Chapter 49: Every Town on the Adriatic has its Own Ball

A drop of dew has absorbed the scent of the sea into itself, neither is it ice, nor is it raining with the aroma of winter pine on the asphalt as we travel along the steep streets of small towns along the sea coast. in the secret rocky cliffs, neither yesterday nor today we defeated the enemies of pure love from the bottom of the soul that remained in the epochal genetics of the ethnic people, neither kings nor the beggars were not spared that fate because that's life, the struggle between good and evil, love and hate, from Cinderella to the Ice Queen, all fairy tales have remained as instructive reading to warm us in the cold hours. We didn't defeat fate with a stone of wisdom or a magic wand, even like an olive tree that sends its roots deep into the earth's crust, so the destinies and stories of people are intertwined like thin lilies in the treetops in Indonesia. Who were we once, and with what destiny were we born today to write the pages of a blank screen to mend and ease the sorrows of unrequited loves, forgotten grievances, and unfulfilled promises.Those author's steps are like a torrential river that flows on paper to return the story to a more beautiful end. That is the magic of writing and the power to fulfill some forgotten dream with fantasy. Life is short, and the written sign is carved on the stone rock by the roadside. It remains to live for eternity.Traveling by car they passed by the river Krka.Lintang was showing Rinota unusual rock formations."Whatever it is, it reminds me of the stone statue of the Queen of Bali?""These are petrified wedding parties according to legends," answered Giovanni Polo."They say that the mother did not let her son marry the girl she loves and with terrible spells and a stormy wind turned them into stone rocks for eternity, there are nearby Gavan's palaces, which sank into the water because of the arrogance of the master who did not want to give a poor beggar a crust of bread, in fact the poor beggar was an angel in disguise..This is how the town was born, according to legend, after the castle fell into the lake, the locals built the new town of Skradin, where the rich and the poor lived in harmony."The petrified wedding halls and courts only added to the allure of the mysterious as the world was torn apart long ago by the movement of tectonic plates and continents, leaving mystical pillars at the points of separation."But here is something that is neither a myth nor a legend, but a true phenomenon that resides in the caves and underground cold waters of Dalmatia, Slovenia and Italy.Sometimes we see them in mud.Oh no, don't be afraid, it's not a monster.The paleoendemic of the Dinarides is not a water monster like those found in other waters of the world, and it is not a monster in a lake like Loch Ness.This is completely different, but unique in the world for its unusual appearance. You will see soon."He stopped the car along the bank and the rocks of the river, exploring the place."There is one here, in the shallows next to the rocks!""It looks like a white oblong dragon from illustrations in children's fairy tales. The white and pink color looks like an unreal being.""Yes, we call them human fish because of the shape of the head, it's a living fossil.""It is unusual, is't it?""We've never seen such a fossil before.""Amazing!" "It's time to go to the old town of Korcula, we have to either take the ferry via Split or by car, and it will take us 4 hours by car, but that way you will see the coast and smaller but ancient places along the Adriatic coast, " said Giovanni."That sounds nice, when you get tired, I can replace you in driving because luckily I brought my driver's license with me on my honeymoon."That's how it was, right before the Pelješac Bridge, Rinota took over the steering wheel from Giovanni, but Polo refused."No, if you drive you will miss a wonderful view of the newly built bridge, the Chinese company China Road and Bridge Corporation built it.The cable-stayed bridge was an innovation by Croatian/Venetian Fausto Veranzio in the Middle Ages.This modern bridge was completed in 2022, from a distance it looks much more beautiful because we can see the entire bridge. The structural engineer is Marjan Pippenbacher, from Slovenia.""Nice, an international team was building a bridge.""Yes, this type of bridge is still fascinating.""And we will arrive soon!"Korčula welcomed them with town masquerades and a carnival parade.Before that, in a smaller place, they met small children's masquerades, which is great fun for them, they make paper masks themselves, dress up as the oversized children of their grandparents, and go through the village ringing the bell for winter to pass and spring to arrive, the locals would they gave them sweets, cakes in front of the door.The urban carnival is more massive, there are everyone from small to large in costumes, some in team costumes, some covered in sheepskins, and here it is a folklore theater because they also have the prince of the festival, each town has its own story and procession.Lintang is delighted."I can't believe it, but there are festivals like this under big masks in our country too.""The world is small, maybe the carnival moved from Venice to Bali.""Or vice versa, the masks are really similar."Everyone laughed when the masked participants dragged them into a procession through the city together, dancing.However, somehow they managed to get out of the big procession and continued to travel by car on the island of Korčula."Here are pictures as a souvenir. I managed to capture you during the carnival."The photographer showed a photo of Lintang and Rinota.The photo is unfiltered, Lintang looked like a modern beauty diva with a narrow and pearly white face and a slender body with elongated thin legs in platform shoes."How did you manage to take a photo like this?""Well, that's how you look in reality, it's not a trick," he said."No, when others photograph me, I look different, less elongated, but I like your style of photography.""Maybe it's up to my camera", he said."Many girls and women try to change their appearance with filters, it's a boom trend, a simple transformation that gives them the freedom to be themselves when they're not in front of the camera.""Yes, I heard, they also say that some people rebel against it, especially men, what do you think, are filters the right solution?""As an actress, I understand that good make-up can drastically change the appearance, but I like that young people use filters to play out their own story and performance, it's just a cinematic illusion in front of the camera and filters are a much better method than young people having face surgery and surgical corrections.So, photo shooting with beautifying beauty filters is a good thing, even shooting under heavy makeup is hard, and the beauticians fix the actors' makeup during breaks."