I lost my hat!

We arrived in Dubrovnik in the dark after an incredible ride down the beautiful Dalmatian Coast.  The scenery changed from fertile farm lands, endless sea, quaint villages and views of the shoreline down steep rocky cliffs and was heart stopping at times.  A great experience all in all.  

Views from the bus

There’s always a rush to disembark, whether plane, boat or bus so, we we quickly grabbed our backpacks, the bag we had our lunch and spare jackets in, and our suitcases before walking the short distance to our little apartment.  It had been a long day so we settled in and crashed early.  In the morning I realized that my precious Tilley hat had not got off the bus with us.  I can only think that it fell out of the bag under my seat and I didn’t check carefully before the mad dash off the bus.  My hat was really showing it’s age, it had in fact been replaced by Tilley in Calgary because of wear around the brim.  I left my replacement hat in Canada because I knew it would take a beating on  this trip so do I have one to go home to.  It sounds like no great loss except that hat  was the one I wore on the Camino so it has great sentimental value.  Part of me hopes that some kind soul will find it, see my name and address inside and send it to me.  

A quick testament about Tilley - their guarantee is excellent. Before we left on this trip I just walked into a travel store in Calgary that sells Tilley products, they took one look at my hat and told me to choose a new one!  There was a $5.00 handling fee but they let me keep my old one. 

Last photo of me and my hat

Enough about my hat.  I donned my black Woolrich sunhat and off we went to explore the amazing old city of Dubrovnik.  We chose our apartment because it was conveniently located to the bus station and as it turned out it was also right across the street from the port.  When we stepped outside in the morning there was a huge cruise ship right in front of us!  There were two more along the way and one anchored out in the bay.  This made for a massive crush of people in the old city!  As we dodged groups following flags, umbrellas and paddles with number on them we managed to find some quiet side streets to bide our time in until the crowds headed back to their ships.  On one of the side streets we came across a shop making jewellery using Adriatic coral.  We may have been given a con job, but the man in the shop seemed very knowledgable and took time to explain how the coral is harvested under very strict regulations by a small number of divers and how they process it to make their very unique jewellery designs.  I bought his line and a bracelet with small irregular pieces of corral and a grey pearl, which he said was appropriate because Dubrovnik is called the “pearl of the Adriatic”.  Sometimes you just have to be a tourist.  

Robert near the coral shop.

Taken above the heads of the throngs!

A section of the wall from below.

One of the many interesting little corners on a side street.

After a seafood lunch and more walking in the back streets - mostly residential, we made our way to the entrance of the ancient wall that surrounds the old city.  With it being a bit later in the afternoon the crowds were mostly gone and it wasn’t quite as hot.  The people we met were all staying in Dubrovnik for a few days so there was no great rush and we all seemed to be really enjoying the views from the top!  We walked the full perimeter of the wall - after climbing 90+ steep stairs!  I’m glad that we had walked in the city first because we recognized the places we had been, getting a different view from above.  Each way we looked the views were spectacular.  At times we were looking down steep cliffs to people diving off the rocky shore into the azure water, other views were into the bay with many boats coming and going, but the most dramatic view was when we reached our start point just as the sun was setting.   We had been told that we could not be on the wall past 6:00 pm but we gathered with a group of other photographers and stayed until almost 7:00 and the sunset had used up all its pinks, purples and oranges.  For me the best part was when the sky and sea blended into dark wine colour.  Stunning!  

Robert, on top of a very tall tower - zoomed in.

The light starting to change.

Amazing colours!

The sea and sky becoming one!

Our one and only day in the old city was well spent so the next morning we didn’t feel the urge to go back so we spent the morning walking around the residential area we were staying in just taking pictures of the little streets and courtyards and their assorted cats.  As we were leaving for Rhodes in the afternoon we didn’t venture too far. 

Our apartment entrance.

Some one's back garden.

This cat and her kittens tried to mug Robert.

I must say a good thing about our wonderful landlady.  She welcomed us with open arms, had the makings for coffee, juice in the fridge and insisted on doing our laundry.  There was no problem with us leaving our bags past the checkout time and she even tried to give us a universal adapter for all our chargers.  We force paid her for the adapter and accepted her farewell hugs.

We bid farewell to the beautiful city of Dubrovnik with mixed emotions, mostly excitement about going to Greece!