Tender Moments & A Peaceful Day

Click the headline to view photos for this post.

Town of Rab, Rab Island, Croatia
16 degrees Celsius, partly cloudy, light breeze
October 18, 2004

Aboard the ship we couldn’t feel any motion at all. Yet we were told the reason we had to wait an hour to catch a tender (a completely covered boat that holds about 60 people and also serves as the ships life boats) was because rough water made loading the tenders difficult. No problem, Jan and I played crib in the Queen’s lounge while we waited.

The 15-minute ride to Rab Town from the anchored ship was a little bumpy but wasn’t a problem for either Jan or I. Kind of fun, actually. My friend Tony Botticelli, who gets seasick easily; however, would have passed on the experience, I’m sure.

The first thing we noticed was the silence. Off the main square we turned into the Prince’s Palace Park just inside the walls and were surprised to see palm trees, fruit trees and flowers. The only thing we could hear was the rustling of the leaves and the song of a solo bird. A stark departure from the constant background noise in Venice, yesterday and a welcome relaxed day as we begin the cruise.

We took the narrow road gradually up the hill. Above us through an open window, in an ancient stone wall we heard a couple chatting, over a radio, lace curtains dancing in the light breeze and the aroma of frying potatoes, onions and garlic filling the air. Inscribed on the stone frame of one door the date 1869.

When we reached to top we found the remains of the ancient town and a spectacular view of the harbor and air ship anchored off shore. Around the next corner the road ended at the top of a stairway. Looking down we realized how high we’d climbed. At the bottom of the stairs was the town’s second square.

We walked along the port, charter boat fishermen rested and waited on their boats for clients, locals drank coffee or beer at tables in the square, and we caught a tender back to the ship.