Croatia

On the night before landing in Croatia, I sat down on my bed and opened up my Europe travel guide to learn about a completely unfamiliar country. This was a rare experience in that I had literally no preconceived notions of the country’s history, people, or food; despite the fact that Croatia is located between Italy and Greece - two countries I’ve read and heard about all my life - I knew practically nothing about the place before getting there. That made it all the more exciting when I woke up in the morning and walked to the dining hall to see the view of Dubrovnik outside. Without a doubt, it is the most picturesque port that I have traveled to so far. What immediately strikes you is the color of the buildings that are scattered along the coastline: a sandy base contrasting a bright orange rooftop. Just about every building you can see has the same color. Sitting between the bright blue green of the Adriatic Sea and the mountains gradually rising behind the town toward Bosnia, the small town of Dubrovnik is an absolutely captivating sight. Unlike my time in Italy and Spain, I was perfectly content spending all four days in the same town, relaxing and enjoying the sights. Because it’s a major tourist area and not exactly representative of the rest of the country, I do sort of regret not seeing more of the country outside Dubrovnik; but it’s definitely the kind of place you don’t want to leave once you’re there. Later I found out that Croatia had only achieved independence as a nation in the early 1990’s. Walking around the city you would never know that the country had been ravaged by war less than twenty years ago.

Day One

I started the day with the routine of having breakfast on the ship and taking in my first sights of the port from the deck. Many of us had trips planned starting at one o’clock so we decided to take a quick walk through the city before coming back for lunch. Seven of us walked from the port, on to the streets through the market place where I unintentionally made my first haggle for a peach, not knowing that the bunch of coins I had received at the bank were practically worthless. We walked uphill in a random direction towards the coastline, and in about 30 minutes we found ourselves on a sidewalk overlooking the ocean from a couple hundred feet above the water. While admiring the view we heard a bunch of splashes and looked down to find people jumping off the cliffs, and immediately I decided that that was where I wanted to be. We walked down the rocky stairs down to the water where we found a small group of people from our ship on the rock shelves jumping into the water. We made our way past the “locals only” sign and within 30 seconds I changed into my swim shorts and jumped into the sea. After swimming and jumping for about half an hour we headed back to the ship for lunch. There were four of us, including myself, with no trip planned, so with nothing to lose we went down to the buses to see if we could get on a trip. We managed to get last-minute tickets to tour the historic walls that encircle the Old City of Dubrovnik. We took a bus above Dubrovnik for a panoramic view overlooking the coast, and then down to the entrance of the city. Unlike the rest of the scattered town, the Old City is a massive clump of orange roofs and stone streets, enclosed in massive walls that have protected the port from invasions for centuries. The buildings themselves, which are all made of stone, are breathtaking; our tour guide mentioned that a house in the city costs at least 1.5 million Euros. Another thing that strikes you as you walk into the city through the drawbridge is the sight of countless black birds swarming above the rooftops. As you walk along the smooth marble-like path along the main street you can see hundreds of birds flying overhead. We spent an hour walking on the top of the walls learning about the history of the city and taking in the view from above – the orange rooftops are a sight I’ll never forget. After the tour we had an hour to kill so we walked down to the square and sat down for a big mug of a delicious beer called Bavaria, which everyone around seemed to be drinking. We headed back to the bus and showered at the ship, then met up with a big group to go out for the night. There was a grocery store outside the port, so to save money at the bars a group of about ten of us stormed in looking for cheap alcohol. We ended up buying bottles to split in small groups and took them to a nearby park, where we found a group of cabin stewards from the ship hanging out. We also met three Croatian high school students and had an amazing time talking to them. They spoke English surprisingly well and told us about Croatia and what their lives were like. After a few hours at the park we walked about a half hour to the Old City, and found a small bar tucked in behind the city walls along the coast. A number of signs that read “Cold Drinks” pointed the way there; otherwise we probably wouldn’t have found the small entrance in the dark alleyway. We stepped in and down the stairs to find a dimly-lit area that was carved into the cliff side – called a buja, it’s one of several bars in Dubrovnik where during the day you can actually jump off the cliff and swim while at the bar. But at night the place was quiet; everyone spoke softly, taking care not to disturb the aura of delicate tranquility that hung in the air. They played old American music like the Beatles and Frank Sinatra; I honestly can’t think of a more blissful time in my life than sitting there that night, listening to “Across the Universe.” We sat and talked for hours while watching the ocean and the moon glowing above the small island across the water. People left one by one, but I stayed sitting at the rocks near the water until two in the morning.

Day Two

Four of us left the ship to head to the beach at the Old City. We took a bus to avoid the long walk and made our way through the crowded street, then sat down on the small pebble beach. The beach was crowded with students from the ship as well as tourists from all over; we could see boats going out for parasailing, water skiing, kayaking and other water sports. We swam for a while then got some wine at a convenience store to enjoy while sitting in the sun. We went to a small bakery where I randomly pointed at a pastry, which turned out to be a delicious sort of meat pie. We ran into a few other friends and we headed to the cliff bar from the night before to jump from the cliff. After jumping and swimming for a while we made our way to a different buja, a more relaxed place with a bunch of rock shelves with tables and chairs. We spent hours lying in the shade and by about six o’clock we were ready for dinner. A guest student from Croatia who did a presentation on the ship had recommended an authentic Bosnian restaurant called Taj Mahal (the connection evades me) and we managed to find the place. I had a mixed plate of veal shish kebab and cevapi, a sausage-like dish, along with some more Bavaria – an incredible meal. I headed back with a friend to the ship to take a shower while the others went back to the cliff bar. On the way back I realized how lucky I was to have friends with a sense of direction after spending about an hour trying to get back to the same place I was at the night before. The plan was to meet up there then head out to a bar or club, but when I got down to the rocks I found everyone drunk and having a great time. We ended up staying on those rocks in the dark for the rest of the night. I didn’t mind at all – most left after a few hours but four of us stayed there until three in the morning. That spot more than deserved two full nights, and they turned out to be my favorite memories from Dubrovnik.

