Dubrovnik

Today was our last stop before heading back to Venice. Dubrovnik, Croatia is one of the more interesting places we have been. We had to tender to shore again, the old sea port was never meant to accept a ship as large as ours. The old city is completely surrounded by fortifications, I really hate to say it, but it looks just like the sea-port on the Pirates of the Caribbean ride at Disneyland, minus the pirates and loose ladies (no pigs, but cats a plenty and even a drunk or two). There was even an ugly old hag hanging out the third floor window, watching the tourists on the street below with obvious disapproval.

The ground floor on many of the buildings at least on the main streets, are occupied by shops, almost all bear a striking resemblance to a 10 x 10 prison cell. They have the most unusual entrance, a small door and a arched opening that must have had a purpose, but I can’t figure it out.

Off the main street, the side streets are so narrow, you could probably reach out and shake hands with the neighbor across the street from the balcony. And every where you look, there is a miss-mash of power lines, TV cables and laundry hanging on clothes lines.

The open piazzas are full of pigeons. We watched a little boy start to feed the birds, soon there were hundreds of pigeons surrounding him. Finally someone scared them off, and for a moment the air was full of flapping wings. They flew off for a second, and came right back.

The day was mostly uneventful, save for one brief Marco sighting. One moment he was on the street, but before mom could look he dashed off, probably into the ice cream shop.