Nautical print dress for a visit to one special place... / Haljina s mornarskim uzorkom za posjet posebnom mjestu....

I'm very pleased that I get to show you this place again. Despite the fact  that I already took you there with me (more than a couple of times actually), I still enjoy writing about it. Remember this, this, this or this post? For me, it is one of the hidden jewels of Herzegovina. Can you guess where it could be? Drum rolls....  It is Mostar Lake. Located in vicinity of Mostar city, this lake is actually man made and younger that me! Yes, it was made a few years after I was born. The length of the lake is about 10 kilometers and the depth is about 20 meters. I think it is safe enough for swimming. At any rate, I swam there a couple of times and as you can see nothing happened to me. There are many kind of fish living in this lake, so if they can survive there, I suppose it must be clean enough for swimming.

I was there the day before yesterday and that is when there photographs were made. I didn't go swimming this time. The day was windy and sunny and the views were especially spectacular because the rain cleaned the air making the mountains seem even nearer. I wore a navy print dress and a faux leather jacket. Both of these items are quite old, I had them for ages, but this is probably the first time I'm wearing them together. Truth be told, I was a wee cold. The wind was quite strong and despite the fact that it was a warm kind of wind, I kind of wished I had an additional layer while I was exposed to it. On the other hand, I was almost hot as soon as we got back in the city (where it wasn't as windy because the urban area is not as open as this place). 

Baš mi je drago što ću vam opet pokazati ovo mjesto. Bez obzira na to što sam vam tamo već odvela (zapravo više puta), još uvijek mi je gušt pisati o njemu. Sjećate li se ove, ove, ove ili ove objave? Za mene je ovo mjesto jedno od skrivenih bisera Hercegovine. Možete li pogoditi gdje bi moglo biti? To je Mostarsko jezero. Smješteno je u blizini Mostara, a zapravo ga je napravio čovjek i mlađe je od mene, to jest, napravljeno je par godina nakon moga rođenja. Dužina jezera je oko 10 kilometara, a dubina je oko 20 metara. Mislim da je dovoljno sigurno za plivanje. U svakom slučaju, ja sam tamo plivala nekoliko puta i kao što vidite ništa mi nije bilo. Ima raznih vrsta riba koje žive tu u jezeru, pa onda pretpostavljam da mora biti dovoljno čisto za plivanje.

Bila sam tamo prekjučer i tada su nastale ove fotografije. Ovaj put nisam išla plivati. Dan je bio vjetrovit i sunčan, a vidici su bili posebno prekrasni jer je kiša očistila zrak tako da su se planine činile još bliže.  Nosila sam haljinu s monarskim uzorkom i jaknu od eko kože. Oba ova komada odjeće su poprilično stara, imam ih već dugo, ali ovo je vjerojatno prvi put da ih nosim zajedno. Iskreno govoreći bilo mi je malo hladno. Vjetar je bio dosta jak i iako je bila južina, poželjela sam da imam još jedan sloj odjeće, barem dok sam bila na udaru vjetra. No, kada smo kasnije prošetali gradom bilo mi je skoro pa vruće (gdje naravno nije bilo toliko vjetrovito jer nijedan urbani prostor nije tako otvoren kao ovo mjesto).

 

It felt good to be there. It felt liberating. I felt like I could just take off and fly, fly, fly. Maybe the wind also had something to do with it? However, I'm sure there is another factor that made me feel this way and that would be the combination of mountains and a large area of water.  Some time ago, when I was reading novel Desert flower, written by amazing Waris Dirie, I came across this passage that made me smile. Waris was saying how it always made her feel peaceful and happy to see any large water surface. I feel the same way. Water calms me. Any water. Be it a creek, a river, a lake or the sea. However, lakes and sea have a special effect on me. I love water. I love being near water. I love boats. I love nautical print and stripes. Now, I get why. Perhaps that is why I wear this dress so often.  Perhaps that is why I used a sunny day as an excuse to wear it for the firs time this year. 

Bio je dobar osjećaj biti tamo. Bilo je to nekako oslobođavajuće. Imala sam osjećaj da bi mogla jednostavno poletjeti i letjeti, letjeti, letjeti. Možda je to bilo zbog vjetra? No, sigurna sam da je postojao još jedan faktor koji me naveo da se tako osjećam, a to je kombinacija planina i velike vodene površine. Prije nekoga vremena, kada sam čitala Pustinjski cvijet, roman nevjerojatne Waris Dirie, naišla sam pa odlomak koji me nasmijao. Waris je govorila kako ju je uvijek usrećilo i umirilo kada bi vidjela neku veću vodenu površinu. Ja se jednako osjećam. Voda me smiruje. Bilo kakva voda. Bio to potok, rijeka, jezero ili more. No, jezera i mora imaju poseban utjecan na mene. Volim vodu. Volim biti blizu vode. Volim brodove. Volim mornarski uzorak i pruge. Sada, shvaćam zašto. Možda je to zbog čega toliko često nosim ovu haljinu. Možda sam zato i iskoristila sunčani dan kao izliku da je nosim po prvi put ove godine. 

