Our first sight of the coastline of Croatia was disappointing as the aeroplane swooped down into a misty landscape, but I could just make out the rocky indentations and the dozens of little islands. It was early evening and a short taxi drive took us to a small but pleasant suburban hotel just outside the town. In the morning we were provided with a town map and instructions where to find the local bus, No 6 into Dubrovnik. Our learning curve was steep - bus stops are marked by yellow lettering on the road, nearly worn away and took some finding. We entered the mediaeval city by a gateway in the high walls. It is built on a peninsula jutting out to sea, a magnificent fortification. Very narrow stone cobbled streets, lined with small shops, criss-cross the town in a grid structure, punctuated by the occasional large building, church or open square. The town has been heavily reconstructed after the 1991 bombardment, which is good, but the result lacks some of the atmosphere of older places.
We left no little shop unturned. There was much modern embroidery for sale in the form of mats, table-cloths, doilies etc. Copies of patterns from traditional costume in counted stitchery, all worked from the wrong side of the fabric. One shop had some antique costume for sale, but very expensive. I opted for two small embroidered mats. Only one shop was selling lace and had examples of the Pag needlelace and the Lepoglava bobbin lace. This too was expensive, but the Lepoglava lace was beautiful and an oval piece reminded me of Miss Channer's mat. Pauline decided to wait until we got to Pag and to Lepoglava, before buying any lace - a wise decision, it never does to go mad on the first day. Next - up the coast to Split. Angela Thompson -- I am using the free version of SPAMfighter for private users. It has removed 2989 spam emails to date. Paying users do not have this message in their emails. Get the free SPAMfighter here: http://www.spamfighter.com/len - To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
