The rest of our Trip Report - Catcha Falling Star & Blue Cave Castle

[Hubby-man]

Where to begin? It feels like I am starting from scratch after this long time and all the things that happened. It's like talking about another world and another time. The stress has caught up with me again. I get up some days with a tiredness that does not want to dissipate. I feel like grief has aged us, I see an old man in my own reflection.

...It's definitely time for the next reach!

Despite the distance in space and time, Catcha Falling Star has left a lasting, maybe permanent impression. Even as a well traveled person, it was a first for me in many ways. I remember the exclamations escaping involuntarily as we took it all in: “How did we get here! How are we so lucky!”

As we walked the grounds, through the flower arches and passed Ivan's bar, a view suddenly opened up that simply took my breath away.



Natural stone paths, mosaics of different color boulders, criss-crossed the various levels, up and down stairs and over bridges. They disappeared behind corners and into niches, wound down the steep cliffs and paused whenever out of view to offer private hang-outs, fitted with chairs, tables and shading umbrellas. A whimsical labyrinth for a king to explore, a pleasure garden for the human condition, made of stone and mortar, sea-salt, and flowers.



Ivans Bar towers over it all, the famous giant tree stump at it's center. The structure is brimming with art strewn about, metal sculptures over-grown with the potted plants they hold, faces cut into the wood and pieces of glass hanging from the beams, breaking the sun-light and making it dance as a million bright spots that mingle with the familiar wavy reflectons from the pool.





It seemed like where ever the eye looked there was something beautiful to behold - and not at all in a tacky or overly-posh way. Rather than conquering or overwhelming its environment, Catcha Falling Star seems to have just grown out of the rock, hugging it as naturally as lichen.