Viva Croatia!

And we thought transportation in Croatia could not get any worse than the overnight bus from Rovinj to Split, well we may have passed judgement too soon. The rain may have intensified our annoyance, but Croatia Bus clearly does not track the correlation of ticket sales and bus capacities. As all of our previous trips, I think we were both assuming we'd be boarding an empty bus, with our choice of seats, instead, it was a crowded, hot stinky bus that forced us to separate & grab what must have been the last two seats. That's not it, at the next stop, more people still got on, redefining the saying "packed like sardines," I began to feel a bit claustrophobic - definitely the less glamorous angle of travel! Thankfully, Croatia Bus had free wifi, so I was set for the ride, and most of the local passengers cleared out within an hour.  Plus, the scenery was yet again stunning (I'm running out of adjectives) especially when we hit the sea again. The country count is up to five for this trip, since the road to Dubrovnik goes right through Bosnia & Herzogovina, unfortunately no passport stamp, but perhaps on our way out since we will be driving ourselves.  We arrived into Dubrovnik in the midst of a downpour, Emily and I simultaneously looked at each other and at the taxis and made one of our best decisions yet - the equivalent $10 taxi was well worth not having to attempt to navigate the bus system in the rain, with our luggage. We arrived at the apartment, ate dinner at a nearby pizzeria and watched the clouds part for a view of a vibrant orange, burning sun beginning to set behind the islands.

We awoke on Saturday morning to sunshine and a complete change of forecast - no more rain! The weather gods are obviously on our side.  After breakfast, we began our descent into Old Town, which was nearly a 30 minute walk from our apartment up on the hill.  We had determined our three major goals for the day were to visit Lokrum, a nearby island, walk the city walls and take the cable car up to Mount Srd. We bought our tickets for the ferry, then walked to the outdoor market to pick up food for another lovely picnic lunch on the sea.  We were on the first ferry over to Lokrum, which was a short ten minute ride, and arrived just after 10am. Getting off the boat, we felt as if we were in a crowd of tourists, but before long we were off the beaten path hiking up to the fortress at the top of the island, clearly not a path chosen by most visitors. On our way up, we also stopped at the botanical garden, where I was a complete horticultural nerd with a big, giddy smile on my face. I was also pretty excited about the peacocks roaming around, I must have snapped at least 20 photos of them, trying to capture to perfect shot. We finally reached the highest point of the island, after a bit of a strenuous trek up uneven, rocky slopes.  Yet again, the hike was worth it for the unbeatable views and the lack of other visitors crowded around snapping photos on their selfie sticks!

After a break, we walked back down and around the island, stopping for our picnic lunch on the rocks at the other end of the island, which is normally a nudist beach, but was empty this time.  After our lunch, we visited Mrtvo More, "The Dead Sea," which is a 'lake,' that's fed by an underwater canal from the sea. We knew we wanted to take advantage of another dip in the Adriatic, but after seeing the pounding surf hitting the jagged rocks where the swimming ladders were located, I was relieved to see this much more calm version of a swimming hole.  We did as most Europeans, found a spot behind a tree to slip into our bathing suits, and then positioned ourselves on the rocks in the sun before diving in for a refreshing swim.  It may only be a couple of degrees, but I have definitely noticed the water temperature has gotten warmer as we've moved South down the coast.  We laid out a bit longer, until a group of obnoxious college-aged Americans arrived at the lake and began to cause a scene with their boisterous conversations.  I know I was that age once, and traveled abroad in a group, but I'd like to think we weren't that terrible, then again we did steal an empty "Das Boot," from a bar, so perhaps I shouldn't be so quick to judge. Slightly annoyed and embarrassed, we changed back into our clothes, strapped our wet gear to our backpacks and caught the ferry back to the old port of Dubrovnik.  

Onto the next activity, walking the walls of Old Town Dubrovnik.  We entered the walls at the Ploče Gate and began our stroll along the one-way path around the fortified edges.  Lots of stairs up and down, and ascending heights had my feet a little tingly, but I clung to the railing and managed to make it all the way around without any episodes of acrophobia. I found myself snapping multiple photos of the Old Town, it's port, and nearby Lokrum from every turn and new angle. One week from now, as I sort through pictures, I'm most definitely going to realize just how many photos of the same sight I actually have! It was a beautiful stroll, but my legs were definitely aching by the end, most likely because I had my toes clenched the entire time.  So, as we took the big stone steps back down into Old Town, we easily made a mutual decision that it was time for an ice cream and caffeine break. 

