Conflagration near Dubrovnik

BBC Online: 06 August, 2007
"Dubrovnik threatened by forest fire. A state of emergency has been declared in Croatia, after a forest fire reached the suburbs of the medieval coastal city of Dubrovnik. The walled city is a major tourist attraction, and is classed as a UNESCO world heritage site."

When we drove by taxi south of Dubrovnik to the airport, we remarked on the vast areas of charred countryside along the coast. The taxi driver recounted that the fire was fierce and widespread, fanned by high winds.

Adding to the conflagration, the fire randomly exploded land mines still buried in the area. To further aggravate the situation, there are lost caches of arms from the 1991-95 war in the woods. When the fire hit these, in culmination they spewed bullets like machine guns.

Not a place for firefighters.

Television Croatia

We read more than we watched television on Korcula. One evening, though, we found a Mexican movie with subtitles in Croatian--more understandable than a movie in Croatian, or a German movie with Croatian subtitles. Viva!

CUT to commercial. Babe on bus holding onto overhead bar. Zoom into pig head in armpit. Wriggles snout to indicate malodor. Hunk next to babe shies away.

CUT to bathroom. Babe sprays armpit with large can of aerosol deodorant. Spray effaces pig.

CUT back to bus. Babe with big smile and armpit with no pig. Smiling hunk moves in. Happy ending.

On to Frankfurt

A cold front moved into Dubrovnik yesterday. We go on to Frankfurt and its lower temperatures in a few hours.

On Figs in Montenegro

The figs we ate in Montenegro are lime green, with the plump tender skin of a young girl. You press them to your lips and tongue and gently push through the skin with your teeth to the surprise of bright pink and delicately sweet pulp within. To the texture of the skin and the sweetness of the pulp add the crunch of tiny, tender seeds for an extravagant gustatory experience. Never have I tasted figs so sweet or partaken of them in such abundance. They were offered in large bowls and we plucked them off roadside trees. The Adriatic figs of Montenegro.

Korcula to Dubrovnik Today

Today we travel back to the former city-state of Dubrovnik, on Thursday to Frankfurt, and we arrive in Austin Friday evening, Sept. 7.

Hanging Out in Korcula