The View from the Highway

Hib, a fig and spice treat, and a street in Split behind it.

An excerpt from my journal, written on the bus ride from Split to Dubrovnik yesterday:

We take a bus from Split to Dubrovnik, down a long, winding two-lane highway at times perilously close to the ocean. The sea is deep blue, the rocky hillsides dotted with yellow St. John's Wort. To our left, the mountains rise into rocky peaks. Each small ocean village that we pass through has its own church spire near the water. Fig trees heavy with black fruit line the road. Perhaps because of the sea, everything seems to be in season here all at once: cherries, peaches, strawberries, apricots, asparagus, fava beans, carrots, beets, oranges... We have, gloriously, eaten all of these things thus far--especially cherries. The land is abundant, but not too lush for my tastes, desert dweller that I am. The hills are rocky and windswept. The beaches are made not of sand but of small stones. I suppose I appreciate a landscape that has its own conditions for being beautiful.

And it is beautiful here, both because of the natural characteristics of the land and because of the work of the people. On almost every balcony brightly colored geraniums hang. In most backyards a garden grows. The sea stretches on until it meets the islands that run all olong the coastline to the west. Looking south, it meets only sky. Lavender grows everywhere.

We drive through a broad flat valley, full of flat green fields. Each is long and narrow, and seems to be family-owned. The plantings are diverse, consisting of many different kinds of fruits and vegetables. "This seems like a much better version of the Imperial Valley," I comment to Anna Rose, who is sitting beside me.

We drive along a river. I do not know its name, but, in the manner of things here it is broad and blue.

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I am so enjoying this country. We are currently in Dubrovnik, staying in a beautiful apartment in the Old City, which is walled and paved with white cobble stones. Our apartment is on one of the many small steep alleyways stemming from the main street. In some ways , this city reminds me of Guanajuato in it layout. It rained today, but tomorrow we are all hoping to go to the island of Lokrum, which is supposed to have beautiful beaches and a monastery--and a botanical garden!

In Dubrovknik