Cavtat, Croatia - a summer vacation on the Adriatic and a surprising insight!

    Cavtat's pretty seafront and port caught our attention, away from the crowds of Dubrovnik where Don Milo grew up. It is a boat ride away from its popular counterpart. We were pleased at our discovery, this ancient site of the Roman town of Epidaurum. The beauty of the area, its beaches, luxuriant vegetation and interesting monuments attract many present-day visitors. Among the sights is the childhood home of Vlaho Bukovac (1855-1922), the most important Croatian painter of the fin de siecle, who to this day enjoys an international reputation. He had a fascinating life from a short stint in the US; then, back home to Cavtat where his paintings caught the attention of his counterparts in Zagreb, Paris and Prague. The house now museum is located in the historical heart of the city on Bukovceva ulica, the street named after him. Here is a look at his famous painting in Zagreb's Opera House.

While we were admiring the several rooms of this house built in the 1800's decorated with murals executed by the young Bukovac; I came across a saying written on the wall of his studio: 

"Regardless of what I tell you; your mind will create its own image of reality" (Vlaho Bukovac)

   Cavtat's beauty is alluring today; but, it must have been incredibly difficult to succeed as an artist and even more, an internationally respected one. But Bukovac did and reminds us we are in charge of our reality or in the words of the poet William Henley, "the master of our fate and the captain of our souls."