24) KOOKY IN KORČULA, CROATIA

Two preppies get kooky in Korčula, Croatia

Korčula by Vasko Lipovac at our Hotel Liburna.

    Look at the clear water!

A few tidbits about Croatia:

• Croatia has 1246 islands.
• The White House was built of marble brought from the island of Brac.
• Marco Polo purportedly was born on Korcula Island in the 13th century.
• It’s the home of the necktie, which began as the kravata (cravat to the French), the famous tie worn by Croatian soldiers in the 17th century.
• Nikola Tesla (1856-1943), who advanced the theory of alternating current and wireless communication, is Croatian.
• Slavoljub Penkala (1871-1922) invented the first mechanical pencil as well as the fountain pen.
• James Joyce taught English in northern Croatia—Pula—in 1904-1905. Word has it that he taught badly.
• Agatha Christie spent the honeymoon of her second marriage in Dubrovnik and Split. She set Murder on the Orient Express on the segment from Zagreb to Istanbul.
• (from: roadworks books.wordpress.com)

KORČULA has a legendary past, deemed by many as Marco Polo's birthplace and before that as home to one of the Homeric heroes.

I discover an art gallery with wonderful work - painting, ceramics, and jewellery made of aluminium, wood and collaged, used fish-tins. I buy some gifts for those at home - Alex & Tari, Tanya & Tim, Lyndal & Brendan, Nick & Kym.

A lovely couple have been running their gallery for 15 years.

     I love this artist's fishy creations.

       

      Moody Korčula Bay.

      At sunset, then sunrise.

        Lovely, limpid, lake-like lustre.

23) DUBROVNIK - OLD TOWN

        DUBROVNIK - old town

The Stadun, the old town's main marbled street, sports baroque buildings. The ancient city walls protected a civilised, sophisticated republic for five centuries and now look onto the endless shimmer of the peaceful Adriatic. 

by Viktor Šerbu "Stara Gradska Luka" - Dubrovnik

CROATIA has over 1200 islands, only 64 of which are inhabited. The city of DUBROVNIK has 40,000 inhabitants.

Jews were always welcomed in Dubrovnik (unlike other Croatian cities).

       Old town Dubrovnik.

       Fruit market where I buy cherries and strawberries, the best I've ever tasted.

        At 'Taj Mahal' restaurant we have authentic Bosnian cuisine - veal and vegetable skewers, and Bosnian coffee with Bosnian (aka Turkish) delight.

    Fresco at the Franciscan Monastery

Jewish Quarter where Jews lived in reasonable harmony for centuries with a predominantly Roman Catholic population.

  Jewish street, synagogue and museum.

The still functioning synagogue servicing the small Jewish Community dates back to the early 1500s. It's the second oldest synagogue in Europe and houses a small museum. The most important work of art held at the synagogue is a 13th century Moorish carpet presumably brought from Spain during the expulsion. With a floral design and contrasting colours it glows against the dark silk background. Legend claims it was a gift from Queen Isabella to her Jewish doctor when he was forced to leave Spain. The synagogue has a Torah said to be from the 13th or 14th century. It was also brought from Spain after the expulsion.

(from tempoholidays.com)

    Our impassioned tour guide, Mikhail. Half-Jewish, he strongly identifies with his Jewishness and has a doctorate in the Jewish history of the Balkans. Well travelled, he loves Dubrovnik and wouldn't live anywhere else.

I purchase this book by Slavenka Draculić who has been called the Simone de Beauvoir of Eastern Europe because of her feminist report on women's lives here.

Artwork by Andrea Bassi. I buy the  spoon pictured below as I love her painterly ceramic art practice.

Dubrovnik is one of the many sets of GAME OF THRONES. I buy souvenirs for Alex and Tari who are fans of this fantasy series.

Tony and I attend a fine concert, (below), in the intimate setting of the13th century Church Domino. The instrumentalists of the Dubrovnic Chamber Trio perform with beautiful tone and feeling.

22) MOSTAR, BOSNIA-HERZEGOVINA

MOSTAR in BOSNIA-HERZEGOVINA

On the way from Dubrovnic

Lush fertile delta of the Neretva River that flows through Mostar and then to the Adriatic Sea.

We stop at a village on the way, have Bosnian coffee and I buy bejewelled spoons and pens, a flute, and an embroidered bag while others buy similar things and strawberries and cherries.

I chat with this salesgirl who speaks excellent English and is studying Law. I buy this small bag from her.

MOSTAR, BOSNIA-HERZEGOVINA

Mostar is on the Neretva River and is named after the bridge keepers who, in medieval times, guarded the old bridge - Stari Most. The bridge was built by the Ottomans in the 16th century until it was destroyed during the 1990s Balkans War. Now restored, the bridge is the centre of this UNESCO World Heritage Listed town.

Mostar's temperature reaches 52 degrees in summer. 

Tallest bell-tower in the Balkans.

On the Fransiscan Church door

This is the site for the forthcoming Jewish Community Centre.

See end of this blog page for more on this Jewish site and history in Bosnia-Herzegovina.

One of the many buildings shelled out by the 1992-5 bombings.

Mostar's Stari Most (old bridge)

     The Mostar bazaar is a lot of fun. Out in the open and with the same items you find in Istanbul. I find something unique and hand-made.

From: 

American Jewish Year, Book 2002

 edited by David Singer, Lawrence Grossman pp 446 - 447