Saturday, May 19, 2012    The Dubrovnik Museum of Modern Art was hosting an exhibition of Steve MacMurry’s photographs, so it was our first stop for the day.   He is the artist that photographed the green eyed Afghan school girl in 1984 and returned in 2001 to search for and find her.   Along with the original photos, we were mesmerized by a documentary of their reunion; and viewed dozens of other photos and portraits from across the world.  His work demonstrates the power of the camera, as we were charmed, brought to tears, and incredulous at his work.   Unfortunately, no cameras were permitted, but some of the pictures will be with us forever.   We all agreed that his work shows, in very . very stark and heart rending terms the horror and senselessness of war. 

On  our continued search to eat everything Croatian, we lunched on salty palicinkes of ham, cheese, sour cream and mushrooms or tuna and sour cream, with a bit of pepper.  Another choice for blog readers  in the palicinkes I promised to serve in an earlier blog post.  While we were waiting for the food, a parade of Croatian dancers, singers, and musicians came through the center of town (See photos) with everything from a bass fiddle player to the joyous songs and vocal responses reminiscent of childhood days with kolas and polkas at Serbian picnics Rose and I enjoyed on many Sundays during our childhood.   

Peggy’s fluency in the Croatian language and knowledge of the area continues to help us in communicating with locals as well as locating transportation.   Our afternoon started with a ferry ride to the Island of Lokrum, the town’s offshore nature preserve with crystal clear water.   On arrival we were greeted by a flock of peacocks…who have no fear and obviously know It is their territory not that of the tourists.   The island is undeveloped except for a great coffee shop with a guitarist,  who completes the take a break and relax experience of the nature preserve.   The island was (according to local Benedictine lore) visited by Richard the Lionhearted, who in 1192 when, on his way home from the Crusades in 1192, was washed ashore.   He vowed if he survived he would built a church on the spot.  However, he was later convinced to build it in Dubrovnik.  The island also is home to a French Fort built in 1808 that is one of the steepest climbs ever, but worth the hike.  (See photos)   

We spent a leisurely evening, observed part of a wedding celebration – with some of the guests in the highest heels ever, had a great dinner, did a bit of shopping, and retired a bit earlier than usual, as our plans were to leave by 6 a.m. Saturday for the drive to Sarajevo.  We could easily have spent several more days in Dubrovnik (in order to sample every flavor of gelato and all the seafood) but were looking forward to the next stop on the road to Peggy and Guy’s home in Greece.   All roads lead to home and Guy had driven many miles and has miles and miles to go before we turn in the car on Tuesday morning and head to the Fisher home in Greece.  We are all marveling at his driving skills over the mountains, through the woods, not to mention cities, towns, and villages!

PLEASE NOTE:  Am blogging from Greece and for some reason the photos pasted to the blog in some random order, but hopefully will make sense from reading the blog and you wll be able to tell what beongs where....