Croatia!!!!

So for those of you that haven’t been to Dubrovnik, you must put that on a list of things to see before you die. It is by far one of the most beautiful places I have ever visited, if not the most beautiful. Dubrovnik is a gem in itself, and that does not even include the breathtaking ocean views. The water is so clear that it is not uncommon to see the bottom of the Adriatic, and cliff jumping is considered the norm. I had no idea what to expect when we arrived in Croatia, I honestly had never even heard anything about Croatia until SAS. But I am sure glad I did. While this port was a bit more relaxing then Spain and Italy, it held more natural beauty than I could ever imagine. Dubrovnik is not called the “Pearl of the Adriatic” for no reason, it most definitely deserves that title. Anyways, on to my daily activities!

Monday, July 11th:
    We arrived in Dubrovnik today, and  I was excited to see what all of the hype was all about. So me and what I thought was a few friends decided to walk around the city, turned into quite the large group of us. While I love surrounding myself with lots of people, just a word to the wise, traveling with a large group could not be more annoying and stressful!! So while we did get a slow start, we finally arrived to the “Old City” which is pretty much the epitome of Dubrovnik. The entire city is surrounded by the city walls, and the ground is beautifully tiled with cobble stone that could be confused with tile… aka it was so smooth! It was so pretty. So we enter the old city and walk around, go to the oldest pharmacy in the world (I think) and walk into some churches and monestaries and such. But what is so cool about Dubrovnik is that there are all these little ally ways that are so picturesque and cute, and have the nicest little restaurants. So to get out of the heat, a group of us walked up one of the alleys that turned out to be quite residential, and was really beautiful and quaint.
    After a while, the large group turned into just Olivia, Tim, and I. We found the second oldest synagogue in Europe (the first being Prague), and looked around the museum and the synagogue! It was cool to finally see some jewy-ness considering I had been in enough Cathedrals and Basilicas and what not to fulfill my life quota. The synagoge was small but it was so beautifully decorated. We talked to a rabbi that was there, so that was nice to hear his take on the Jewish communities in Croatia. Zagreb, the capital of Croatia, is where the majority of the Jews are located. After the synagogue I was instantly pulled into Michal Negrin (for those of you that have been to Israel…. You know what I’m saying) and had to look at the gorgeous jewelry. I made the mistake of not buying any jewelry in Israel, so I naturally had to redeem myself by buying some earrings in Croatia. :D They are so pink and sparkly!!! So great.
    After my small heart attack of excitement, Olivia goes into a museum, and Tim and I decide to walk around and explore. We find this super cute marketplace that smells so strongly of lavender! All of the little stands are selling bags of lavender that makes the whole street smell great. We continue exploring and find ourselves at the bay outside of the walls and see the beauty that Dubrovnik truly holds. We take in the red roofed houses that top the rolling hills, dotted with purple flowers. The site truly was breathtaking. We walk around the outside of the walls before somehow finding our way back to meet with Olivia. We decide that it is lunch time, so we eat at a pizzeria (what else) and drink some delicious Croatian beer.
    Afterwards, Olivia leaves to go to her villa but Tim and I still decide to walk the walls.  It’s kind of hard to explain without posting pictures, but I will do the best I can. So Dubrovnik is completely surrounded by walls (imagine Great Wall of China-esqe) to protect it because It’s been involved in quite a few wars. I would be able to tell you if I paid attention in Global Studies, but I don’t…..so yeah.  However you are allowed to walk on top of the wall, which essentially gives you a bird’s eye view of the city. We get some gelato (of course…. A scoop of “cookies” and “snickers” really made for a great afternoon snack) and head over to the walls. While the walls are beautiful, I realized that they are not for the athletically unfit. The stairs are very steep and the heat doesn’t help, but the views are definitely worth the sweat. So we walk around the whole wall, and realize that Dubrovnik is by far one of the most beautiful places we have ever seen. While on the walls, we see both of Dubrovnik’s well known “cliff jumping” bars. It is SO COOL. You  walk to the bars and they are all outside obviously and you can buy a drink and then CLIFF JUMP into the sea. It’s so cool!!!! I never went to the cliff jumping bars but did experience a little bit of cliff (more like large rock) jumping. When I can post pictures, I will so you can understand more ☺.
    We finish walking the walls and are beyond exhausted, so we start heading back to the ship. I got separated from the group I was walking with and got a little bit lost, which was scary, but ended up giving me a great walking tour of the harbor! Needless to say I was never so excited to see the MV explorer as I was that afternoon. I finally get back to the ship and start getting ready for the evening. We head out to dinner and I eat the most delicious risotto ever, and continue to soak up the rest of the evening in this beautiful city.

