Our time in Korcula sadly, came to an end but what an ending it was! My friends Brock and Ramon arrived from Los Angeles and Jamie finally got to meet them. We had a fun dinner at Pensatore on the promenade in the Old Town, I think the owners will always remember us "crazy Americans" because we sat outside under umbrellas in the rain singing, "Singing in the Rain" while we waited for our table. They said they wished all their customers were as much fun. Our meal was delicious and the service was excellent.
We spent the next day showing Brock and Ramon around the town and sharing our favorite swimming spots. Then it was time for Jamie and I to catch the two and a half catamaran to Dubrovnik. When we arrived, our Airbnb host, Branko picked us up and drove us to the apartment, which is modern, newly renovated, and close to the Old Town. It is located in the Lapad neighborhood on the western peninsula. It's a twenty minute bus ride on Bus #4 to the main gate entrance in Old Town called Pile. We spent our first day walking around the old city and "map girl " once again got us to where we wanted to go. Dubrovnik is a magical city with medieval charm that hasn't changed all that much from when I was here thirty years ago. There are more renovations, but I remember the clean streets, the stunning city walls, and the beauty of the orange terracotta tiles on the roofs. There is now a big influx of Game of Thrones excursions and souvenirs because the HBO series that used Dubrovnik as a prime location for filming. It was used as the backdrop for the city, King's Landing, in the series.
There weren't as many tourists as we expected in Dubrovnik because the school year has begun for much of Europe. We had been told that towards the end of August we would see a big difference in the number of tourists and it seemed in twenty four hours much of the singing and dancing just stopped. Even the store windows have switched out their summer clothes, replaced with fall clothing. I'm looking forward to a less crowded September here in Croatia, although it is hard to believe that fall is just around the corner.