With the problems uploading to the Internet and busy days, I lost interest in keeping up the blog. With Paul off exploring Montenegro, thought it a good time to catch up.
From Mostar, we spent the rest of Tuesday afternoon driving back to Dubrovnik to board our ship, the Sea Cloud. She is a 4 masted sailing ship, built in 1931 by EF Hutton for his bride Marjorie Merriweather Post. I will share more of her history in a future post.
We departed from Dubrovnik sailing North to the island of Hvar. Fair winds greeted us, so our first morning on board we were treated to the crew going aloft to loosen the gaskets and set the sails. It is quite a site to see at the 3 crews climb the rigging, at some points about 180 feet above the water. There are 19 hardy souls on the sail setting crew. I have no plans to volunteer to help.
We spent Wednesday afternoon wandering the medieval town of Hvar. The island is heavily agricultural and a major producer of lavender. The kiosks selling lavender sachets and oil were a delightful change from the usual junk.
Wednesday evening we cast off for an overnight sail to Korcula. The weather deteriorated and many of the passengers woke up about 4 am to a terrific downpour, lightening and deafening thunder. I missed the whole event, dreaming away under my feather comforter.
Within a few hours, the weather cleared and we continued on our way, docking by the city wall. Korcula is reputed to be the home of Marco Polo. The town was part of the Venetian Empire from the 14th to 18th centuries, leaving a major impact on the architecture. I will spare you the description of Venetians facades, churches and number of steps to get from one side of the city to the other. The walled part of Korcula is quite compact and easily navigable. Here we enjoyed our first local entertainment. There is a tradition of sword dancing or the Moreska. The dance is a combat dance telling the story of the Black king stealing the princess, the fiancée of the white king. The requires years of practice to become skillful with the swords. In the end the black king is defeated and the princess returns to her love. Most interesting to me was the casting. All the black army dancers are shorted and more slightly built than the white army. The king of the white army was the largest male on the stage.
After our evening in Korcula, we sailed south towards Dubrovnik, arriving in the old harbor early in the morning. Friday morning sunshine greeted us for our second visit to Dubrovnik. We repeated the walk on the city wall, enjoying the sunny skies and gentle breeze. At midnight we said goodby to Croatia and headed south to Montenegro.
