very Molly McButter continent. I enjoyed the single scoops of gelato; that’s what was offered, not sundaes or multi-scoop concoctions. Fresh fill was grilled and presented as is...tasted the fish itself, the very sea. It’s a lovely idea of having reasonable amounts of full flavored, honest food.

Oh, I am getting swoony thinking of the gelato and the other foods I savoured...