Let's take a moment and talk about mountains. Mostar is surrounded by mountains and hills. It is one of my favourite things about this city. What about this lake? Well, it is surrounded by mountains and hills as well. Guys, I love mountains and hills. They are like a moving canvas, aren't they? As the sun travels its daily route, it makes shadows change and that creates all these wonderful ever changing shapes on them. I totally get why Cezanne was obsessed with them. Especially with one special mountain. Remember that series of painting he made of Mount Sainte- Victorie? Weren't they gorgeous? I love how he used colour to depict the depth of things. Speaking of colours, the colour of lake Mostar was amazing that day. Not to say anything of the mountains and their rich colours. Mountains are a source of never ending fascination for me. I remember when I first landed in Palermo and saw all those mountains. Hey, I could live here, I thought to myself. This is hardly surprising considering that I grew up in Split, a town that is also surrounded by mountains. Do you like mountains?

Uzmimo trenutak i recimo nešto o planinama. Mostar je okružen planinama i brdima. To je jedna od mojih najdražih stvari kad je u pitanju taj grad. Ovo jezero? Ono je također okruženo planinama i brdima. Ja volim planine i brda. One su na neki način kao pokretna platna, zar nisu? Kako sunce prolazi svojoj dnevnom rutom, stvara sjene, a to baca na njih sve te divne oblike koji su u stalnoj promjeni. Sasvim shvaćam zašto je Cezzane bio opsjednut s njima. Pogotovo s jednom posebnom planinom. Sjećate se one serije slika koju je napravio o Mount Sainte- Victorie? Zar nisu bile divne? Sviđa mi se kako je koristio boju da naslika dubinu stvari. Kada već govorimo o bojama, Mostarsko jezero je bilo divne boje toga dana, a i planine su bile itekako lijepih i bogatih boja. Planine su za mene vječan izvor inspiracije. Sjećam se kada sam prvi put sletjela u Palermo i vidjela sve te planine. Ja bi mogla živjeti ovdje, pomislila sam. Nikakvo iznenađenje pošto sam odrasla u Splitu, gradu koji je okružen planinama. Volite li vi planine?

The mountain whose peak you can see in these photographs is called Velez (well, actually it is Velež but I haven't figured out how to anglicize this 'ž' letter yet. Basically, it is the same sound with which word mirage ends. There you go, now you know how to pronounce it correctly. Because English has such a complex spelling system, sometimes it is hard to decide how to spell foreign words. Would Velege sounds strange? Is Velez a better solution or a more confusing one?). This mountain was named after Slavic god Veles also known as Volos. He is the god of waters, earth and underground. In Slavic mythology, he is often presented as the opponent of supreme thunder God Perun. However, as with most mythological figures, there exist various interpretations of his features and properties, some more positive, some more negative. Some connect god Veles with a Norse deity known as Loki, others with Proto- Indo-Iranian deity Mitra, but it is hard to make concrete connections when it comes to mythology. Anyway, mountain Velez is about 13 kilometers long. Its highest peak is Botin (1969 m). That means that Velez is almost 2 km tall at its highest peak! 

Planina čiji vrh možete vidjeti na ovim slikama zove se Velež. Planina je dobila ime po slavenskom bogu Velesu koji je poznat i kao Volos ili čak i Veloh. On je bog voda, zemlje i podzemlja.  U slavenskoj mitologiji, često ga se prikazuje kao protivnika glavnoga božanstva gromovnika Peruna. No, kao i kod većine mitoloških figura, postoje različita tumačenja njegovih karakteristika i svojstava, neka su pozitivnija, a neka negativnija. Neki povezuju boga Velesa sa skandinavskim božanstvom poznatom kao Loki, neki s proto-indo- iranskim božanstvom Mitrom, ali teško je napraviti neke čvrste poveznice kada je mitologija u pitanju. U svakom slučaju, planina Velež je oko 13 kilometara duga. Njen najveći vrh je Botin (1969m). Dakle, Veležov najviši vrh iznosi skoro dva kilometra.

Spring is here and it feels good. This year I actually enjoyed Winter, but I'm glad that Spring has sprung.  I'm a bit behind on Spring cleaning, but I'm getting there. I have a lot of topics that I want to write about and  a lot of posts that I plan to publish.  In addition,  I plan to prepare a few more posts like this one. Do you enjoy travel posts? Do you have any special plans for this Spring? Are you planning a vacation? Do you like Spring? Does Spring makes you want to go places?

Proljeće je ovdje i to je dobar osjećaj. Ove godine sam zapravo poprilično uživala u zimi, ali drago mi je da je proljeće stiglo. Malo kasnim s proljetnim čišćenjem, ali doći će i to na red. Ima puno tema o kojima želim pisati i puno objava o koje planiram objaviti.   Planiram i pripremiti još nekoliko ovakvih objava? Volite li vi putopise?  Imate li kakav poseban plan za proljeće? Planirate li odmor? Volite li proljeće? Je li vas proljeće navodi na to da posjećujete mjesta?

 

jacket/jakna: Tally Weijl
dress/haljina: Mana

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