Here on Gilligan's Island .............

Overnight the storm moved in and woke most on the boat at 3:30 am with huge flashes of lightning, thunderous booms and heavy winds and rain. The crew could be heard scurrying around on deck ensuring all was well secured. Apparently two boats did collide in the winds and one lifeboat was damaged. The morning brought partly sunny skies but it was still windy enough for the captain to decide to remain in Stari Grad one more night rather than move on through choppy seas. The ride this morning was 27km from Stari Grad west to Jelsa and return with a 200m gain. The ride was shortened because of the rearranging of plans due to the storm. In effect we missed one planned ride for Korcula and everything was adjusted afterward. Tomorrow will be our last ride of the tour and it will take place on the Island of Solta. Ricardo had a really good ride today and was so fast up the hills he caught up to the mountain bikers who always leave well in advance of the “trekkers”. Louisa opted for a shopping and exploring morning in Stari Grad with Kathy, a mountain biker from Ontario. Stari Grad is a very interesting town architecturally and the Venetian influence is readily apparent in some of its buildings. The streets are narrow and at odd angles to each other like a bit of a maze. It is a very unique layout but a straight line of stones inlaid in the centre of the cobblestones tells you that the street will exit into the main square or harbour. If there is no line of stones the street has no exit. There is a palace (or fortress) in the square in Stari Grad which was built by a poet, Petar Hektorovic, one of the fathers of Croatian literature who lived 1487 to 1572. It took 40 years to build and one of the peculiarities of the home is a fish pond which was fed through a channel from the ocean into the pond within the palace walls. That way he didn't have to fish for them. Hektorovic was a philosophical poet and many of his inscriptions are found on the walls in areas within the palace. Examples: Heu Fugiunt Fluxu Non Redeunte Dies "Alas the days flow by like waves and do not return." Memorare Novissima "Remember what will come after" Respice Quod Salvant Nec Opes Nec Gloria Mundi Non Deco Aut Aetas Mors Quia Cuncia Rapit "Remember that neither riches nor fame, beauty nor age can save you from Death, that takes all" We had the afternoon free today to explore Stari Grad at our leisure and visit some of the tourist shops as well. When we made the decision to opt out of the ride this morning we thought we were leaving in the afternoon. If we had known then we were staying again overnight we both would have been pedaling up those hills.!! We had another great dinner this evening followed by a short history of Croatia by our tour guide, Bruno. Bruno is a Croat who was born and lived until 7 years old in what is now Bosnia-Herzegovina. He is a young man but is very knowledgeable of the history of Croatia and also gave us great insight into the recent war in the area. He and his family were refugees in Germany after the first 1 ½ years of the war and did not return to Croatia until 1998 when Germany would no longer honour their status as refugees. Tomorrow we sail on to our last Island, Solta where we will also have our last bike ride of the tour. In the afternoon we will sail to our final stop, Trogir, where we originally boarded the boat. We will sleep overnight on the boat and it will all be concluded on Saturday morning at 9am when we disembark and travel on our own to our new adventures.