Day 3

Woke up a little late around 10:30am and got ready just in time to answer a friend’s call in my room, asking if I’d be up for wakeboarding. Naturally I said yes, and we gathered a group of five and headed down to the beach by the city. After spending some time swimming and waiting for friends to show, we talked to the people at the water sports stand to figure out the details. In the past few days we had talked about taking a ferry to visit the island right across from the city, and we decided to go check it out. After a little negotiating we arranged for the boat to take us wakeboarding and then drop us off at Lokrum Island. The boat took us out to the middle of the sea and my friend Spencer, who had wake boarded many times before, strapped on a board and jumped right in. He made it look ridiculously easy, getting right up and turning here and there and making small jumps on the wakes. About fifteen minutes later it was my turn. I struggled to get the boots strapped and nervously hopped in. I consider myself to be pretty good when it comes to sports involving boards, but as always the first time wasn’t easy. When the boat started to pull away I gripped the strap and tried to stand up, and immediately my board sank into the water and the strap tore away from my hands. After two more embarrassing tries and having the boat make a big circle to pick me up again, I managed to stand and gain some speed before falling over once more. By my last run I managed to hang on for a good thirty seconds or so, turning here and there before falling; it was difficult but exhilarating. I got back on the boat and found both my arms to be ridiculously sore, and the rest of my body still hurts now a few days later. Unlike skateboarding or snowboarding, just ten minutes is really a workout. Anyway, the boat turned around and in a short while we hopped off on a small pier on the island. Lokrum is a small island known for its botanical garden and great cliff diving spots. We walked towards the center of the island to find a number of restaurants, then made our way through toward the coast. As we walked we saw peacocks strutting around showing off their colorful tails, and the nostalgic sound of cicada filled the air from the treetops. We made our way into a clearing to find a small lagoon where people were laying and eating on the flat rocks and swimming in the water. We took a quick swim and played with the rope hanging from the tree before heading to the coast. The rocky coastline was lined with jutting rocks that were perfect for jumping, and we found a spot where it was easy to get out of the water. For the third time in three days I went cliff diving, then dried off in the sun. One of our friends got pushed against the rocks as she missed the ladder getting out of the water, and was scratched across her back before scrambling out. She wasn’t seriously hurt but a little shook up, so we took her back to the restaurant hoping to find a first aid kit. As I joked about how the waiter would probably just hand us a bottle of tequila he actually took out some alcohol and handed us a towel, but a kind tourist gave us some antibacterial wipes instead. We decided to just sit down and have lunch there, and in the middle of an island I enjoyed the best shrimp risotto I’ve ever had (to be fair I probably haven’t had risotto that many times before, but it was really good). We walked around trying to find a sandy beach, but it turned into a minor hike as we walked around the cliff hills getting lost. We eventually made our way back to the pier and I took a short nap on the flat rock shelves near the water while the others swam. We took the ferry back to the city around 4:30pm and had dinner on the ship. After a quick shower I shook off my exhaustion and we repeated the pre-game from the night before with a bottle at the park. Determined to finally see the nightlife of Dubrovnik, we walked into a bar/club called Fuego near the old city at 11:30pm, only to find that we were about the only people in the place. After paying the cover charge we were feeling a bit ripped off, but the place quickly picked up over the next hour. Soon the place was completely packed with not only Semester at Sea students but workers from the ship on break. The drinks were cheap compared to Italy, so we spent the whole night there drinking and dancing. When we came out of the bar at 3am it started to rain, but after spending hours in a packed bar we couldn’t have been happier about cooling off on the walk home.

Day 4

Slept in until 11:30am to recover lost sleep and had a late breakfast on the ship. After three packed days all I wanted to do was lie on the beach, so we took a bus down to the city for the last time. I browsed through the shops alone while eating a gelato to look for souvenirs but didn’t find anything I wanted in the countless trinket shops, save a few postcards. I met up with friends back at the beach and lay in the shade for about an hour, and decided to head back to the ship around 4pm. On the way back I had a not-so-fun experience - while waiting in the crowd for the bus, a friend of mine suddenly fainted and fell to the ground. I rushed to get her up and into the shade to drink some water. We made our way back to the line and just as the bus arrived, she fainted again, though this time I managed to catch her. Strangers came over to help and I called over a taxi, and with the help of a policeman we managed to get her back to the ship before boarding time was over. She went straight to the doctor and luckily, she turned out to be okay. After dinner and a shower I was exhausted, and I managed to get some reading and work done before going to bed at 10pm. By the time I woke up next morning Croatia was long behind us, but I was perfectly content thinking about what lay ahead: the next country, Greece.