Europe Trip - Part 5 - Cruise: Hvar

Monday August 25

We left Stari Grad at about 8 am and went for about 2 1/2 hours.

We were told that Hvar harbor is a bit difficult because you can't go in too early so we anchored at an island opposite and whoever wanted swam off the back.

Remember the "floating man statue" in a previous blog? We had to try it!

When a lot of the others on the ship are occupied with other things like swimming the internet is stronger so I was lucky to catch up a little. It is lovely to sit outside especially when the motor is not going and just relax. I tried to do a little cross stitching too but didn't get far because there is always somebody to have a conversation with.
Neno, the all-around man, even brought us a snack. Way too much food every day. But we have to try it, don't we?

The itinerary of this ship's tour is not totally clear. The crew quite often seems to have a better idea. There also had not been clear directions to us on arrival that we had to sign up and pay for "extras" right there and then. So yesterday James had to sent an email to the agency in Split and this morning everything got sorted out.
When I learned that this was the day we are going to the city with the "famous lace" I had to inquire about it ... was it included in the walking tour? ... did we need to see it before or after that? ... what were the opening times? The crew was very helpful with that and it turned out that we should go when the rubber dingy makes the first trip to the harbor.

First thing on the agenda: finding the convent with the lace.

Trying to find our way in the criss cross of the steep alleys.

Turn left at the cathedral.

There it is with the door closed until 5 pm.

We could not go in to the church but I could take a photo through the glass doors.

Since we had time we decided to walk up to the Fortress. Steep steps up first (182 or 400 depending who tells you) and then a lovely zig zag way.

It is so breathtaking beautiful that you get carried away with the picture taking.
But finally the entrance.

The view from the highest point was so worth the huffing and puffing (on my part) up the hill.
And yes, I made a VIDEO.

We found a cafe up there too and had some libation.
We made our way down again and the Convent museum was open. It was very small but there were some really nice pieces of lace. In the front room where things were for sale no photography of course. The lace for sale was very nice too but extremely expensive. I was told that 10 nuns make the lace and how it's done is a secret but they will teach when there is a new nun. I wonder whether they know that you can google it and learn that way?

Just in time at 6 pm we meet the walking tour guide Nikol and several from our group. There is a lot of history and interesting things but of course I can't get into it here and can't give you a link with this internet either.

On the map you can see Stari Grad were we were yesterday and Hvar were we are now.

She points out one of the gates and the caper plant. People like those because they pull the moisture out of the walls. But when the plant gets too big it becomes a problem too because the roots damage the wall.

She pointed out those stones sticking out of the walls.

If you put a stick through them you have a kind of dumb waiter and can easily hoist your stuff up.

Of course she also pointed out the convent and the lace. It is interesting that it is made with "threads" from the agave. No spinning needed. You just pluck it from inside the leaves. The museum attendant just happened to cut some for the nun, who is not allowed to step out of the convent since this a closed order.

We found a lovely restaurant but I forgot to take a picture. Like all of them, tables and chairs are in front of the houses.
I thought this was a free appetizer because the server just brought it and put it in front of us. James told me though that the bill had a cover charge. This was excellent though with the hearty bread. The blob is fish pate.

And that was the last photo I took. Probably because the (local) wine tasted really good.
Back to the ship (across several others) and talking and talking on the back deck. Lovely.

This was a lot of walking today especially up to the Fortress but James is doing well with his ankle. It does swell sometimes but he puts it up and it gets better again.

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