10/24/09

A Trip to Ilovik

This is the island of Ilovik:

To get there...

...we traveled through a city that had mythological as well as marching dragans.

It is the he city of Rijeka where there are castles:

Floating fortress:

And wise men who watch over the city and tell of its’ history:

There are princesses who still wait for their Romeos to come back...

...many who were lost at war:

We traveled by sea to the island of Ilovik.

To an island of magical sunsets…

…clear water…

…and vivid evenings.

By day the island is clean and colorful.

We hiked endless trails…

…and saw ancient rock walls…

…that flowed along seemingly endless flower gardens:

While hiking we saw olive pickers…

…met new friends…

…and saw abstract shapes:

The views were vast…

…and now a new type of castle guards the beaches:

In a small village many people do many different jobs to survive. Over the years with the increasing amount of tourism some traditional ways of working are falling off. For example, a few believe it is easier to earn a living from tourism than from picking olives. However some of those ways are changing. While we were there we met a man, Randy, who lives in White Plains, NY. He was visiting for four weeks to help pick olives. I feel that as much as he was there to pick olives, he was also there to keep tradition alive and to maintain his family's connections on the island.

On Sunday everything stopped. It was a beautiful morning. The ferry came and went and everyone attended church. I have some strong opinions about organized religion because I feel we should each invent our own, but if I lived on Ilovik I would attend mass regularly because throughout the history of this little village the church has offered a reason for coming together and socializing and helping to keep traditions alive.