Day 14. Tuesday 14 April.

Some light rain overnight and the day is light grey and a bit cool and windy – but comfortable enough to venture out.

Focus this morning is the Benedictine convent, established in 1664, where nuns make lace out of fibre drawn from fresh Agave americana leaves, usually designed without a pattern.

A group tour was just ahead of us to enter the museum so we latched on – fortunately they passed in and out quite quickly.

The lace making is recognised by UNESCO as a cultural tradition originating in the 19th century. We did not actually see any nuns extracting the white, thin fibres. Because of the intense labor involved, each small unique piece takes months to create. Several pieces for sale were priced at 5,000 euros (if we interpreted correctly). Talking to a very helpful lady in the Tourist office later we learned that there are now about nine nuns in the convent, with only three of them still creating lace – one reluctantly and only because she doesn’t’t want the skill to die out. T was in awe of the delicate crochet/embroidery. Many pieces are for liturgical use (apparently some go to the Vatican) but some are embellishments on garments. It was a real pity that there was no information about how the agave thread is produced and the girl in the tourist office said ‘it’s kept a secret!’ T asked how old the artist/nuns are…women in their 60s (so quite young, really) and women enter the order in their late 30s & presumably have a talent for needlework as a start point & the patience to learn & master (mistress) the craft.

The town is quieter today due to damp conditions: more work being done on preparing for the coming season, and most of the cafes, bars and stalls that were active over the weekend not open: none of the lavender sellers on the waterfront were, the sole trader being for beads and jewellery. But coffee was still available at a café/bar where the locals gathered. T was intrigued by the clear drink in front of most of them: the waitress informed us it was a common drink of white wine and water. Would you like to try? T declined & stuck to coffee. A rare treat was in finding sachets of raw sugar.

Searching for a seafood restaurant, we visited two recommended by the lady in the tourist office: the first, Junior, provided the sort of menu and price we were looking for; the prices of Gariful, the second, had us gulping – we won’t be dining there! Wandered along the waterfront some more and noticed a Tommy supermarket, a chain we’d seen yesterday in Stari Grad but not previously here. It was about the same size of the Konzum market we’d been visiting but had a few different items: T remarked that we could now make our own seafood meal just as tasty as the restaurant would serve up. The seafood at this time is frozen anyway, so decision for D’s birthday meal was made when we spotted it in the freezer cabinet. And T’s eyes lit up when she saw, and bought, big bunches of beautiful spinach on special. No prizes for guessing the next 3 nights’ meals (breakfasts). D’s iron levels will go through the roof!

A pre-dinner walk to check out other parts of Hvar ended when the footpaths ended: not keen to share narrow roads with cars and scooters. As we approached Konzum a young man was edging his small car past a parking boom gate. ‘I’m a tourist….the boom was up when I went in then came down!’ We assisted with some hand signals and he escaped. Another lesson about the value of small cars in busy cities with narrow  streets. And then we met and mutually recognised, the young lady from the Theatre a few days ago buying pet food in the pharmacy, for two cats and a dog.

T delights in preparing innovative meals while we’re travelling. Another success tonight, marrying meatballs, spinach, paprika and lots of other ingredients into an interesting and delicious dinner…and breakfast…and dinner. With spinach left over. The Mediterranean diet is very much her thing.

The swallows again chase their dinner as the moon rises over Hvar.