The second leg of my Balkan adventures lead me to Dubrovnik, Croatia, my "beach getaway" part of the trip. After my more serious and, let's face it, educational time in Sarajevo, Dubrovnik was quite the juxtaposition with its more leisurely, vacation atmosphere and extremely high level of tourism (and loads upon loads and loads of Americans; at certain moments I felt like I was in a very well-constructed Croatian-themed Disneyland).
Early in the morning on Saturday, July 6th I hopped on another long but scenic 6.5 hour bus ride, headed back to Dubrovnik from Sarajevo. This time I remembered to sit on the right side of the bus that goes closest to the coast and gives all the best views of the lovely scenery of the incredibly blue rivers and seas and tall green mountains.
I was the first to arrive at our quaint little airbnb apartment run by an elderly Croatian cat-loving lady named Olga whose English was definitely more Croatian with hints of English than anything else. Tired from the long journey and still partially recovering from the 4th of July celebrations, I took a nap once I got inside as I waited for Deanie and Chase to arrive. A few hours later there was a knock at the door and within moments I was sharing one of my favorite kinds of hugs again, running into each other's arms, using all the energy we'd been saving up from months of separation, the best friend type. Deanie and I were finally reunited after our last excursion in Iceland and the following meet-up in Cambridge. Nothing is quite as feel-good and comforting as meeting up in a foreign place with best friends from home who you've known for 10 years after you've been apart more than together in the past 2 years (Team Girl Squad 4 Lyfe). It was, however, a bit strange and melancholic for us to be traveling without the rest of TGS, Anna and Kat, since we always travel together. We did still keep up some of the traditions we have while traveling, though, like writing haikus about silly things from the trip or taking pictures with our group's traveling gnome (long story, but there is a facebook page).
Once everyone got settled we headed out on the town for some much-needed dinner and an evening of exploring. Sunset is the absolute most beautiful time to discover the city. The sun perfectly brings out the best colors in the buildings, rocks and surrounding Adriatic waters.
Now, as many of you might know (at least I hope many of you do, because you're my friends and my friends are supposed to be cool people), Dubrovnik is the filming site of King's Landing in the show Game of Thrones, as it's one of the world's best-preserved medieval walled cities. So, of course, when we saw sights like this here fortress and the city walls, we couldn't resist humming the theme song to ourselves.
Our second day was full of wandering and shenanigans. Not having any specific itinerary we were on discovery mode.
During our wanderings we ran into this bar that's built off the outer part of the city walls. You could even climb down to the bottom of the rocks to drop into the sea for a swim.
At this fountain is where our gelato craze started (twice a day sometimes, no shame).
Afterwards we took our first little trip to one of the nearby beaches to cool off a bit.
Day three was one of the best days of our short trip to Croatia. We took a 7 hour boat cruise that went to three nearby islands (The Elaphites), stopping 30 minutes for the first, 45 for the second, and 2 hours for the third, giving us time to swim and relax.
Between the first and second islands we had lunch which was included in the tour. We had the option of fish or chicken and I chose the fish, the scraps of which I later fed to the seagulls flying all around our boat, hoping for just that.
Since we had more time on Lopud than the first island, we took the time to relax for a while in the water after a short excursion exploring some of the small town.
We found a place to dip our legs in the water and later I noticed I'd been sitting next to a bunch of cool crabs.
Our next stop was on an island called Šipan where we spent 2 hours swimming, eating gelato, and enjoying some beer along the beach.
When we got back on the boat to go to Dubrovnik we were all rather exhausted from the day, so by the time we arrived back at our apartment we simply got dinner and crashed.
On our 4th day we bought the Dubrovnik 1-Day pass which included entry to the city walls and to loads of museums all over the city. We spent a good couple of hours walking the 1.2 miles of wall, the blistering sun beating down on us. Although the heat was miserable at times, nothing could beat the spectacular views we got from those vantage points.
Immediately after getting down from the walls we bought ourselves some refreshing gelato and hit up some more cultural sites. The first one was the Rector's Palace/Cultural Historical Museum.
Next we stopped at the Natural History Museum which had this massive sea turtle.
Afterwards we hit the beach again to cool off before getting dinner and exploring the Old Town once more as it was my last evening there.
While we were spending some time that evening relaxing around the big Onofrio Fountain something strange happened. A few really pretty women with outrageously high heels were forming in a cluster just nearby. A while later two camera men appeared and they subsequently started filming them together and were later joined by an older man. At first we thought it was perhaps some important fashion people getting together, but then it got stranger. It became clear they were acting (and poorly at that) when one of the women and the older guy were staged right in front of us and a meeting scene was filmed. It seemed really unnatural and bizarre, since you could see their mic packs on them in the shot. Our conclusion: we were either just on a bad Croatian soap opera or part of the opening scenes to a bad porno. Can't be sure which, and I guess we'll never know.
