The Magic of Nature Park Hutovo Blato: Must See Places in Herzegovina

I've been living as an expat in Bosnia and Herzegovina for almost a decade now. During this rather long period of time, I've discovered many wonderful places that I learned to treasure and appreciate. I wrote about most of them here in this little place I can my own. Still, some places are more special than others. It is hard to say why. Some reasons remain mysterious of the heart. Maybe life is more interesting that way. We don't always have to know everything. Sometimes we fall in love with places just the way we fall in love with people.

All I can say is that Hutovo Blato is one of those special places. I've fallen in love with it during my first visit. Maybe it's the sea child in me that's feeling (and missing) the Adriatic? After all, the Adriatic is not far from here. That's what I felt on my first visit: a fascination with how familiar this place felt. Since then, I've been a pretty regular visitor. In many ways this nature park feels absolutely Mediterranean. It is certainly blessed with wonderful climate, but it is also very unique. Not a long time ago, I wrote about What To See and Do in Hutovo Blato. I would definitely put nature park on the list of must see places in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Besides the obvious attraction, the stunning nature itself, this wetland is also a home to hundreds of migratory and resident bird species. 

Today it is time for another visit. With a mixture of my art and photography, I invite you to visit this place with me once more!

Jumpsuit: Zaful (here)
Sandals: bought at retro shoes store in Mostar

As I said, nature park Hutovo Blato is one of my happy places and we've got a whole history documented here on my blog. My last visit was recent, but seeing these photographs you probably couldn't guess that it's autumn already. Well, it is. After a bit of colder weather, we've been blessed with tons of sunshine.  We're currently experiencing something resembling a heatwave, temperatures much higher than they should be this time of year. All that basically means you can visit this park in  your summer attire. Just in case you're anywhere near. In case you want to learn more about this place or see my previous visits to this part, you can check them out in the links bellow:

1. here and here (Winter 2017)

2.here  and here (Autumn 2017)

3.here (Summer 2016)

4. here (Spring 2015)

5. here  and here (Summer 2015)

6. here (Summer 2013) and here (Winter 2013)

7.here (photographs taken during Summer 2012 but published during Winter 2013)

HOW TO STYLE A PRINTED YELLOW JUMPSUIT? 

Now, it's time for a fashion talk. My outfit proposal of the day is all about styling this vibrant yellow jumpsuit (available here). In case you haven't noticed, I'm a big fan of yellow. This colour makes me think of summer (but also autumn) and good vibes. It reminds me of the sun, of the energy of life and basically of all things lovely. Possibly, yellow colour is also a flattering for my olive complexion (I'm a bit paler than usual due to extreme anemia but my natural complexion is typically a bit on the darker side). Moreover, I think yellow is such a statement colour to wear. I remember when the canary yellow trend first appeared. It was so much fun seeing all those beautiful canary yellow gowns on the red carpet. It was such a breath of fresh air! Last spring, we saw a lot of yellow in fashion collections for this autumn/winter season. Personally, I can't wait for yellow to become super trendy. Yes, I definitely love this colour. I even wrote a few posts about it. Remember my post about 3 Ways To Style A Yellow Checkered Skirt?  (or my post that revolved mostly about layering a yellow dress that I'm particularly fond of?).

 So, how did I style this printed yellow jumpsuit? Well, styling it for warm weather wasn't really a challenge. The real challenge will be styling it for colder autumn weather ( I already have some ideas). For my visit to nature park, I wore it with a long vest and a pair of brown leather sandals. In fact, every time I had worn this yellow jumpsuit so far I had paired it with an olive long vest because I liked how these two items look together. The only time I took the olive vest of was on this particular day because it was really too hot. I think I prefer this yellow jumpsuit in a layered look, especially for everyday. I can imagine it being worn on its own, though. In fact, I think that by pairing it with a classy pair of high heeled sandals and a nice clutch, I might even get a winning outfit for weddings and special occasions. What do you think? BTW I got this jumpsuit from Zaful. It was a part of my last order, but I had to wait for it for a bit longer because it was located someplace else. It was such a nice surprise. I almost forgot about it when it arrived. All is well that ends well, right? Funny how many things can influence and improve our mood. Places, food, climate, clothes....all these things can influence how we feel.

Revisiting Hutovo Blato often puts me into a meditative mood. I suppose this place makes me feel a bit philosophical. In one of my older posts, I wrote the following lines (and with those thoughts I leave you):

What makes some place special to us? Memories? If yes, what kind of memories?  When makes us motivated to revisit some place? Is it when we have visited that place only once? Or is it continuous visit that make it special? I know it all depends, but still I wonder. Why do we return to some places? To revive a certain experience? Sometimes people return to places of sadness, so that they can come to terms with something that happened. In that case, that experience is a kind of catharsis.  Sometimes people return to places that remind them of some failure just to remind themselves that past holds no power over them. Are good memories as potent as bad ones? What holds more power? Or does it depend on our current mood?  The older I get, the more I doubt that we really control our memories. In a way, we all do for we all have a selective memory. We interpret events as we see fit and remember them accordingly to our present system of thought (or belief). That being said, sometimes memories have a mind of their own. They come and go, without us invoking them. Have you ever experiences this? Remembering something you wanted to forget in detail and not being able to remember something you want. Have you ever struggled to bring back some old passion or desire? Have you ever seen a ghost of past love? Memories are a curious subject, so let’s examine an association, a  distant cousin of the memory. Associations? Do they make us revisit places? We might be linking positive things with a certain places, even without the help of memories. What does it all really comes down to? Personal preferences? What makes us like anything? Is it a positive prejudice, belief, experience, a sum of personal opinions….Do these things determine whether or not we shall like something?

Jumpsuit: Zaful (here)/ Sandals: bought at retro shoes store in Mostar/ Vest: old

Jumpsuit: Zaful (here)
Location: Nature park Hutovo blato 

Tell me, what is your happy place? Do some places make you feel inspired? Where do you look for inspiration? What is your favourite colour? Do you plan to wear summer items in autumn as well? What are your tricks for styling summer pieces in autumn? 

Thank you for reading and visiting. Have a fantastic day!