Tales of Dubrovnik Glory: Volume II

If you've read this blog before, you  know that this was not my first time in Dubrovnik. When I visited Croatia for spring break last year, my fellow teachers and I had made a day trip from Split down to the beautiful old city, and although it had been a pretty good day and we'd gotten up on the wall (and had gotten a little hydrated for our efforts), the weather had thrown a definite monkey wrench in our plans. So when Jo and I started talking about what to see in Croatia and I advocated very strongly for Dubrovnik, because while Split had been very cool I felt that Dubrovnik was just a little bit more pedestrian friendly, a little more convenient in the general path we were taking, and most importantly, I really wanted a second shot there.

So I was very excited, it's fair to say, when our ship came in to the port. The stranger waiting for us was none other than Gordana's son, the lady who was renting us our room via airbnb. I think this may have been my most successful use of airbnb to date (barring my parents' visit and stay in an apartment in Budapest, but I don't count that since they were paying!). Gordana's son picked us up and brought us to our room, which was air-conditioned with an amazing balcony, some liquor, instant coffee, a comfortable bed, a shower with amazing (like, a little bit overwhelming) water pressure, and also, THE BALCONY. Look at this view. To see this view is to understand just how much we felt like we'd hit jackpot.

The only downside of this place: climbing up and down this damn hill every time we wanted to get into old city. Still, totally worth it.

  

Strikin' a pose.

   

And those are just SOME of the many, many pictures I took... on the first night.

I remember roughly what we did in Dubrovnik, although a lot of it is definitely a chilled-out haze. This was a really lovely stopping point for us between go-go-go sections of our trip. I'm pretty sure that on the first night we went down into the old walled city and had a nice dinner at Dubrovna, a fancy restaurant, but I think the next day we spent mostly hanging out on our balcony, soaking up some sun, taking in the views, and finding the supermarket/having a balcony picnic.

  

Blue skies.

Doom. Also, Lokrum Island in the distance, more on that later!

Although we had several delicious pizzas and good seafood, this was perhaps one of my favorite meals in Croatia. Jo and I raided the supermarket and came back with a lunch of bread, crackers, goat-cheese stuffed red peppers, cheese, dried fruit, dried meat, regular fruit, tomatoes, and dark beer. A good lunch was had by all.

A shot taken of the Minčeta tower, the highest point of the walls of Dubrovnik. I didn't even notice this at the time of taking the picture but if you look in the background you can see a huge bolt of lightning off in the distance.

Okay so if memory serves the next day we did actually get down to exploring, starting with a kayaking tour of the walls of the city, the nearby island of Lokrum, and a cave/swimming spot a few miles down the beach from Dubrovnik.

Legally obligated to be strangled to death by our life jackets.

Kayaking around Dubrovnik Castle/St. Lawrence Fortress/Fort Lovrijenac/Dubrovnik's Gibraltar.

Kayaking around the walls of the city.

Heading out towards the island, we were at least not the absolute slowest pair of kayakers.

Approaching the island. As we kayaked along the city the tour guide stopped us all periodically to tell us about the very interesting history of Dubrovnik as the capital of a republic and as a city that functioned basically as a city-state of its own. It benefited enormously from its strong walls, good position between Venice and the Ottoman Empire, and a tax imposed on all outsiders entering the city. But I don't remember too many of the details of those talks so I'd recommend looking it up for yourself if you're interested. I do remember the history he told us, however, of the island of Lokrum, which used to house a Benedictine monastery. The guide told us that when the monks were forced to leave the island they took all of their candles and lit them, then carried them upside down around the island saying that it would be cursed for whoever owned it for as many years as there were drops of wax in the sand. The island went on to be owned by the Hapsburgs (execution, insanity, inbreeding, general misfortune during the 19th/20th century) and as our tour guide said, now the Croatian government owns it and hasn't been doing to well either, so maybe the monks were onto something.

The island these days can be visited, there's a botanical garden, restaurant, and I think maybe even a hotel? And supposedly no bad luck will come to you, as long as you don't try to own it.

Kayaking into one of the caves in Lokrum.

Kayaking out of said cave. You can see just a small portion of all the damn birds that live on this island.

After stopping for a little swim in a nearby coastal cave [picture not featured] we headed back to our starting point, one of the little ports along the coast of Dubrovnik.

I noticed this sign as we were leaving, in a small cement patio near the water, which if true would make this structure older than my own country.

This is where we left from. As you can see it was a gorgeous day for swimming and that wall on the left side served as a kind of jumping rock for many, many teenagers.

