Orient Express Caffe, Zagreb, Croatia, the inspiration for a scene in Truffle Hunt

The woman on the right was the inspiration for Vonda in "Truffle Hunt"

Back when we visited Croatia in 2011, I had not idea that trip would ignite a spark in me that would lead to me writing my novel "Truffle Hunt." Karen and I had traveled quite a bit at that point, but I had never written about our experiences, except for the blogs I kept to keep our families updated.

Then, as we were flying back over the Atlantic, the idea for Truffle Hunt came to me. I jotted down a few ideas on the plane and wrote the first few chapters at home over the next week.

What I didn't realize then was that I would have to not only write a story where I would have to create all the characters, have them interact, write about their feelings, motivations, faults and talents, but I would also have to write about their environment; where they live, where they work, where they go for fun.

So, I began reconstructing the places we had been during our trip, and researching other places by reading lots and lots of books about Croatia.

When the character of Frank lands in Zagreb, jetlagged and hungry, one of the first places he stops at is Pod Starim Krovovima, a famous bar in the capital city that has been around since 1830. 

Now, I had never been to Pod Starim Krovovima during our trip, but I dug it up reading about bars in Zagreb and it seemed like the kind of place Frank would pop in to. The place where we actually spent our first (very late) evening in Zagreb is called Orient Express Caffe. Orient Express might be short on the history of
Pod Starim Krovovima, but it certainly makes up for it in atmosphere.

Orient Express Caffe, Zagreb, Croatia

Inside the bar, many of Frank's experiences mirrored ours, even if they happened in different places. (See how I refer to Frank like he is a real person? Living with the characters in my book for so long, make them seem real to me.)  

Yes, a group or Croatians sitting at the bar more or less demanded that we sit with them (I go into this in my book. Questions and demands are often phrased the same way in Croatia.) Yes, we drank Rakija, lots of it. Yes, we talked about Zagreb and Croatia and the war. Yes, it was quite boisterous. But no, the bartender was not a paraplegic and there was no monkey. And the lightweight Americans may or may not have discreetly poured a shot or two of Rakija in a nearby potted plant to avoid getting too plastered.

There was one thing I tried to fit into the bar scene, but it was ultimately cut. And it really happened. In the bar, they were playing some pop music from the radio (in the book I made this a jazz combo). But, what really happened next was rather odd. A man walking down the street, opened the door and handed the bartender a CD. The bartender, without explanation, immediately shut off the radio and played the CD. Some Croatian folk song played and everyone in the bar sang along to it. 

I don't know the name of the song or any details about it. But, I used this incident as inspiration for the party scene where "O Marijana," a famous Croatian folk song, is played.
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