Croatia in a nutshell

Okay, the suspense is over: I finally had a minute to upload some pictures of Croatia. 

Dubrovnik:

Thus far, in terms of sheer beauty and I guess for lack of better words, pure idealism, Dubrovnik is a city that I feel is unmatched. I had heard from friends that went abroad to Europe that they visited Croatia and everyone I spoke to unanimously agreed that Croatia is a must-see. I have found out why. 

We took an overnight ferry from Bari, Italy and arrived in the port of Dubrovnik at 7am. We went straight to our hostel, which was actually a guesthouse that sat on top of a family's house. The owner, a remarkable man named Ante, took us up in to the hills of the city for some absolutely breathtaking views of the city and ocean. This would be a few of them:

This (above) is a shot of Old Town. This is an immaculately preserved Medieval town, complete with ramparts and a lookout keep. Walking through the city makes you feel like you're strolling around in the year 1100.

This is looking west of Old Town, into the hills of Dubrovnik. The city is just built on layer after layer of hills, and there an infinite amount of stairs that intersect each street.

That would be the border of Bosnia and Herzogovina in the hills behind me. Ante, who is very proud of being from Dubrovnik/Croatian (I believe for people from Dubrovnik they consider themselves Ragusans, as the town used to be called Ragusa when it was settled by a bunch of merchants from Venice), assured us that there is not much to do or see in Bosnia. I believed him.

There's Old Town behind me and an expansive view of the all-encompassing sea around Dubrovnik. It's pretty amazing when you get down to the city wall's and you look out and realize that within two miles of the town you would see nothing but ocean around you. That island is Lokrun, which has a nice monastery and is popular during the summer for all of its beaches.

This is on the western end of Dubrovnik, facing east. That bridge leads through the city center and into Old Town. Our ferry parked just to the right of that bridge in that little lagoon area.

One of the most startling and fascinating things of Dubrovnik that I did not know about was that it was the target of land and sea bombing by Serbia during the Serbian war from 1992 to 1993. As you walk around the city walls, there are still numerous sites where you can still see the destruction and remains from the bombing. This is inside the Old Town itself. The town has done a remarkable job of reconstruction and repairing itself in the past fifteen years or so, and Croatia continues to make fun of Serbia to this day, which makes me happy (Dubrovnik successfully defended itself in the valley between the city and the Bosnian border). Stupid Serbs.

This is literally the view from our window/patio in the guesthouse. 
Same view, but at sunset. Again, the picture does it no justice. 

If there is one thing I could go on and on about, it was how great the food is in Croatia. The best pizza (yes, pizza) and the best milk I have ever had in my life was in Croatia. Not to mention this delicious cherry strudel above which I ate eight of in the seven days we were in Croatia. They were beyond words. The great thing, too, is that food is cheap in Croatia. The dollar is pretty powerful against the Kuna these days, so we would be able to eat like kings for less than $30 a day. A kilogram of kiwi is about $1, oranges are about $1.20/kg, bananas are essentially free/kg, and an extra large pizza (say, 24" in diameter) is about $12. With six toppings. Yeah.

In summary, I'm in love with Dubrovnik, I cannot wait to come back during the summer when it's 95 degrees and probably even more gorgeous.

Split:

We extended our stay in Dubrovnik from three nights to five (are you under the impression that we liked it?), and after that we took a four hour bus north to Split. Split is another unrealistically beautiful city, much bigger than Dubrovnik (350,000 people compared to Dub's 50,000), that sits right on the waterfront:

(Above, looking to Split from the north)

Also, lucky for us, the sun came out and stayed for our entire duration in Split. 
(Above, a remarkably good-looking individual in front of the Split skyline)

Our feasting continued in Split courtesy to the open markets that are held every day near the center of the old town (called Diocletian's Palace, after the Roman Emperor Diocletian decided to build his summer hom--no, palace, there). At these markets, a bunch of local producers bring in their fruits, vegetables, cheeses, and breads and we were continued to be amazed at how we would walk away with a journey's worth of bananas, apples, kiwis, a loaf of bread, and amazing chunk of cheese that was ungodly good, tasted sort of like gouda, all for about $5. 

The aforementioned journey led us to the gallery of Ivan Mestrovic, Croatia's most famous sculptor/artist. It was the coolest gallery I have ever visited. A lot of his work is pretty morbid and twisted, and the ghastly facial expressions on a lot of his biblical sculptures were downright eerie. Nonetheless, it was awesome (as was the student discount); here is a picture from the front of the gallery facing into the courtyard: 

I have several other pictures from the gallery that I will try to post later.

Back into the center of town, inside Diocletian's Palace (right where our hostel was), there were a bunch of cool bars and a pretty convivial atmosphere in terms of nightlife. One of my favorite scenes has to be this warning sign on a what looks like a very inviting-wall-if-the-bathroom's-crowded near an intersection where a bunch of bars are all neatly congested:

Can you imagine a bunch of those in the Marina? Anyway, it's straight to the point and accurate and concise in the message it is trying to deliver.

Altogether, I do not have a single negative thing to say about Croatia. I just loved every day that I was there. The people are all exceptionally nice (not to mention the younger crowd is rather exceptionally good looking, too), it's inexpensive, and there is a lot to do. I can't wait to return.

(Looking out from Split at sunset, above)

We took another overnight ferry from Split to Ancona, Italy and arrived early in the morning again. I'll get the next post up as soon as possible with updates from Ancona and Bologna.

Dovidjenja!