Viva la Croatie!!!
CD: Croatian Folkmusic
Weather: Too cold to sit in the shade with shorts, too warm to sit in the sun with pants (not that I’m complaining)
Atop Dubrovnik sits an imposing fortress that only found its military purpose in the Siege of Dubrovnik during the Balkan wars of the early 1990’s. Today it is a shell of its emblematic glory but surves as a great look-out point for Adriatic sunsets and I naturally decided to take it up on its offer. I pranced through the narrow alleyways winding through the neighborhoods leading up to the forest paths still laced with landmines from the aforementioned wars. Despite the assurances that maintained paths and concrete platforms were safe from the explosive dangers, my breath carried a degree of anxious hesitancy as I climbed the hill. Jumps from rock to root to immaculate perception from my imagined superman-mindsensing-senses carried me safely up the rocky crag. Once atop the embattlement, I wandered through the trenches of modern warfare while looking down upon the magnificent walls of Dubrovnik. The sun slowly settled into its presanctified seat and I was left in awe of the colors it left behind. I’ve heard poets and scientists and laymen speak of seeing nature in such a way as being close enough to touch it, but only now, after nearly 25 years of existence can I honestly say I’ve been able to comprehend this experience. The sun seemed to sit in a perfectly preordained perch in the not so distant mountains before finally settling into the sea. It teased me by slowing its decent, then finally relented by backing into the crystal waters of the waiting sea. Perhaps the saddest matter of the situation was there was nothing I could do to stop it or at least slow it down.
I sat there with my feet hanging over a bombed out victim of war, enjoying the simple pleasures I brought with me: a loaf of bread, meat, cheese and a wine of a certain quality that would have to be enjoyed immediately upon opening as it came unequipped with a re-sealing device.
Afterwards, I carried myself slowly down the hill watching the sunset turn into dusk and eventually nightfall. My favorite time of day is shortly after sunset: it’s the only time of day the horizon seems to completely dissapear, the sky seems to melt into the earth. The eyes have yet to adjust to the darkness and shapes seem to lose their properties while they wait for the moon to rise and take its proper shape and light in the evening.
The greetings of the constellations carried me back to within the city walls. I looked up and was reminded of the many years my father would take me out and have me count the stars while sitting on the driveway after a viewing of the most recent StarTrek episode. I still remember when he would take me to meetings of the astronomical society in downtown Houston. I, as a 10 year old, was about the youngest person there by about 25 years, not counting my sister, who I doubt remembers much of the experience. I doubt my father even remembers it. But to this day I remember that if you connect the two end stars of the Big Dipper, they lead directly to the North Star. And after all these years and all these miles, the North Star continues to peer through the window at my side.