My month's faves - April 2017

• I have spent almost the half of April in Croatia, so my faves this time have a quite Croatian touch. Starting with the best: I met the fashion illustrator Maya Beus in Zagreb! Yes, she was so kind to get in touch with me via IG and we sat together for a coffee and cake in Zagreb. She is so nice as her drawings are elegant. So: pretty much. It was quite refreshing to add a new aspect to my usually only-family visits to Zagreb. Maya: It was really nice and I hope we see each other oftener!
• Two new favourite places in Istria, the first one: Vrsar. It is a very cute village on the top of a (very step) heel, with a privileged high view of the sea and the surrounding beaches. And: it is home of the restaurant "Trost", where we went every single evening: when you find the best on the first try, why searching further? Also, Vrsar was the scenario of my first tennis classes ever (who knows? maybe one day I include tennis among my month-faves).
• The second Istrian discovery is Lovran. Also a little village but with a different character. Sumptuous villas from the Austro-Hungarian era along the intricate sea walk and an old town-centre where, just when you think the streets cannot get narrower, they do. We spent two days there and I each day I enjoyed the luxury of the "Five Elements" centre. First a face treatment and then an incredible olive-oil massage for a whole hour. Which brings us to...
• ...the "immortelle", a flower that has been almost stalking me through the whole trip. First a friend mentioned it saying that for her, a Croat, smelling this flower is smelling the summer itself. Then I got a peeling using "smilje" (Croatian for immortelle) during the said olive-oil massage. And then I started to see this flower in a lot of cosmetic products. How have I been blind to it till now? It really smells like seaside in the summer.
• And speaking of flowers, already in Stuttgart, I visited the exhibition of photographer Anne Schubert. Look at those pictures. My first impression of the big format photos was that they were paintings, so much detail, so much texture and depth. Gorgeous.