Our final task for day one in Dubrovnik was riding the cable car up to the top of Mount Srd for incredible panoramic views and also visiting the Museum of Croatian War Indepence, which is housed in Fort Imperial.  The cable cars aren't the only way of reaching Mount Srd, there are also hiking trails that Emily probably would have preferred, but my tired body was happy to shell out the kunas for a quick ride up and back down again! We snapped the obligatory panormic photos, capturing the beauty of Old Town and the shades of the Adriatic and quickly split from the crowd towards the museum.  Before this trip, most often when I told people where I was going, they replied, "why Croatia? Is it safe?" and so on. I had just assumed it's because it wasn't the most common U.S. tourist destination, but it never occurred to me until I was actually here, that the war amongst the former Yugoslavia was a very real experience for most people I spoke with.  Since I was only just turning one year old when the siege of Dubrovnik began in October 1991, I was obviously not old enough to remember hearing or seeing anything about it on the news.  Well it didn't take long before realizing that really was not that long ago, and most of these people here now lived through it.  I was fascinated to eavesdrop on on private tour group, where the guide was discussing how her and her family survived through the war - it was a sombering experience.  After our walk through the museum, and learning much more about Croatia's independence, we rode the cable car down and attempted to catch the bus back to our apartment.  Our attempts failed, as we'd missed the street and decided it would be less of a hassle to just walk.  With a quick stop at the supermarket, we had a lovely dinner of salad, salami, fresh mozzarella and tomatoes, accompanied by copious amounts of water since we were both feeling a little loopy and dehydrated. 

On Sunday morning, we attended a Serbian Orthodox Church service, a truly unique experience, and something I haven't really done before in any of my travels. Obviously, I didn't understand anything, although I think I was able to make out when the Lord's Prayer was being recited.  An interesting thing about the service is that all participants stand throughout the hour and the women stand to the left of the church, while men are on the right.  I'm very glad we did this, even if we were obviously still outsiders, at least we weren't part of the Asian tour group that walked in during the middle of the service and started loudly snapping photos, which weren't even allowed, on their iPhones. After the service, we wandered Old Town for a bit before deciding we were 'museumed-out' and opted to hit the beach and take advantage of our last full day on the Adriatic. 

We went to Banje beach, one of the semi-sandy, pebbly beaches right past Old Town. It definitely was not the same experience as my favorite spot in Rovinj or our swim on the island of Lokrum, but it was conveniently located and allowed us one last swim in the sea before we head inland. After a couple of hours, the sun began to dip behind the clouds and we grew a bit chilled. So, we opted to catch the bus back to apartment for an afternoon siesta before returning to Old Town for a farewell dinner.  

Our attempts at an afternoon snooze were interrupted by the neighbor children building a little tree fort and hammering away.  That's ok, I probably wouldn't have slept anyway because I was enjoying a chat with Mitch too.  We began to pack up our things and clean up the apartment a bit since we have an early departure planned for Monday's drive to Plitvička jezera, Plitivce National Park. We then caught the bus back to Old Town, which to no surprise had a 20 minute break in the middle of its route causing us to the walk the remainder of the way.  No complaints though, the walk was beautiful and we got some fantastic views of the sun beginning to sink behind Old Town. Emily had done a little pre-dinner research, to avoid a similar meal catastrophe as Burano, and found Lokanda Peskarija, a delicious, affordable seafood restaurant right on the edge of the Old Port. We each had a glass of Malvazija wine and shared the octopus salad, mussels, and cuttlefish risotto. The mussels were my favorite, and the cuttlefish risotto was most interesting with its inky, black color. The meal was delicious and the perfect way to end our time in Dubrovnik. We then strolled the streets, as dusk set in, making one last stop for sladolad, the delicious ice cream that in my opinion surpasses gelato! 

Now, we begin our next adventure.  No more bus transportation, instead we are picking up the rental car and heading north with a stop at Plitvice before ending our trip together in Zagreb.  So, say a little prayer that we survive the roads of Croatia and can easily navigate our way to the next two apartments! I'm excited for our next few days, although the weather forecast is once again against us, but I'm also getting anxious to board the plane westward and be home again.  Mitch sent me a photo of the garden, and I'm really looking forward to seeing how much our yard has even changed over the last couple of weeks, too! So, until my next post, which will most likely be composed during my layover in Amsterdam, I hope everyone at home has a happy, safe Memorial Day!