August 11- `Picture Perfect Dubrovnik

The sun was shining brightly this morning as we ate breakfast on the Stradum. Without a rain cloud in sight, I knew that today would be the perfect day to find that picture perfect view of Dubrovnik I have been thinking about all these years.

Before we started sightseeing, we dropped off our laundry just outside the old city walls, but finding the place was a sightseeing trip in itself. We were directed by a number of people to just go "right, left, right" but it never seemed to get us there. No problem, though. It took us through pretty alleys with old stone houses surrounded by flowering bushes all with magnificent views of the Adriatic.

Back in town we toured the Granary and Ethnographic Museum. It featured a display of posters from the 1940s. Many of them had art work depicting America as a rich country taking over the world. One such poster showed a map of the world and even the penguins in Antarctica had something to say about it. The rest of the museum featured a textile display from the 19th century, traditional costumes, and old harvesting tools for olive oil, grain, and bees. Beautiful batik eggs were displayed in handmade baskets.

In the afternoon we took the ferry to Lokrum Island ( Love Island) just off the coast. It's a beautiful nature reserve with paths through the forest, swimming beaches, a small lake, and palm trees. It's the perfect place for a picnic and we had ours on an overlook of the water. As we ate, there was a symphony of cicadas. It was all so pleasant, but they were so loud we could even hear them off shore from the ferry.

Feeling the need for a cool dip we waded into the ocean, but it was very rocky. Instead we swam in the tiny lake surrounded by cliffs and palm trees. It looked like paradise with peacocks strutting about.

Heading back into town, Dubrovnik looked full of energy. People walking the walls were silhouetted against the sky and the red tile roofs and church steeples looked picture perfect. Everyone had their cameras out.

Right before dinner as I was sitting on the stone steps leading down to the old town working on the netbook, the lights in half of Dubrovnik went out. I could see the cafes below in the old town and they looked very magical in the dark with candles on every table. We ate at Nishta, a vegetarian restaurant. We tried the lentil cakes and veggie burgers which were served between two rice cakes-delicious. They have a very unusual, but sweet tradition. Even though it's a restaurant with outdoor tables with tablecloths, they distinguish themselves from the other cafes by placing a cute animal bath toy on every table.

After dinner we walked down to the harbor. Dubrovnik has a lot of cats and we met a mother and her two daughters from London who were cuddling the kittens and feeding them a box of cat food. The girl's mother explained that the daughters had taken pity on the cat family and this was their daily tradition. They will be in Croatia for a month.

At the end of the day you may wonder if I ever found the view of Dubrovnik I have been searching for that I mentioned several days ago. I haven't, but I have come to the conclusion it does not matter. Dubrovnik is picture perfect from every angle.