Tuesday morning we drove to a tiny village named Vid which previously was a Roman settlement named Narona. I toured a museum built around the excavated Roman ruins. The main area of the museum showcases statues of 1st century Roman emperor Augustus and his family/friends. If the statues are without clothing, it was an indication that the subjects were dead while being crafted. In the first picture, Augustus is the biggest statue in the center. For lunch, Rob and Stasa took us to a restaurant for a nice lunch: raw eel and frog legs. I surprisingly enjoyed the frog legs; they tasted a bit like chicken. The eel was pretty gross but I at least I can say I tried it. After lunch, we drove to Makarska where we would stay for two nights. We got there around dinner time and decided to eat at an outdoor place called XXL. Our waiter was the owner and he was the only waiter we have had in Croatia that’s actually personable. While we were eating, a stray dog came up to our table and begged for food. He wouldn’t leave us alone the whole meal but we didn’t really mind because he was so cute. We decided to walk around the promenade after dinner – exploring the more remote rocky sections. The area was practically a cat sanctuary. You can see a couple in the pictures below.
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June 8th was my first day on the road. For the next 14 days, I will be traveling up the coast of Croatia and staying at many different places for a night or two. I left Dubrovnik early in the morning; a coach bus took the group to our first location of Ston. Ston is a little village built in the 15th century, protected by a series of walls second in length to The Great Wall of China. The walls were constructed to protect the village’s precious salt pans which extract salt from sea water by evaporation. We climbed a portion of these walls and had the opportunity to see Ston from a birds-eye view. Second stop for the day was lunch and wine tasting at Bartulovic winery. The Bartulovic’s only produce 20,000 liters of wine a year with organic homegrown grapes – no pesticides or poisons. Their 500 year old family house and vineyards are tucked away in the mountains of Prizdrina. The family cooked a delicious meal for us and let us taste their red and white wines. I may or may not have bought a bottle or two of wine to take back home ;) Back on the road, we took a ferry ride from Trpanj to Ploce. From there on we drove to Metkovic where we stayed in a hotel for just a night. Metkovic is another small village in the Neretva river valley. This area is extremely fertile and produces large quantities of fresh produce. My room had a great view of the fields and river. Dinner we just picked up at the supermarket right next to our hotel – there was not an open restaurant in sight. The rest of the night we all drank on the patio and talked (common theme here haha).
On June 7th, Ryan, Sam, and I went on a day excursion to the country of Montenegro. Montenegro is just south and to the right of Croatia – a small drive to a small country. As we were driving to our first stop, our tour guide told us about how terrible drivers are in Montenegro. Hours later, we got into a car accident. The car cut us off after trying to enter the high speed roadway without a turning signal, clipping the front of the bus and sending their car spinning. Obviously, it was their fault; we had the right-of-way. No one in either vehicle was hurt – our driver applied the brakes just in time to reduce force of impact. The pictures below are minutes after the accident. The lady at fault was pretty pissed that people were taking photos; it was pretty funny. The picture quite nicely captures her shouting at an old lady who wanted a photo as well. Because there was a tour group nearby, they picked us up and took us to our first stop which was relatively close. Ryan, Sam, and I explored the city of Budva while waiting for news about our transportation predicament. We had lunch at this amazing seafood place steps away from the sea. I ordered fresh mussels caught that morning. Budva is a very interesting area in Montenegro. On the right side is Old City which has about 3500 years of history. On the left side is the new section with tall skyscrapers and fancy hotels from Russian investors. The contrast between the two is striking. Unfortunately, we only had time to explore one side so I only have pictures of Old City. Besides the extravagant hotels, Russians greatly influence the docks and airports in Montenegro. There were so many Russian yachts in Budva and at least a couple private Russian airports for their jets outside the main area. Signs in Budva aren’t just in the traditional Latin alphabet, but also the Cyrillic alphabet used in Russia. The second and last stop was the city of Kotor. Small but beautiful, Kotor resembles the Old City in Budva a little bit. It is surrounded by tall stone walls with a couple churches and shops nested inside. Driving back to Dubrovnik, we made a small stop to take a couple shots of two picturesque islands. The island with the trees is naturally occurring while the other is man-made. Back in Dubrovnik we ate dinner really late then went to bed; I was so exhausted.
After starting the day off with Stasa’s class, we went to a restaurant for lunch in Old Town with an amazing view of the harbor. I ordered the calamari and it was absolutely fantastic. Then, for Rob’s class, we visited Domino Steakhouse in Old Town which is a restaurant owned by an RIT staff member. He talked to us about how difficult it is to own a business here: the many city taxes, importance of location, off-season struggles, etc. He also mentioned how during the war, the restaurant shut down and was used as a refugee camp. When we got back to the hotel, all of us chilled and drank on the patio. Around 11:30 pm, we decided to go to Revelin nightclub in Old Town. The building Revelin was in was actually one of Napoleon’s fortresses. The nightclub itself was really cool: lasers, balloons, and great music. I had such a great time dancing and meeting new people who were also traveling. Ryan and I decided to leave at 2:30 am since we had to go to the public market for class at 7:30 am the same day. Everyone else decided to stay and just pull an all-nighter. We walked back and made really good conversation, eventually going to bed around 3:30 am. Waking up was a struggle. All of us were walking zombies at the public market. Part of our assignment at the market was to talk to the vendors about their products and business. They didn’t really want to talk to us so Stasa just answered our questions. After the market, we went to a nearby agricultural shop. I was surprised that they openly sold pesticides and other poisons right there – in the United States products like that aren’t as accessible. When I got back from the market, I slept until dinner. Brooke, Allie, and I ate Mexican food then I went to an internet café for some decent wifi.