This was an ambitious day for us as we not only kayaked around the city but we also went up and walked around the whole (well, most of) the city on the medieval city walls. Jo did, anyway, I only walked around half of the city for reasons I will explain below.

Views of our walk from the first half of the wall, having a lovely (if somewhat hot) stroll along the wall, taking in the island and the fortress from a different vantage point, enjoying the people watching.

And then. As we were walking we chanced upon a shop (still on the wall) selling freshly-squeezed juice. Though we at first made to walk right past this shop, we both paused seeing the juices coming out (they looked amazing and we were so hot, so thirsty). We ordered two and excitedly sat down, at which point we both realized we no nowhere near enough Croatian currency to pay for the juices. And we were on the wall where there was not an ATM in sight. What to do?! Our juices arrived and we continued to panic quietly, huddled together at our table while we tried to devise plan. First we decided only one of us could leave. I knew we were close to the halfway point of the wall where you're allowed to climb down into the city, get some food if you want, then climb back up and complete the second half. So off she went to try and find an ATM. She came back soon enough, because she could not in fact find one nearby. Then I realized that I had a $20 bill, which would cover our juices (fucking Dubrovnik prices!). But we were pretty embarassed at this point, so we left the money and ran when the waiters weren't around. As we scurried up the stairs to the next clearing in the wall we thought we'd gotten away with it. Only as we neared the stairs of the halfway point did I realize that I'd left my ticket on the table, which meant that if anyone was checking tickets I wouldn't be able to get onto the second half of the wall. Jo was a true champion and went back to the juice place to check for the ticket but alas, it was gone. So I climbed down and made my way back towards the starting point, grabbing some money and stewing in my failure on a shady doorstep near the entrance of the wall while I waited for Jo to come down.

Here's a shot I took while we drank our juices. Those umbrellas were actually a fairly large cafe, set in the stone cliffs outside the walls of the city, that looked amazing.

Here I am reveling in the failure and panic of our juice acquisition.

We spent some more time eating and exploring in Dubrovnik, although I think those are the most noteworthy adventures. These last two photos are from a late-afternoon coffee we had on the main street (Stradun) while we enjoyed some tourist watching. It was then that the little marching band of the second picture strolled by, drumming and marching, as one does when part of an olde-timey marching band. A nice end to the trip.

The next day we were up and out early, headed to the bus station. I fully confess that I was a total grouch about it after being spoiled by sleeping in (relatively speaking) for a couple days. And Jo and I both fell down on our transportation game a bit during our time in Dubrovnik by not going to the bus station and buying our tickets ahead of time, forcing us to leave for the bus station at the crack of dawn in hopes that tickets to Kotor, Montenegro, our next destination, would not be sold out. In my defense, if we missed that bus we would have been very much screwed re: hotel/transportation costs. So it was a tense 35/40 minutes that we waited, the sun barely risen, at a dinky little bus stop near our airbnb apartment for the bus to come and take us to the real depot. Thankfully, things worked out in our favor. We made it to the station, and although the first bus was sold out (okay this part did not work in our favor) the second bus, ostensibly leaving at noon, still had seats available. We sat down at the bus station and enjoyed a coffee while we waited... and waited... and waited.... 11 AM and the bus we wouldn't take came and left, and still we waited. Noon rolled around and we got ourselves to the spot where we thought our bus would arrive. Time rolled on and I believe it was almost 1:30 before our bus, unmarked and parked in the wrong spot, finally pulled up and start loading people on. The only indications we had that it was in fact our bus was that we were by that point desperately searching every bus that arrived and this one's noticeable lack of signage indicating its destination seemed like a good a clue as any it was ours, and although the ticket taker/bus driver was EXTREMELY unhelpful re: whether this was our bus, on comparing our tickets to other passengers boarding we found they were going in the same general direction as we were.

Good enough.

It wasn't until we'd left and been riding for about 20 minutes that we finally got an actual confirmation, when the ticket checker looked at our printed our ticket receipts and nodded almost imperceptibly, that we were in fact going to Montenegro.

Croatia

Here's a little story all about how my life got flipped turned upside down. 

I'd like to take a minute so sit right there, I'll tell you how I became the prince of a town called... Dubrovnik.

Ah well, it almost worked.

Stick with me here because this is a MONSTER of a post, all about that time four American teachers of English and one giant German piled into a hilariously tiny clown car and traveled from Budapest to Zagreb, then down to Plitvice Lakes, then out to the coast to Split and down to Dubrovnik. It's no Oregon Trail, but it was quite the trek nonetheless.

