My Grandpa Vlado came to New Zealand as a refugee at 25 after WWII. He never regretted settling here, but said part of his heart remained in Croatia. He arrived in Wellington on the 14th of December 1951 and built a life, and a community, from nothing.
He opened his first coffee bar, The Sorrento, at 81 Ghuznee Street in the 1950s, then later The Adria on Cuba Street, named after the Adriatic Sea. A place that would quietly become part of Wellington’s cultural fabric, and eventually, my namesake.
Together, my grandparents created something rare. Through his radio show From Croatia with Love, their involvement in the Yugoslav, later Croatian Club, and the gatherings they hosted, they brought a slice of Europe into Wellington, long before it was something people spoke about.
My Grandma Joan, now 93 and still in their family home, wasn’t Croatian, but she embraced the culture completely. Her father had emigrated from Italy, and she fell in love not just with my Grandpa, but with the music, the language, and the life that came with him. She helped bring Croatian dancing to Wellington, organising teachers, hosting them in their home, and ensuring the next generation stayed connected.
Underneath their house, my Grandpa built a konoba, a traditional Dalmatian cellar. There, they held monthly paidasi, gatherings of 30 or 40 people. Friends, mostly Croatian, but not exclusively. They would eat, sing, dance, and speak their language late into the night. It wasn’t formal. It wasn’t performative. It was belonging.
Growing up, I didn’t fully understand what they had built.
I spent years asking myself why I felt different in Europe. Why I felt lighter, more myself, closer to the person I wanted to be. I dreamed of moving there, convinced that everything I was searching for existed somewhere far from Wellington.
My Grandpa had already brought Europe here. Not as a place, but as a spirit. Through community, ritual, music, food, and conversation. Through the way people gathered and lived.
"My life has been an interesting one, with much sadness and much joy, and I guess a little danger as well. I have had to adjust to a different culture and language and although I never regretted settling in New Zealand, part of my heart remains with my Croatian nationhood. I long to see my country peaceful and prosperous, and my family both there and in New Zealand, happy and settled, as I watch my grandchildren grow up. Perhaps when they read these memoirs, they will understand a little more of their grandfather's life journey." - Vladimir Barbalić, From Croatia with Love.
This August marks 20 years since he passed. And only now, as I’ve grown older, do I fully feel the weight of what he created, and what it gave all of us.
Community. Identity. Belonging.
GET EURO is my way of honouring that.
A reminder that the things we inherit quietly often become the things we value most.
It’s something we can choose to embrace.
Something we can learn, live and carry forward.
A way of staying connected to a culture, even when you grow up far from where it began.
In memory of my Grandpa Vlado,
and in dedication to my Grandma Joan.
