September 29th – Dubrovnik

Everyone was packed up before breakfast so it was easy to pack up the taxi’s and head to the ferry for 9am.  We had a quick stop half way at Café Bella Vista, which hosts another beautiful view of a mainland bay.  We continued on to Cavtat, got everyone settled in their rooms and then head back to Dubrovnik for our 1pm lunch reservation at Arsenal. At 3pm Antonija, our tour guide for Dubrovnik, met us and we were off for a 2 hour tour of the old city.  After the tour, everyone had an hour and a half of free time, to do as they wished.  At 6:30pm we caught the last water taxi back to Cavtat.  What a fabulous view of the sun setting and the mainland cast in pink.  We arrived in Cavtat at 7:15pm for our 7:30pm dinner reservation at Galija. 

Our evening, and tour, ended around 10pm when we walked back to our accommodations, said our goodbye’s and good nights, and wished everyone  “sretan put” (good travels) .

Thank you everyone for joining Slikamilina Painting Tours for another successful trip.  We hope that you will return here one day either on another tour or just in your own travels. 

Dovidenja! (See you later!)

September 28 – Smokvica

It was going to be another beautiful day!  What a good way to spend the last day on the island.

This morning we headed to Smokvica about a ½ hour drive from Lumbarda.  Smokvica is built on the south side of a slope overlooking a valley of vineyards that grow a grape called Posip.  Given that it is built on a hill, we had a bit of climbing to do.  We heading up first and found a small church where a group of children were getting a history lesson. From there we plateaued for a bit, and made our way above the main street.  The vistas were great and the old houses surrounded us.  We crossed peoples porches, said hello and moved on.  After the rains, we encountered a lot of pomegranate trees, where the fruits were split wide open… birds were having a field day.  I just kept thinking how expensive they are at home and here people barely eat them!  We finally made it back to the main road and started heading downhill… by this time I had lost most of the group, as they had found nooks and crannies that they wanted to sketch… there were only 2 left with me.  No problem we continued to wander.  At about 11am we headed back to the main road and found a few of the group at a café.  It was coffee time, which then lead into pivo (beer) time.  We were on this patio for about 2 hours and had 2 groups of cyclists join us, one from Germany and the other from Norway.  Having just driven to Smokvica, we knew the roads they were going to encounter.  We did not envy them!

We headed back to Lumbarda at 1pm to have lunch on the patio at 1:30pm.  The group continued to paint on the patio for the afternoon.

For our last meal, Silvana presented us with a tray full of scampi!  We had a feast.  The scampi here is bigger then the small shrimp we get at home so everyone was thrilled. Some toasts were made and thank you’s said and I was presented with one of Karlyn’s paintings… I was delighted as it was the one she had done of my Aunts chicken coup.  I can tell you, it will be forever treasured.  Thank you Karlyn.

September 27 - Racisce

There were clouds in the sky but there was also blue sky… we decided we would travel to Racisce for the morning.  

First I had to get Paul to work!  We had found some family friends who were picking grapes this morning and offered up his help.  I dropped him off at 8am and told him that they would pick for about 2 hours.  Have fun!

When you travel to Racisce, there is only one major road in and out, and once you reach Racisce, you cannot go any farther.  It is located on a lovely little bay.  It offers a bit of everything for the painter – boats with reflections, churches, old buildings, newer buildings and men playing cards at the café.  It turned out to be a lovely day and everybody wandered on their own to find whatever it was they wanted to paint.  We had lunch on the docks and headed back to Lumbarda at 2pm. 

Once everyone was settled on the deck, Paul returned.  He told us that he had cut for 2 hours and then went with the family to have a snack.  They brought out some meat and bread and everyone had a glass of wine. Then lunch came out! Plates were mounded with all types of food and the wine continued to be poured …. It was 3pm before Paul wandered home!  He is pretty sure they lost money on him!

September 26 – Pupnat and Zrnovo

I woke up and the rain had stopped… I even saw a stream of light on the workshop.  I got up and looked towards Italy… the sky was black.

Upon arriving at Lovric,  I was told that 4 of our members had walked to church for the 8 am service… the thunder and lighting had started and I knew I was going to have to go and get them.  About 10 minutes before the end of the service, the skies opened up and the wind started howling.  Off I went to church.

Luckily Loris, our taxi driver, was also there and I was able to text him to ask him to let my people know I was outside.  Local people were fleeing from the church and jumping into cars… everyone was getting wet.  I saw Barb with her turquoise jacket and told her I was here… she went back to get the others… Loris had just informed them I was outside.  As everyone climbed into the car, rain slowed down and in ½ an hour we could see blue sky coming from Italy… it was going to be a lovely afternoon.

Silvana made one of her amazing salads… Chicken salad.  This chicken is not out of a can, but grilled and then chopped into fine pieces… amazing!

Tomi arrived at 1pm and we were off to Pupnat.  Pupnat is one of the inland villages nestled into the slopes.  It has a 15^th century church and some lovely old buildings. We spent about an hour there and then headed down to Zrnovo.  Zrnovo is one of the older villages on the island and was first mentioned in documents in the early Middle Ages.  It has about 1000 inhabitants and is divided into 4 parts.  We walked around Prvo Selo, which means first village.  Here we found old stone houses, courtyards, and small dry-stone sheds covered with stone slabs.

We headed back to Lovric by 4pm, just enough time to get ready for dinner.

Dinner was the national dish of Bosnia which is cevapcece, a small sausage that is made with 3 types of meat; beef, pork and lamb.  I have to say, this is one of my favourite dishes.  Silvana served it up with French fries and salad.  Once again she had outdone herself!

