CAVTAT

It's our last day in Croatia. We decided to move closer to the airport which is about 30 km away from Dubrovnik. We are in the sweetest little bay town called Cavtat. It's sleepy, quiet and sits right on the bay. Lots of little Villas, boating and fishing and waterside dining, plus there is a cute little town with a maze of uphill cobblestone streets to explore.

It's rare when I don't buy anything on a trip. But the shopping is not great. Lots of lavendar, some ok wines and basic liqueur, but nothing really special. The shopping experience, I think, is the most under-developed part of the tourism in Croatia. But the views and the service are spectacular.

The Prettiest Sunset

Living in the forest in Lithuania means that we are cut off from the state-supplied infrastructure services like gas heating, sewer lines, water supply and garabage collection. My water is from an underground source, I have to pay for the sewer truck to come three times per year to extract my sewer and also for the garbage truck to come once per week to collect my trash. As for my heating---it's coal. I have a giant coal machine in the basement and I have to dump two bags of coal into it every other day. The coal gets delivered by the tonne once every two months or so. Well, a month ago the machine quit, and the technician has no clue what's happening with it. So sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. So I was miserably cold for three weeks prior to coming on vacation. We have an electric boiler that supplies hot water and we were using electrical heating fans but these things are not a great substitute for centralised heating. 

I say all the foregoing so that you know just how much we needed this vacation to Croatia. It's so warm and lovely here. It's around 68 F most days and sunny with a lovely cool breeze coming off of the sea. We started out with a two-night stay in Split at a pretty little boutique hotel  called Heritage Hotel which is at the edge of the waterfront promenade in Split--just a 10 minute walk from the old town. We also spent a day in Trogir which is a UNESCO heritage site. Then we took a Catmaran cruise from Split down to Dubrovnik and on our way we stopped in at Korcula and Hvar.

If you plan to come to Croatia expect great/fresh seafood, Italian-like cuisine (pizza, pasta and seafood pasta dishes), lots of stonework architecture and old castles . Dubrovnik is the ideal spot, actually--we prefer it to Split. It looks a bit like something between Nice and Monoca--except nicer and less pretentious. We are staying at the Hotel Durbrovnik Palace.

I head home on the weekend. I hope my cell phone dries out by then so I can post pictures of Dubrovnik. It seems to have died after a couple drops of drinking water got into it.

On Vacation

We're in Split. We also spent part of yesterday in Trogir. I'll be blogging from Croatia all week. Such a big change from our cold forest in Lithuania. It's sunny and warm with a cool Spring breeze.

A Tienda To Love

This looks like a shop somewhere in Spain. All I see is that I need a vacation. A real one. I'll be planning one this weekend. We leave for somewhere as soon as the Easter Holiday has passed. More on my vacation spot pick next week. Happy Easter.

Couture Please

I wish I could afford couture and that I had the occasion to wear it. How fabulous is Sarah Jessica Parker dressed up like a hooker from the Moulin Rouge while looking sweet as pie? Someone like SJP must get to wear couture all the time . I absolutely love that outfit on her and I love that Schiaparelli Fall 2016 couture dress. But for those of us who can't push the   envelope too much we can settle for a Black French manicure, putting an orchid bouquet intended for a Spring bride on our dressing table, and breaking out our yellow shoes at the start of Spring.

Photographer Spotlight: Manolo Yllera

Yesterday on the way home from the gym, am driving through the forest and I realised that everything was on the verge of being totally rejuvinated. On the verge of bloom. The forest park is all green and pretty again and not parched by frost and snow and more often than not the sun is bright and yellow above the pine trees. It's definitely Spring and colour is back. The Spanish do colour so well. And I always go to Nuevo Estilo or AD Espana to seek it out. And so I know I love Manolo Yllera's photography.  e does work for AD Espana and Nuevo Estilo. He looks for the colour in any room and focuses on it. So I went to stalk him on instagram to see more of his perspective.

We're looking forward to Easter...so much so that we took the Easter egg basket to pick wild flowers in the forest. It's officially Spring.