Fields of Lavender

Inspired by both her grand-daughter and the island of Hvar, my Mother-in-law created these three canvases. Aren't they amazing? She is a natural when it comes to painting. 

And when you put all 3 three canvases next to each other, you get a beautiful painting!

A day trip, and you will need an umbrella

These are some photos I never got around to sharing with you from our last trip we took in December to the nearby town of Trogir in Croatia. You may remember the post I did about the charming staircases, what do you think about the sea view and these amazing clouds?

Green and Blue

You might remember that on our first visit to the Roman Ruins in Salona, hubby and I couldn't find any road signs leading to the site. If we had only continued driving up the street and around the corner, we would have seen the signs. It seems we took the gravel road that residents use to access their homes!

 We knocked on the green door of the museum, and a nice lady gave us directions to the amphitheatre, located a few minutes away and while we were there we paid the entrance fee and had the opportunity to see the room dedicated to Don Frane Bulic, the Croatian archaeologist responsible for discovering many significant localities in Salona.

 On the ceiling there is a painting of a shepherd boy holding a lamb and Beli is saying she also has one, "mira borrego."

Isn't this amazing? This is someones backyard. An amphitheatre from the 2nd century.

And this concludes the tour of the Roman ruins in Salona.Hope you enjoyed the visit!

Croatia's contribution to the world of fashion

You may be wondering what fashion item I'm referring to, and here are some clues. 

photo via

photo via academia cravatica

It's the necktie, or cravat!

 Marko Marulic of Split (1450-1524), a famous Croatian writer from 15th-16th century, decorated with a neck tie. Carved by Ivan Mestrovic in 1924. Photo by Jelena Popic.

And this photo is more for me as I still have a difficult time with ties.

two common ways to tie a cravat knot:

or 

 (photo via)
 In 2003 the Academia Cravatica, dressed up an ancient Roman amphitheatre in the northern Adriatic town of Pula,Croatia with an 800-meter (2,640-foot) red tie, breaking the world record!

Now a history lesson:

According to history : .."when the Thirty-Year's War (1618-1648) was raging in Europe, the Croatian soldiers were drawn into this tragic episode as well. In that war France and Sweden had united forces against the German Empire. The Croatian soldiers served as mercenaries in the light cavalries of both armies. 

photo via

They first gained a reputation of being exceptionally courageous and well trained within the German ranks. After the victories they won over the French troops, Cardinal Richelieu insisted on including Croatian mercenaries in the French army too. In 1633 the first French troop was formed made up of Croatian cavalry. They arrived at Paris under the leadership of their Vice-Roy."

The Croatian traditional military dress included picturesque scarves worn around the neck in a distinctive manner. This handsome "Croatian Style" captivated the Parisians so much,that during the reign of Louis XIV, they too adopted this new fashion item worn "a la Croate."

Now for some fashion:

I found these images and they have changed my mind about wearing ties. I love how chic and stylish Lauren looks. I think her goal of -having women believe that wearing a tie is awesome- has been accomplished don't you agree? She wore this outfit to court and even the judge complimented her! You can read the full story here.

photos via busybeelauren

Did you know that theoretically there are 85 ways to knot a cravat, but only a dozen suit the usual notions of symmetry and balance? Really? I can barely manage to do 1 knot!

"When you tie a cravat without your father´s help, it means you´ve grown up."~ Alessandro di Robilant.

photo courtesy of MarinNYC

A very stylish boy!

Crème de la crème a new pastry shop in Split, Croatia

I couldn't decide what to order. So many delicious pastries to choose from.

  I think I counted about 15 different types of homemade pastries and desserts!

Nice ambiance and decor. 

photo  via The Dalmatia.com

 I do wonder if this piece of furniture holds any personal significance for the owner of the shop, Marina Wallner.

 It's  located across the movie theater karaman, which is the perfect location to meet up with friends afterwards, don't you agree?

So which one would you order? I finally decided on a slice of cheesecake (not pictured). It was all right, but next time I will try the strawberry cake or..... maybe the chocolate dessert. 

Day trip to the Lakes

This weekend we had another beautiful sunny almost summer day. After breakfast, hubby and I discussed what we wanted to do for the day. We have been having a cycle of rain for two days then sunshine for one day then rain, so any day with sun we welcome it with open arms! After a few suggestions we came up with a day trip to the small town of Imotksi to see the red and blue lakes. Located about 100km from Split, Imotski is home to the largest sinkhole lakes in Croatia/Europe.

We started with the 20 minute hike down to the blue lake. There is a very nice stone trail which goes almost all the way down to the lake . We saw a few wild berries, which I was curious to try but I didn't. When we reached the bottom of the lake we were surrounded by a beautiful view of bright blue water and cliffs. We tried guessing the depth of the lake (we read that during the summer months, it frequently dries up but in the spring the water levels can reach up to 90 meters when the snow from the Bosnian mountains melt.) We then had a picnic; homemade fig butter, fresh bread from the bakery, cheese, some meat for hubby and grapes we picked at the farm before heading to the red lake.

The red lake was only a few minutes away. As you can see from the photo, there is no access to the bottom of the lake, and you can only see it from a small viewing platform on the road.

This is one adventurous man going across the lake.

I was expecting to see a 'red' lake so I can't even begin to describe what I saw. The lake was shaped like a well and the colors were mesmerizing! Hubby explained the lake is named after the reddish-brown color of the surrounding cliffs and the color of the lake changes depending on the time of the day. It's said that it's impossible to throw a stone into the lake, we tried and tried but didn't succeed.

So if you have the opportunity, visit Imotski and the lakes, grab a few rocks and try to throw them into the lake. I guarantee you will enjoy it and like hubby you will be saying, " just one more try, one more."