Đorđe Mesinzović
homemade products tasting
For lovers of cultural and historical monuments, a visit to the village of Podi is interesting because of the valuable cultural goods – the church dedicated to St. Sergius and Bacchus from the 15th century (Sv. Sergeju i Vakhu). Only an extremely wealthy patron could build such a magnificent church and it is assumed that it was the endowment of Herceg Stjepan, the most important representative of the Kosač Dynasty. In the 15th century the Kosač Dynasty ruled the Dračevići Parish, within which was the medieval town of Herceg Novi, as well as its hinterland. The village of Podi is located east from Herceg Novi, three kilometres from the main road in Meljine. Throughout history, the wealth of the village and its people was measured, among other things, by the number of water mills – mills for grinding grains of different cereals that were the basis of human nutrition.
Cereals were nutritious, delicious and easy to store. In the mid-19th century, Herceg Novi had 90 functional water mills, and this owned by the Misinezović family remained the only one in function. The exact time of construction is not known, but this family emphasizes that it was renewed in the 18th century and that the year of 1914 was the only year when the mill did not work. It was mostly used for grinding wheat, corn, barley and rye, and the mill wheel was driven by water from the local river Crnica. The price of milling was 7% of the amount of grain, while the daily wage for helping in the mill amounted to 1.5 kg of flour.
The pleasant atmosphere around the authentic stone mill is complemented by the stone ambience with a fireplace, exhibits of old tools and decimar scales for measuring the amount of flour. Kind host Đorđe will be happy to show you how the mill works and explain the process of getting flour. After that, homemade bread, which is probably prepared with one of the oldest technologies in the history of mankind, will be much sweeter to you. At the rich table, you can relax and enjoy many delicacies such as smoked ham and cheese, homemade roasted meat, wine and brandy, olives and olive oil as well as fresh and dried figs.
Đorđe will be happy to take a walk with you and show you the cascading decorated background of the mill where you can see the basin in which water is collected for running the mill and where you can enjoy the shade of the local varieties of figs - sušelice and ozimice. If you visit this household in late summer, you can try this heavenly fruit by picking it directly from a branch. By a leisurely half-an-hour walk you can reach the spring of the river Crnica or visit the church of Saints Sergius and Bacchus (Sv. Sergeju i Vakhu), whose restoration was helped by the Misinezović family a long time ago, by giving one “star“ of eggs which was a measure for 60 kilograms of eggs for the production of mortar. The village has been inhabited for centuries and the Misinezović family i.e. Misinez family is one of the three old Herzegovina families whose last names ends in “ez“.