Rims? We don't need no stinkin' rims.

Zagreb

So, first day after a long drive that included a VERY thorough stop at a supermarket for supplies we make it to Zagreb. It's cold, which Jen had warned us all about, but still. That windy was mighty when we got there. It was late and we had an early day ahead of us, though, so after finding our hostel which was hilariously discombobulated (we had to go to the restaurant downstairs to get someone to open it up for us and the next day I'm pretty sure we ended up leaving the keys on the counter or in the mailbox or something? because there was no one around to collect them? and also we did not see another soul in the hostel? WHERE ARE ALL THE PEOPLE IN ZAGREB?!) we went to sleep.

Nokturno: where your bedding is guaranteed to have been made no later than 1985.

The stunning vista from our hostel window.

Very fun poster of Croatian food seen while waiting for the other part of our group to arrive.

So. After that exciting first day we were on the road, heading towards Plitvice. Although we noticed that it was getting darker and cloudier, and when we were about a half an hour away from our AirBnB house, we started to notice snow on the ground.

AND THEN THIS HAPPENED.

Plitvice Lakes

Our homestay's sign. 

 Across the road.

 Looking at the front of the house.

 The view from the back porch.

(For perspective, this is the view the next morning after it cleared up.)

Although we had planned to visit the park that day, our hosts strongly advised against it. A few in our group still went to the park just to see if it was possible to enter that day but were strongly advised against it, so we ended up just enjoying the snow and some local restaurants (one of which I swear to GOD was a crime den. I would have taken pictures but I was afraid of being abducted.).

 

Also, some Croatian beer! (I was the only one who drank some, but still... it was enjoyed.)

It was pretty good although, not my favorite beer of all time, which remains 1. Guinness, and 2. Leffe Brune, and 3. THIS:

Alamo Drafthouse's Pecan Porter Vanilla Shake, $7.00. Obviously I am a pretty big beer expert, since one of my favorites includes ice cream.

The next day we tried to stay optimistic and bundled up in whatever dry clothes we had left, ready to go see the parks come hell or high... snow drifts. As it turns out that wasn't really a problem, by the time we made the 15ish minute drive to Plitvice Lakes National Park there was almost no snow left anywhere, and by mid-afternoon when we left the park it was bordering on warm.

I would not call what we did that day a hike. You have the option to walk all the way up to the top of the lakes and then make your way back down, but we opted instead to take the handy trams up to the top. So most of the walk was downhill. Despite it being less taxing than I had anticipated, it was still a beautiful morning.

The map. We basically went from left to right.

The lakes:

Once you get to the mid-way point there is a large lake which you cross in a ferry, you then continue downwards to the second set of lower falls.

(This was a cave that we climbed up into. I don't really have any interesting pictures of it because my camera is old and weak, but it was pretty cool and a little vertigo-inducing.)

So that part of the trip pretty much 100% justified even going to Croatia in the first place, and for the rest of the time we were there I was not particularly worried about anything. I mean, there's not even a lot to say. It's a beautiful place. Get yourself there if at all possible.

Driving down the coast to Split, our next destination.

Split

YER A WIZARD, 'ARRY!.... would not at all be appropriate to say about this statue. Because this is actually Grgur Ninski, or Gregory of Nin, who was a medieval bishop in the early 900's. But there is a weird thing where people rub his toe for luck or eloquence or something? I don't remember exactly why one rubs his toe, just that I did it.

Inside the entrance to Split's Diocletian's Palace.

I love old medieval streets.

The center of the palace. To the left is the base of the bell-tower, which we climbed later that day, and to the front is the entrance to Diocletian's quarters.

(Tower. More on this later.)

Next to the tower.

Through the peristyle, some singers.

Circular room.

Look up.

The bell tower, from the other side.

In the market place underneath the palace, stepping where giants have trod. Or whatever.

Walking along the harbor.

Church of St. Francis.

Climbing Marjan hill to get a better view of Split and passed an alley with this mural.

Disappointing manhole covers, Split.

The view from Marjan.

Kind of self-explanatory, I think.

Outside the cemetery, still climbing the hill and passing what I think was a hermitage? Cannot really remember.

Oh, no big deal, just a photo of my dream home.

Harbor.

The entrance to Jupiter's Temple. I wasn't thrilled that they charged you for entrance to this but there were some really interesting and beautiful architectural details.

The man himself.

