It was a warm sunny July afternoon when we stumbled upon a small fruit vendor alongside the road heading south from northern France to Nice. He caught our eye from the side of the road with his famous French melons. From the town of Cavaillon in Provence they're as anticipated as the summer berries in Germany or the lemons in Sicily.
Poland remains one of the most geographically diverse nations in Europe. The Beskids mountain ranges are home to fauna found nowhere else and vast meadows of wild flowers and herbs have been used for centuries in holistic medicine. Much of Polish countryside remains untouched by modern industry which has proven vital for honey production.
On a recent trip to the Bavarian city of Nuremberg, which hosts an especially famous Christmas market, we came upon a narrow, secluded cobblestone alley. Known in German as a "Gasse", the alley clearly predated the advent of cars with its pale-colored buildings leaning beside one another for support.
While it may be more common to think of roses in perfume or a bouquet, throughout much of the Middle East and Central Asia, rosewater is used to flavor teas, drinks, jams and other sweets. Roses even have their own folklore and many attest to their medicinal properties.
Whenever invited to my Yugoslavian friends’ home I felt like royalty in their small, yet elegant flat. My friends were like the thousands of mixed families from the cosmopolitan city who never really identified with ethnic or religious groups. They wanted simply to be Yugoslavian, which after all means South Slav, and their Balkan hospitality was unmatched.
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