On Thursday June 4th, we took a boat to the island of Lokrum from Old Town. Lokrum is exclusively a nature preserve with a variety of species closely monitored. Smoking isn’t allowed on the island which is actually a big deal because so many people smoke in Europe. There are big tubs of water on the trails every so often in case of forest fires. Wild peacocks roam the grounds and aren’t afraid of people at all. We took another long hike up to a ruined castle which had another wonderful view. Stasa showed us the many different plant and tree species on the island as we hiked back down. Apparently, the Dubrovnik Rabbit Bush only exists on the island of Lokrum; it doesn’t naturally grow anywhere else in the world. After the hike, we went cliff diving! It was so much fun and the cliffs were pretty high – I had time to think as I was falling. Not everyone ended up jumping, probably only half of us did it. I wish we could go back, but we are leaving Dubrovnik to travel around soon. When we arrived back in Old Town, Allie, Brooke, and I decided to walk around and shop for a little bit. While wandering, we came across an ornate 18th century church of St. Ignatius of Loyola. The attention to detail and opulence of the church amazed me. One thing that really surprised me when I came to Dubrovnik was the amount of wild cats and dogs that just meander around town. Just in the short time I was in Old Town, I saw over 10 cats. All of them look young, and are tiny. I don’t like to think that they are malnourished, just little, or I would feel really bad every time I came across one. We ate dinner at a pizza place called Mamma Mia (pizza is big here) then met up at the hotel for drinks.
June 3rd I started the day off with Stasa’s class. We continued to learn about numerous global environmental issues that were quite eye-opening. For lunch, Allie, Brooke, and I picked up subs at a really cute sandwich shop near Old Town. My other professor, Rob, on a whim decided to not have class in the RIT campus but on the top of Mt. Srd overlooking the whole city of Dubrovnik. The hike up was absolutely brutal, again with loose gravel; reaching the top was really rewarding. At the top were structures damaged from the War of Independence and the trenches. Below are some pictures from the top of the mountain and the war aftermath. Our lesson was about the differences between the US and Croatia. Personally, I have noticed a distinct difference in restaurant service quality. In the United States of America, splitting checks is relatively easy. Waiters and waitresses give the group a really hard time whenever we ask for separate checks; some flat out refuse. Most have somewhat of an attitude and aren’t friendly or welcoming. My hypothesis is that because tipping is not common in Croatia, there is no incentive for a personable front. Although local Croatians may be used to this, it can take tourists quite aback – I know it surprised me. Although you can take a cable car down the mountain, everyone else wanted to not pay and walk back down, so that’s what we ended up doing. We ate dinner at a restaurant in Old Town called Mea Culpa which had an amazing lasagna. After dinner, we bought some gelato at a little alley shop named Dolce Vita. I had Ferrero Rocher flavored gelato and it was so tasty. All of us went back to the hotel after dinner and just chilled and drank wine on the patio until it was time to go bed.
Tuesday our professors took us on a cruise of the Elaphite Islands. Our ship was one of the Galleons used in the television show Game of Thrones. I personally don’t watch the show so it was just a cool ship to me but some of you might recognize it. Our first stop on the cruise was the island of Kolocep. We didn’t really have a good amount of time to explore this island before having to head back to the ship; however, Stasa (one of my Croatian professors) gave us a history lesson on the island. Apparently, the sand from the beach comes from the Sahara desert. We also observed the hundreds and hundreds of sea urchins at the bottom of the sea. Mike actually caught one and we got to see the organism move around in his hand. Sipan was the second island we visited. This island is full of mystery and incredible stories. Hidden away in the thick brush was a 12th century Knights Templar church. We were allowed in and were able to climb to the very top for a crazy view. Back on the boat for lunch, I had fresh fish and white wine. The fish was just caught hours before and was very flavorful. The 3rd stop on the cruise was the island of Lopud. We took an incredibly long, uphill hike up a mountain. The trail was covered in loose gravel, making the whole trek even harder. At the top of the mountain was a goat sanctuary and past that, an amazing view making the hike completely worth it. The goats didn’t really mind us, however, I did get charged by a goat when I when too close. Thankfully, the goat gave up when I ran away. We were extremely hot and soaked with sweat after the hike so the swim in the sea after was more than refreshing. After our swim, we rushed to buy Croatian gelato and get back on the boat because we were a bit late from our long swim.
