Down Where It's Wetter, Down Where It's Better Right By The Sea! Dubrovnik
Day 1:
The tolerable but tedious bus ride South landed us in a rather unexpected place-Bosnia! Turns out they actually own a whole meter of coastline. It was therefore a brief drive thru, but still a major plus (three countries in three days!) The scenic coastal route was wroth a thousand postcards, but hardly efficient. Every twist and turn was anotehr patch of crystal clear green bit of ocean on a orcky stretch of peach with a small bright painted boat, sometimes turned upside down. It was as if Italy, Greece, and The Carribbean all got together to make a beautiful baby. But pepper in some Turkish and Islamic influence.
We were picked up in Dubrovnik on Easter by Petra in a silver audi. After being shown out codl and damb hole of a room, we were told to make ourselves comfortable and come down for some coffee. I'm pretty sure she expected us to do more than put our bags down and brush our teeth because when we entered downstairs the entire family was in the midst of their Easter lunch. Graciously, they pulled up chairs for us and offered all the content of their authentic Croatian Easter feast full of soup, bread, cheeses, some type of meat, potatoes, salad (lettuce drenched in oil) and my favorite-an assortment of pastries and cakes! We (or I-as Hannah ahs self-control and the excuse of being a strict vegetarian since brith) discreetly stuffed our faces to avoid the awkwardness of the "I-don't-speak-Croatian" and "You-don't-speak-any-English." Needless to say, excessive amoutsn of energetic head nodding, smiling, and tummy rubbing were present and accompained by a series of repetitve and broken "hvala"s (that's thanks for all you non-Croats). Before we left to explore for the day, the matriarch insisted on giving us this intricately dyed eggs (mostly out of fear that Hannah would die if she didn't eat meat). In my clumsiness, I managed to break mine within five minutes. But no fear- we got pictures!
After our long ride and decadent lunch we headed down the cliff (which means climbing it up later) to the old city. Tripping and accidentally stepping in puddle the entire, zig zagged course later, we passed doors made for hobbits and rows of canopied trees that clung to the stone walls of narrow alleyways. Dubrovnik was positively my favorite spot in Croatia (and the trip). Enchanting-even in the pouring rain and hail, the old city is unlike anywhre I've been before. I won't even try to describe it (see photos), because it is impossible to do justify to most places but especially this one. Charm doesn't always translate. We clmibed the towering walls that encase the city and hit the open Adriatic sea, whose views were quite simply breahtaking. We inadvertently found Ariel's grotto, named by us because the inner harbor shares an eerie similarity with the setting of Ariel's "Part of Your World" reprise. I half expected to find Prince Eric unconscious on the rocky shoals. This sight of course led to an obnoxiously loud Disney singalong and goofy pictures-what can I say, we were high on Disney crack.
Through our visit we were astounded by two things: the patriotism (flags are EVERYWHERE-which I suppose is no surprise given its fairly new nation status). Still, I continue to be amazed by such fervent patriotism outside of Texas.
That night, delirious on semi-driness, we cracked some terrible religious jokes.
IE: The AMISH- "Hey Abalsom! I have an idea- let's just NOT progress today!"
It was also decided that every prophet/religious figure was on some form of hallucinigens. I mean c'mon Moses, was the bush REALLY burning? Or were you burning another form of plant at the time and accidentally inhaling it? As for finding Jesus' body ascend, you LOOKED in the wrong cave dammnit! There is a reason they can't find Osama too-caves look a lot alike! And well Mary, you're just a genius who made a good situation out of a bad one (molestation by a relative perhaps?)
The tolerable but tedious bus ride South landed us in a rather unexpected place-Bosnia! Turns out they actually own a whole meter of coastline. It was therefore a brief drive thru, but still a major plus (three countries in three days!) The scenic coastal route was wroth a thousand postcards, but hardly efficient. Every twist and turn was anotehr patch of crystal clear green bit of ocean on a orcky stretch of peach with a small bright painted boat, sometimes turned upside down. It was as if Italy, Greece, and The Carribbean all got together to make a beautiful baby. But pepper in some Turkish and Islamic influence.
We were picked up in Dubrovnik on Easter by Petra in a silver audi. After being shown out codl and damb hole of a room, we were told to make ourselves comfortable and come down for some coffee. I'm pretty sure she expected us to do more than put our bags down and brush our teeth because when we entered downstairs the entire family was in the midst of their Easter lunch. Graciously, they pulled up chairs for us and offered all the content of their authentic Croatian Easter feast full of soup, bread, cheeses, some type of meat, potatoes, salad (lettuce drenched in oil) and my favorite-an assortment of pastries and cakes! We (or I-as Hannah ahs self-control and the excuse of being a strict vegetarian since brith) discreetly stuffed our faces to avoid the awkwardness of the "I-don't-speak-Croatian" and "You-don't-speak-any-English." Needless to say, excessive amoutsn of energetic head nodding, smiling, and tummy rubbing were present and accompained by a series of repetitve and broken "hvala"s (that's thanks for all you non-Croats). Before we left to explore for the day, the matriarch insisted on giving us this intricately dyed eggs (mostly out of fear that Hannah would die if she didn't eat meat). In my clumsiness, I managed to break mine within five minutes. But no fear- we got pictures!
After our long ride and decadent lunch we headed down the cliff (which means climbing it up later) to the old city. Tripping and accidentally stepping in puddle the entire, zig zagged course later, we passed doors made for hobbits and rows of canopied trees that clung to the stone walls of narrow alleyways. Dubrovnik was positively my favorite spot in Croatia (and the trip). Enchanting-even in the pouring rain and hail, the old city is unlike anywhre I've been before. I won't even try to describe it (see photos), because it is impossible to do justify to most places but especially this one. Charm doesn't always translate. We clmibed the towering walls that encase the city and hit the open Adriatic sea, whose views were quite simply breahtaking. We inadvertently found Ariel's grotto, named by us because the inner harbor shares an eerie similarity with the setting of Ariel's "Part of Your World" reprise. I half expected to find Prince Eric unconscious on the rocky shoals. This sight of course led to an obnoxiously loud Disney singalong and goofy pictures-what can I say, we were high on Disney crack.
Through our visit we were astounded by two things: the patriotism (flags are EVERYWHERE-which I suppose is no surprise given its fairly new nation status). Still, I continue to be amazed by such fervent patriotism outside of Texas.
That night, delirious on semi-driness, we cracked some terrible religious jokes.
IE: The AMISH- "Hey Abalsom! I have an idea- let's just NOT progress today!"
It was also decided that every prophet/religious figure was on some form of hallucinigens. I mean c'mon Moses, was the bush REALLY burning? Or were you burning another form of plant at the time and accidentally inhaling it? As for finding Jesus' body ascend, you LOOKED in the wrong cave dammnit! There is a reason they can't find Osama too-caves look a lot alike! And well Mary, you're just a genius who made a good situation out of a bad one (molestation by a relative perhaps?)