Tuesday, July 12:

    I kind of take it easy today, and don’t really make it off the ship until  about 2:30 pm. However Jess, Erica, and I try to find this marketplace (which we never found), but end up finding a super nice area instead! We take the bus to what we think is the marketplace, but end up in this super cute area with lots of restaurants and hotels and such. We meander down the area and head straight to the beach! The only unfortunate thing about Dubrovink is that there are no sandy beaches on the mainland, just on the Islands. So by beach, I really mean rocks that lead right into the water. We relax for the afternoon and then head back to the ship. Erica, Melissa, and I head back to that same area to grab some food, and to buy tickets for an island hopping cruise for the following day.

Wednesday, July 13:

    Erica, Katie, Jess, Melissa, and I all go on this Island hopping boat tour that takes us to three islands around Dubrovnik. We go to Kolocep, Sipan, and then Laupid (idk how to spell that). The boat trip was so nice and soothing. We go to Kolocep for about 40 minutes, and then head back to the boat to head to Sipan. Kolocep had a very nice beach and a great place for relaxation, but Sipan wasn’t so much the same. Sipan was very hot, and not as beachy as we would have liked. However I ate a magnum bar (YUMMMMM) in Sipan so I can’t complain.  We eat a delicious lunch on the boat, and then head over to Laupid. We get three hours to beach it up at Laupid, and we take full advantage of that. We head to the other side of the Island, which is apparently where the nicer beach is, and run into a bunch of SASers! We have a great time playing around in the water and cooling off from the disgusting heat.  We then head back to the ship after our very relaxing day of Island hopping. We eat dinner on the ship, and start getting ready for our final night out in Croatia! SAS really likes to do everything together, so of course about 300ish of us go to the same club, which ends up being super fun!

Thursday, July 14:

    Erica, Jordan Edelheit (not my roommate, who is Jordan Palisi), and I,  head out to do some shopping and cliff jumping for our last day in Croatia. We stop at the grocery store located right next to our ship, and buy a baguette and some cheese to eat for breakfast/ lunch. We shop around and I buy my bracelet for the country (it’s super cool) and some post cards! We then find our way to the beach because sometimes Dubrovnik is SO HOT that you literally have to get in the water before you melt or something. So we go to this area where you can cliff jump….but by cliff jumping I mean jump from a small boulder hahaha. Unfortunately I got very nervous and it took me approximately 20 minutes to jump off the rock, but I finally did it and it was so fun!! The water was so perfect and you could see right down to the bottom. We spend some time treading in the water and then go on a desperate hunt to find some shade. We find a bench right on the “bay” (or whatever you call the area where all the boats are parked) and dig into our typical European lunch. The bread was so fresh and the cheese (which I don’t even like normally) was delicious. Jordan bought a chocolate bar earlier, but that turned into a nutella like state, so we spread that on our bread as well, and that is SO GOOD. After relaxing in the shade and taking in the last hours of Dubrovnik, Erica and I head back to the ship.  I find an internet café before I have to leave, and get some much needed facebook time in ☺.

    While Croatia was definitely a more relaxing port, It has definitely been one of my favorites so far. Now we have two more days at sea and we arrive in Greece on Sunday! Expect many Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants references ☺