Dinner we just picked up at the local supermarket before just relaxing and going to bed. The hike really drained everyone and I had a great night’s sleep. June 1st was everyone’s first day of classes. I am talking two classes for six credits – Seminar in Management: Sustainable Small Business and Concepts of Environmental Science. The RIT Dubrovnik campus is about a 40 minute walk from my hotel. We could take the bus and get there a lot faster, however, all of us wanted to walk to really see and experience residential Dubrovnik. First I had to apply for a temporary visa at the local police station. All of us needed visas because we are staying in the country for a long period of time. The whole process took about an hour and then we were on our way to get coffee with our professors. After coffee, we headed to campus for class. The picture below I took when walking to class. The lectures were very introductory and explained the basic outlines of what we will be doing during our time here. The campus is really nice and the best part about it is it has actual working wifi! In between classes, we walked to Old Town for lunch. Old Town in Dubrovnik looks very European – stone everywhere. The whole area is surrounded by tall stone walls which protected the villagers during war. After class, all of us decided to go swimming/ exploring on the rocky coast. The area we picked ended up being too cold to swim so we just tanned and took pictures. Dinner was at a Mexican restaurant (we were kind of getting sick of seafood) and I had chimichangas for the first time. We went back to the hotel just in time to catch the sunset. This is the view I have from my hotel room every night.
On May 31st Ryan, Allie, and I went on a day excursion to Bosnia and Herzegovina which is the same country, just a weird name. We had bought the tickets previously before through an online site called Viator. The country of Bosnia and Herzegovina is about a 3 hour ride from Dubrovnik. They picked us up from our hotel along with about 10 other people and our first stop was the city of Medjugorje. Medjugorje is an extremely important holy site to Roman Catholics. The Virgin Mary appeared to 6 local Catholics on the village hill in 1981. A church was built in the area as well as many intricate statues. The village now is quite built up and more “touristy” than expected. There were crowds of people and the streets were lined with souvenir shops. The mass ceremonies are held inside and outside the church every hour with loud speakers and at least a couple hundred benches outside The second stop was Mostar. Within the past couple decades, Bosnia and Herzegovina experienced a major religious war which destroyed a lot of the country. When we were driving to Mostar, this was incredibly evident: bullet holes in the stone buildings, abandoned houses, and debris. The actual city was just recently restored and looks almost exactly the same as it did before. The heart of Mostar, called Old Town, was stunning. All of the roads/pathways were stone and gave off a very medieval vibe. Rivers ran through the city, giving life to fruit trees and bushes. Connecting one side of the village to the other was a huge stone bridge. This bridge had quite the history: it was bombed during the war and recently put back up. We took a lot of really great photos here. For lunch we ate at a local Bosnian restaurant called Sadrvan which is completely outside. The waiters and waitresses all dressed in traditional Bosnian clothing. Ryan and I ordered a meat dish that had little balls of meat and spices wrapped in onions with potatoes and sour cream; it was heavenly. For dessert, we all ordered traditional baklava which was also incredibly delicious. Next stop was a little village with a complicated name I don’t remember. The whole village was on a steep hill with steps going up for walkways – no roads. Allie and I walked up pretty far and ended up talking to a local Bosnian for a bit. The high altitude gave us the perfect angle for some awesome shots. When we got back to our hotel, the whole group wanted to go out drinking so we went to a place called the Cave Bar, and yes, part of the bar is actually in a cave. The rest of the bar is outside right on the water overlooking the city. One of my drinks that I ordered below is called an Octopus (Bacardi, apricot liqueur, blue curacao, and pineapple juice): by far the best cocktail I have ever had in my life. Although I was pretty busy the whole day, I really enjoyed my time in Bosnia and Herzegovina. I am really glad I took the time before hand to organize the excursion.
I actually arrived in Croatia, I know, finally right? The Munich flight was delayed by a couple hours, but not cancelled. Because of the delay, Brooke, Mike, and I couldn’t explore Munich – we wouldn’t have enough time. However, we did experience some German culture. I ordered white sausages and a pretzel which was pretty good at a restaurant in the airport. We all ordered German beer as well which easily was the beer I have ever had in my life. I don’t even like beer and it was amazingly smooth. The flight into Croatia from Munich was beautiful: rolling hills, light blue water, and lush greenery. The whole experience almost seemed unreal to me. I think it really hit me that I was here, in Europe, when all the other study abroad students and I went to the beach and swam in the Adriatic Sea. Tasting the salt, feeling the cool water, watching the sunset – it was absolutely unreal. After swimming, all of us met up with some other RIT students that happened to be in Croatia and went to a quaint restaurant by the sea. I ordered a seafood platter to try a little bit of everything, however, when my dinner came I was a little shocked. Everything still had its head, legs, you name it. Us Americans are so spoiled when it comes to ease of eating. Because I was so unused to everything being whole, I ended up getting a small fish bone stuck in my throat. The little bastard was pricking my throat every time I swallowed until the next morning when it fell out randomly. Wifi is incredibly terrible here (trash tier, that’s for you Philip) in Dubrovnik, coming and going at the worst times. I’ll never take for granted steady, reliable wifi ever again. In regards to these blog posts, I will try to post whenever I can get decent wifi.
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