September 25, 2010 - The rains have come!

Woke up in the wee hours of the morning and could hear the wind and rain.  The weatherman was correct.  The beauty of Lovric Pansion is that it has a large deck and it has canvas sides that roll down... they certainly need to be rolled down today! 
I found the group set up inside the main house all starting breakfast.  Karlyn and I took one look at each other and we knew it was going to be painting day on the balcony!  Luckily everyone had lots of photos to work with.
Everyone had a productive morning and lunch was served at noon... I thought everyone might want to move inside but they were so involved with their work, they ate at their posts!  Now that is commited.

We continued to work until 3:30pm and then we packed up and headed to Frano Milina Bire’s Wine Tour.  Frano gave us a quick over view of what happens in production of wine and then we moved inside for some tasting.  Frano makes 2 types of wine, one white and one red.  The white is call Grk, and the grape is only grown here in Lumbarda.  The red grape is Mali Plavac.  Both wines were excellent and several were purchased to take home.

The group had a little more time before dinner was served, and continued to work.  The wind and rain continued, and once again our meal was served inside.

September 24, 2010 - Korcula

It was an early morning.  Two of our group were heading back home.  They were flying out of Dubrovnik.  Ideally they would have been able to take the boat from Korcula to Dubrovnik but there are only 2 a week and today was not one of the days... so the only other option was the bus which leaves at 6:45am every morning. Like I said, it was an early morning!  Mike and John were waiting patiently as I ran to Lovric to get them some breakfast... can't travel 3 hours without some food in your stomach.  We drove into Korcula (about 10 minutes), and there were people already heading to catch the bus.  Good thing I purchased the tickets the day before.  We said our good byes and they were off.
It was another beautiful day. The rest of the group had breakfast and we left Lovric at 9am to head to Korcula for the morning.  Walking the old city is always a great experience no matter how many times you do it... there is always another nook or cranny to find.  Jeanne had purchased a postcard the first day they arrived and many people had been painting from this postcard... finally they were able to see Marko Polo's house up close and personal.   It was fun to see the recognition as each person turned the corner and the house came into view.
Our bus back was at noon.  With everyone accounted for we left Korcula via the lower road heading towards Racicse.  At the first stop sign we turned left and took the upper road high above Korcula.  This is my favourite view... from the sounds of "oooo" and "ahhh", I think people agreed with me.
From there we headed home to have lunch on the balcony.  Upon our arrival Lovric was in full swing!  Wine making had started.  There were crates of grapes and a group of 6 to 8 men lifting and dumping the crates into a machine that separates the grape from the stem.  2000 kilos had been picked that morning and everything had to be separated before they could go to sleep... it was going to be a long night.
Karlyn spent the afternoon on the balcony teaching and letting people continue with their work.  Everyone had an eventful afternoon.
Dinner was served at 7pm, as usual. Tonight was pea soup, salad, squid and tiramisu. All the non-fish and seafood even had a small nibble.  Squid is not battered and deep fried here, but rather grilled.  It is truly excellent!  They flavour is not of bread, oil and whatever sauce you dip it in, but the true flavour of squid.  Yum!
Dinner wrapped up around 9:30pm, with the exception of a few who held out until 11pm.  In the background you could hear the continued determination to finish making the wine.

September 23, 2010 - Lumbarda

Having figured out from the previous day, what Karlyns painting style was like... I picked her up at 8am to go on a quick tour.  I took her to Javic, which is the oldest part of Lumbarda and where my Dad grew up.  We wandered around and found "old and crumbly".  We then headed to Vela Glavica where the church is, and wander through the streets.  We again found "old and crumbly" but we also had vistas of vineyards with the sea in the background.  We had the variation we needed.
We arrived back a Lovric, right in time to have a bit of breakfast before we called our taxi. The group decided that they were really enjoying going on more of a photographic tour in the morning, and then returning to paint on the balcony in the afternoon.  It was decided that that would be the schedule for the rest of the tour.
We first went to Javic, and as luck would have it, my Dad was making his wine.  My Dad has an old style wine cellar called a Konoba.  Everyone was able to watch the process, up close and personal.  We also found goats and sheep peeking there heads out of their stall doors, just in time to have their pictures taken.  The was an old olive mill, which was labeled as such, and we were able to see an original stone olive press.
We then moved onto Vela Glavica.  Several of the streets had bougainvillea climbing the walls; there was an old abandoned church plus the village working church; there were capers growing out of the walls; plus the whole valley was alive with people picking grapes... in is suppose to rain in 2 days and the grapes need to be picked before that.  Several of the ladies decided to walk back, so there was just enough room to fit the remaining 5 of us in my car.  Unfortunately as we got in, we were told that our back tire was low.  We called Tomi and he came and got us.
Lunch was on the patio and the afternoon lesson commenced.
Tonight we were going to the Moreska.  This is a tradional sword dance of Korcula.  Dinner was served at 7pm and we were off to Korcula by 8:15pm.  The group got great seat right at the front but were told perhaps they did not want to sit so close as sparks fly when the swords meet, and these are real sparks!  The group moved back 2 rows.  As the weather was so nice, the Moreska was held in the outdoor theatre.  You could not ask for a better night especially since it was a full moon!
At 10pm the performance was over and the group exited, all discussing the singing, dancing and fighting they had just experienced.

Welcome to our Blog!

I will have to do a bit of catching up as I am just starting this on September 25th.  In the future my intention is to write daily during the course of each tour.  I feel that will give an idea of how we spend our days and how our instructors teach.
I hope you will find this interesting, and that you will join us on a tour sometime in the future.
Sretan Slikanje! (Happy Painting!)
Lynda