And then we climbed the bell tower of the of Saint Duje (Dominus) and I almost lost my shit. I mean, it was bad climbing up there and I freaked out a little bit at how completely open all columns are. Like, while you're climbing this rickety, rusted iron set of stairs that spirals its way up to the top of the tower, it hugs the walls, except there aren't walls so much as there are columns with totally open space between them. No nets, no fences. One wrong step and should you accidentally fling yourself over the flimsy handrail (an irrational fear of mine) and you are falling to your death, give or take a couple knocks on the head from various columns on the way down.

But still. That view.

Maxim may look stressed here but he was actually way more cool calm and collected about this whole tower situation than I was. Also in the picture you can see how totally open it was behind us and also, the sturdiness of the railings on the steps below. There was one crazy tourist who jumped up on that ledge and leaned against the column just so he could get that one killer vacation photo and I honestly could not even look at him once I realized what he was going to do because I was afraid I was going to have to see someone's face in the moment before they die. Ugh.

Can you see the barely-contained fear and anxiety here?

Back on solid ground, in the mean streets of Diocletian's Palace complex, with Jen giving her most enthusiastic face and an interesting arch in the background.

We came across this on our walk back from the old city to our AirBnB place. What? How did this even get here? And why? And who? So many questions, so few answers.

Our apartment's residents. I don't normally like fish, or I should say, I don't normally care about them, but these guys were cool.

Later, we talk a walk away from the old town down around the harbor and stopped for some beverages and to take in some of the sea. I had myself a tiny, tiny bottle of dry Croatian red wine. Apparently it is the norm to drink it with ice cubes since this is how they delivered it to the table. It was alright.

Some photos from our walk:

Being a BAMF.

I don't know if this really captures how perfectly blue-green the water was, but honestly, it was beautiful.

Klis Fortress

The next day, Easter, was another cloudy but generally nice day. We weren't sure if this fortress would but open but when we called, to our surprise/delight, they were surprised we thought it wouldn't be.

Group photo, varying levels of excitement.

Klis is cool and if you've got a car are visiting Split, it's easy to get to. Recommend.

Dubrovnik

The fortress (above) and the bridge/gate to the old city (below).

The Onuphrius fountain in the front square, and Molly looking very excited about life. I think that may be Kate in the background as well. It was seriously just raining on us at this point.

Walking down Stradun street, towards the town center.

Hey, a marching band! No marching though, but still cool...

Ah, now they're marching! Check out all the umbrellas. I was seriously wishing for one by this point.

Columns of the Rector's Palace to the left, and looking straight ahead at the Assumption Cathedral. Also, rain on my lens.

Fun fact! This is the face of the third oldest working pharmacy in Europe. I spotted this on our way in and saw that you could go inside which I thought sounded interesting, and after doing a little exploring and getting rained on a lot we made our way back over to this to take shelter and get some cultcha.

The courtyard inside was beautiful and smelled like oranges. Unfortunately you weren't allowed to take pictures inside the little museum which is a shame because they had a bunch of arcane medical journals and tools that were kind of interesting. But also, I loved this shot:

Yet another church glimpsed while wandering the tiny medieval streets of the city. The streets were so narrow (and my camera is so old) that getting a shot with the tower took some seriously perseverance.

Gundulic Square/Statue.

Climbing the stairs to check out some more churches and stuff. Still being rained on.

Collegium Ragnusium (left) and Church of St. Ignatius (right).

Inside the church.

Backstreets. Actually I love this shot, you can see  how many plants everyone had out, how steep the hill rose up towards the water, and also the famous orange roofs of Dubrovnik.

Minčeta Tower, seen from a person's balcony we may have sneaked onto.

Climbing the walls of Dubrovnik, all I could of while walking the walls and looking at this was this. Also if you don't get this reference please stop whatever you're doing and go watch The Last Unicorn. It's okay, it doesn't matter how old you are, it holds up. Trust me. Go on. I'll wait.

Triumph! Oh wait, we're only halfway there and also it's raining harder than ever? Alright then.

Shelter.

St. Ignatius, from a different angle.

Finally, it cleared for a just a bit as we approached the end of our walk around the walls and were farthest away from the sea. It at least let us take a couple of decent photographs and enjoy a few semi-dry minutes.

OKAY THANKS WE GET IT.

Croatia was cool. A bit overpriced although we managed to do it cheaply by splitting gas/apt rental prices, and mostly eating street good. We did indulge on the last night by going to a nice restaurant where I had some delicious fish and this potato/spinach/garlic thing that rocked my little world. We also had some great ice cream. The drive back was a long one and I'm not sure if I would say I was exactly rested and relaxed after this trip (it was seriously a lot of traveling in a very tiny car) but I'm definitely glad I went.