Author Archives: marielscatena

A mature oak tree has from 100,000 to 250,000 leaves in any given year. During their lives leaves diligently convert sunlight into sugars, filter carbon and oxygenate air while sending  nutrients to branches and trunks down into the earth—which is then made cooler and stronger.  At the end of their lifespan they enrich and createContinue reading “Green Belts Shelter”

This photograph of twins Vera and Paolo Eledda was taken in 1956. They are my first cousins once removed–the children of my great aunt, Darinka Martinčić Eledda. Since shortly after World War II they lived in Sardinia. I never met them but we recently corresponded. Relatives who are from the same branch of the MartinčićContinue reading “Family”

People who move around the world for pleasure, to participate in an event, to relax in a pretty setting or to visit family don’t usually think about making a distinction between travel and tourism. Most definitions of tourism describe an experience of going to a place for vacation to relax and have fun for specificContinue reading “A Deeper Knowing”

The internet is a place and a destination.  During coronavirus lockdowns, image-laden websites fed armchair travelers’ wanderlust.  With a few clicks potential travelers experienced interweb versions of  a places they weren’t able to visit in person. Many of us developed favorite travel sites authored by insider, outsider and in-between (digital nomad) bloggers who endorsed attractionsContinue reading “In Real Time”

Croatia enjoys almost 300 days of sunshine each year.  During the summer months tourism thrives as people flock to idyllic beaches. Last year the coronavirus pandemic slowed tourism but photographer and journalist Darko Bandic’s August 2021 AP article tells another story.  Bandic quotes Dubrovnik (Croatia’s most popular destination) tour guide Josip Crnčević  “…it’s almost likeContinue reading “Winter Sun”

Sometimes you get exactly what you need even if it doesn’t seem like it at the time.  That is one of Nikola Horvat-Tesla’s core narratives. Nikola ‘Tesla’ is a long distance or thru-hiking veteran.  He creates films and videos telling stories that describe and advocate for thru-hiking in the US and Croatia. In his award-winning,Continue reading “Hiking Changes Everything”

Postcards from Dalmatia was filmed in the former Yugoslavia between 1958 and 1960 to promote tourism along the coasts of what are now Croatia and Montenegro.  Postcards was created in cooperation with the Yugoslav National Tourist Board (then located in London) as part of a BBC Passport series.  Today AR and IMAX make it hardContinue reading “Paradise Found”

For the first half of the 20c Ivan Meštrović was a cultural force to be reckoned with. His sculptures are monumental–in scale, influence and number. Over the course of his 79 years Meštrović created 3000 sculptures. Many of these public art works are found in US and European cities and in galleries devoted to hisContinue reading “A Song and A Prayer for Mothers”

Dreamy, pastoral, surreal, fantastical, utopian. These describe the landscapes of artist Ivan Rabuzin.  He was born on March 27, 1921 in a village called Ključ near the town of Novi Marof in Varaždin County.  Today just under 15,000 residents live in Novi Marof where the Kulturni Centar Ivan Rabuzin is celebrating the hundredth anniversary ofContinue reading “Ivan’s World”

Stribor’s Forest can be found in not one but in many places—dreamed, remembered, real.  It is the title of a Croatian fairytale (hrvatska bajka) interpreted countless times since Ivana Brlić-Mažuranić wrote it in 1916. She was born in 1874 to a distinguished Croatian family, home schooled and married at 19 in an arranged marriage. Stribor’sContinue reading “In Stribor’s Forest”