Barbara DuBois Hageman, Artist: Staying in Posidarjje, Croatia

The airport in Split is where we landed. It's small and easy to navigate, UNLIKE Heathrow which was a nightmare! The highways are wide open and the speed limit is about 90 mph, which is a little hard to get used to! On the way between Split and Posidarjje, our host, Miro, stopped so we could get our first glimpse of the dramatic coastline.

Once we arrived in Posidarjje, there was no shortage of things to see in this small village on the Dalmatian Coast. Posidarjje is a village of about 1800 people and it's on an inlet of the Adriatic. We stayed in a pension owned by our Croatian-American friends, Miro and Ana. Ours was the lower balcony. In the right hand corner of the photo is a wood-fired grill which makes anything cooked on it taste marvelous.

Ana's gardens are beautiful and her front entrance is magnificent! Aside from hydrangeas, there are olives, figs, and a grape arbor that serves as the carport for their vehicles. Rosemary and bay leaf thrive everywhere. There are quince/ apples and pomegranate as well.

Ana's front yard garden

Sunflowers thrive

Olive trees grace the yard as well

The drama of the Adriatic was in the views from the back of the house, our balcony and down at Ana & Miro's beach:

Sunrise

Mid-day

Mid-day in the other direction, after the thunderstorms.

The view from the dock overlooking the beach

Miro's boat

A view in the westerly direction from the dock

The dock

So I set up my painting gear on our balcony since the weather was sunny and dry except for one afternoon of thunderstorms...much needed by the olive and fig trees. What's not to love about this place for an artist?!

Again, thanks to Bivenne Staiger, my watercolor teacher, for getting me up to speed in this new medium. It was going to be too complicated to travel with my usual array of oil paints. Here's the link to Bivenne's website: Bivenne Harvey Staiger