Not long after, fireworks started going off. Then further down Stradun, the main street in the Old Town, there was a rehearsal for their Summer Festival with lots of singing, dancing, and cameras.
It was a strange but impressionable last night.
I had a pretty full day my last day, as my bus to the airport wasn't until 6 pm that evening. We made the most of our Dubrovnik pass which lasted 24 hours by checking out some of the other free entry museums (most of which were so random and mostly in Croatian that I'm still not sure what I saw in them). After lunch at our apartment we spent the rest of the afternoon at the beach before I packed and headed back to Geneva.
The trip overall was an amazing, fun time in a beautiful place, the only downside being the enormous amount of tourists there. At times it didn't even feel like I was in Croatia, but rather back somewhere beachy in America. I never even had any opportunities to use some of the Serbo-Croatian words that I had learned for my trip to Sarajevo because everyone was so conditioned to use English right away. I did, however, get to use some French, which seemed to surprise some people. It was generally just a completely different experience from what I'm used to as a traveler, being completely surrounded by other tourists instead of by locals. Granted, this made it easier to be a foreigner at the time, but a bit less enjoyable, being treated as part of the mass rather than an individual looking to discover a place more independently. I took it for what it was though and enjoyed the beautiful scenery, beaches, and delicious food with my friends who I won't be seeing for another indefinite amount of time. Besides, it was of course nice to go to the beach everyday (even though I can't swim).
Ready for the next adventure.
Also, this:
Bonus: Deanie and I actually weren't feeling the haiku vibe so much since Anna wasn't there to motivate and inspire us, so here is the only haiku I wrote and some fun quotes instead (mostly appreciated and granted giggles by those involved, but maybe you'll muster a chuckle too).
Adriatic salt,
Half the sand in Croatia
Are now in our bed.
Angela (swimming): I'm so salty, just put some vinegar on me and call me a crisp.
Chase: This tabasco sauce is cookie-sized. (He didn't know his name is Gucki).
Deanie: Is that Gandalf?
A: Dean, that's St. Blaise (patron saint of Dubrovnik).
A: What is that, a fish tank?
C: It's a cartouche.
A: Those two birds are makin' out, and that one's giving one of them oral.
D: They're just play-fighting and that one's cleaning the other one!
D: This music makes me want to be on a beach, and I actually am.
A: My cheeks are too big to smile.
A: Half the salt from the Adriatic, half the sand in Croatia, a lot of chocolate and a bug are in our bed.
D: What are we supposed to tell Anna? Sorry, Anne, our Croatian housekeeper threw away Gucki's left foot.
A: *in Chase's voice* I'm bringing cookies.
Early in the morning on Saturday, July 6th I hopped on another long but scenic 6.5 hour bus ride, headed back to Dubrovnik from Sarajevo. This time I remembered to sit on the right side of the bus that goes closest to the coast and gives all the best views of the lovely scenery of the incredibly blue rivers and seas and tall green mountains.
I was the first to arrive at our quaint little airbnb apartment run by an elderly Croatian cat-loving lady named Olga whose English was definitely more Croatian with hints of English than anything else. Tired from the long journey and still partially recovering from the 4th of July celebrations, I took a nap once I got inside as I waited for Deanie and Chase to arrive. A few hours later there was a knock at the door and within moments I was sharing one of my favorite kinds of hugs again, running into each other's arms, using all the energy we'd been saving up from months of separation, the best friend type. Deanie and I were finally reunited after our last excursion in Iceland and the following meet-up in Cambridge. Nothing is quite as feel-good and comforting as meeting up in a foreign place with best friends from home who you've known for 10 years after you've been apart more than together in the past 2 years (Team Girl Squad 4 Lyfe). It was, however, a bit strange and melancholic for us to be traveling without the rest of TGS, Anna and Kat, since we always travel together. We did still keep up some of the traditions we have while traveling, though, like writing haikus about silly things from the trip or taking pictures with our group's traveling gnome (long story, but there is a facebook page).
Once everyone got settled we headed out on the town for some much-needed dinner and an evening of exploring. Sunset is the absolute most beautiful time to discover the city. The sun perfectly brings out the best colors in the buildings, rocks and surrounding Adriatic waters.
Now, as many of you might know (at least I hope many of you do, because you're my friends and my friends are supposed to be cool people), Dubrovnik is the filming site of King's Landing in the show Game of Thrones, as it's one of the world's best-preserved medieval walled cities. So, of course, when we saw sights like this here fortress and the city walls, we couldn't resist humming the theme song to ourselves.
 |
| Chase and Deanie at dinner |
Our second day was full of wandering and shenanigans. Not having any specific itinerary we were on discovery mode.
 |
| Small Onofrio Fountain |
During our wanderings we ran into this bar that's built off the outer part of the city walls. You could even climb down to the bottom of the rocks to drop into the sea for a swim.
 |
| Big Onofrio Fountain, which was previously damaged from Serb-Montenegrin forces in the Yugoslav Wars |
At this fountain is where our gelato craze started (twice a day sometimes, no shame).
