Dobrila Ivanovska-Čabrić, 98, drives alone from Dojran to Belgrade — the house she built
At 98 she still drives from Dojran to Belgrade, lives in a house on a plot she bought in 1970 and credits diet and an active life for her vigour.
Dobrila Ivanovska-Čabrić, now 98 years old, still leads an active life in Dojran: she drives her own car all the way to Belgrade and earlier this year marked her 98th birthday.
She lives in a house on the lakeshore that she built “nearly half a century ago” and where she keeps several pets. The decision to settle at that exact spot, she says, was almost accidental — during a trip with a colleague to Greece, the colleague forgot his passport and Dobrila went to visit relatives in Gevgelija. When she unexpectedly arrived at their home, they were preparing to leave for Dojran and she went with them.
An immediate decision: the plot, the house, the family
“So I came to their terrace, I stood and looked at that Belasica mountain, the lake, the air... I had travelled the whole world, I never found air like this anywhere. I asked if there was a plot for me, and she told me there was one behind hers. The very next day I arranged it and at the municipality in 1970 I bought this plot,” Dobrila recalls.
She says everyone expected her to sell the land, but after she built the house she moved in with her mother and her mother‑in‑law and they remained there together. “Everyone thought I would sell it, but when I built the house I took my mother and mother‑in‑law, and we stayed here,” she says.
Dobrila attributes much of her vigour to a simple lifestyle: she follows a mainly vegetarian diet, eats little meat and mostly fruit, vegetables and salads. She also largely abstains from alcohol and smoking — only rarely joining others — and bluntly dismisses the idea that smoking suits her. “It looks bad, like putting a pacifier on a chicken. That doesn’t suit me,” she says.
Despite her age, she describes her days as busy and unconventional compared with many elderly people, often going to bed in the early morning hours. “Here, they left, I continue my life further. And I think that this way, I'll live a little longer,” she says candidly.
Photo: press material from the event