Afterwards we took our first little trip to one of the nearby beaches to cool off a bit.
 |
| Shenanigans with the random things found around the apartment |
Day three was one of the best days of our short trip to Croatia. We took a 7 hour boat cruise that went to three nearby islands (The Elaphites), stopping 30 minutes for the first, 45 for the second, and 2 hours for the third, giving us time to swim and relax.
 |
| So long Dubrovnik |
 |
| Koločep, island #1 |
 |
| Lopud, island #2 |
We found a place to dip our legs in the water and later I noticed I'd been sitting next to a bunch of cool crabs.
 |
| Šipan, island #3 |
When we got back on the boat to go to Dubrovnik we were all rather exhausted from the day, so by the time we arrived back at our apartment we simply got dinner and crashed.
On our 4th day we bought the Dubrovnik 1-Day pass which included entry to the city walls and to loads of museums all over the city. We spent a good couple of hours walking the 1.2 miles of wall, the blistering sun beating down on us. Although the heat was miserable at times, nothing could beat the spectacular views we got from those vantage points.
Immediately after getting down from the walls we bought ourselves some refreshing gelato and hit up some more cultural sites. The first one was the Rector's Palace/Cultural Historical Museum.
Next we stopped at the Natural History Museum which had this massive sea turtle.
Afterwards we hit the beach again to cool off before getting dinner and exploring the Old Town once more as it was my last evening there.
While we were spending some time that evening relaxing around the big Onofrio Fountain something strange happened. A few really pretty women with outrageously high heels were forming in a cluster just nearby. A while later two camera men appeared and they subsequently started filming them together and were later joined by an older man. At first we thought it was perhaps some important fashion people getting together, but then it got stranger. It became clear they were acting (and poorly at that) when one of the women and the older guy were staged right in front of us and a meeting scene was filmed. It seemed really unnatural and bizarre, since you could see their mic packs on them in the shot. Our conclusion: we were either just on a bad Croatian soap opera or part of the opening scenes to a bad porno. Can't be sure which, and I guess we'll never know.
Not long after, fireworks started going off. Then further down Stradun, the main street in the Old Town, there was a rehearsal for their Summer Festival with lots of singing, dancing, and cameras.
It was a strange but impressionable last night.
 |
| Left: film crew, 3 women in black dresses and old guy; Right: people trying to get pictures of fireworks |
 |
| Summer Festival rehearsal |
The trip overall was an amazing, fun time in a beautiful place, the only downside being the enormous amount of tourists there. At times it didn't even feel like I was in Croatia, but rather back somewhere beachy in America. I never even had any opportunities to use some of the Serbo-Croatian words that I had learned for my trip to Sarajevo because everyone was so conditioned to use English right away. I did, however, get to use some French, which seemed to surprise some people. It was generally just a completely different experience from what I'm used to as a traveler, being completely surrounded by other tourists instead of by locals. Granted, this made it easier to be a foreigner at the time, but a bit less enjoyable, being treated as part of the mass rather than an individual looking to discover a place more independently. I took it for what it was though and enjoyed the beautiful scenery, beaches, and delicious food with my friends who I won't be seeing for another indefinite amount of time. Besides, it was of course nice to go to the beach everyday (even though I can't swim).
Ready for the next adventure.
Also, this:
Bonus: Deanie and I actually weren't feeling the haiku vibe so much since Anna wasn't there to motivate and inspire us, so here is the only haiku I wrote and some fun quotes instead (mostly appreciated and granted giggles by those involved, but maybe you'll muster a chuckle too).
Adriatic salt,
Half the sand in Croatia
Are now in our bed.
Angela (swimming): I'm so salty, just put some vinegar on me and call me a crisp.
Chase: This tabasco sauce is cookie-sized. (He didn't know his name is Gucki).
 |
| Gucki, a friend, and the tabasco bottle |
A: Dean, that's St. Blaise (patron saint of Dubrovnik).
A: What is that, a fish tank?
C: It's a cartouche.
A: Those two birds are makin' out, and that one's giving one of them oral.
D: They're just play-fighting and that one's cleaning the other one!
D: This music makes me want to be on a beach, and I actually am.
A: My cheeks are too big to smile.
A: Half the salt from the Adriatic, half the sand in Croatia, a lot of chocolate and a bug are in our bed.
D: What are we supposed to tell Anna? Sorry, Anne, our Croatian housekeeper threw away Gucki's left foot.
A: *in Chase's voice* I'm bringing cookies.
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