Jazz Hands for Dubrovnik! And, oh, America

So my plan to finish upating my blog before the term finished in England clearly failed. Ah well. Just pretend I'm still there - that's what I'm doing.

Anyway, Croatia. It's one of those places that I never, ever imagined myself going, in large part because I had never really heard of it before I came to England. My flatmate and Travel Yoda, Laura, had visited Croatia before we started uni, however, and she absolutely loved it. Her photos were enough to convince me that it might be worth checking out. And oh, was it ever.

It has only been in the past few years that Croatia has started to become a tourist destination. This meant, in my experience at least, that there were far fewer people than we saw in Italy and that the pace of life was much more relaxed. Granted, I was in very busy, very tourist-centered areas of Italy, so I cannot generalise for the entire country. But going from Naples to Dubrovnik was akin to going from New York City to the Maine shoreline. Just much warmer. And since Croatia is relatively undiscovered as of yet, the people there are incredibly friendly, I imagine because they haven't been so inundated with tourists that they want to scream (or they could do what Londoners do, which is just walk extremely fast while looking directly ahead, attempting to ignore and/or run over tourists who have stopped to consult a map or who just aren't walking quickly enough) and because they know that they need to entice tourists to spend money in order to build up that industry. In Italy people were generally fairly grouchy (except Giovanni and Pasquale, obviously), I think because they know that you're going to spend your money anyway, so they don't have to be nice. In Croatia, however, the majority of the people we interacted with were so friendly and welcoming. Maybe it's just because they live in the most gorgeous place on the planet, so they're happy. I would be.

Why has Croatia remained an undiscovered gem? It has had an extremely turbulent history, so the region (neighbouring countries include Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia, to give you some idea) was not stable enough to support a tourist industry until very recently. Croatia was settled by the Croats as far back as the seventh century, and it has been part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and, following World War II, the socialist Second Yugoslavia. Croatia only declared independence in 1991, but war with the Yugoslav National Army ensued. The Croatian War of Independence lasted until 1995, when Croatia was victorious, but the area was caught up in regional controversies over the treatment of ethnic Serbs and the actions of the armies on both sides. Thus, it is only recently that people have started to venture to Croatia on holiday. As word gets out, however, I think that this will change, because Croatia's Dalmation Coast has to be one of the most beautiful places in the entire world. I'll stop talking and just show you, shall I?


We took an overnight ferry from Bari, Italy to Dubrovnik, which is on the southern tip of Croatia. The ferry was an adventure in and of itself - I'll just say that Italy made England look like the Land of Efficiency that day. And we didn't shell out cash for proper cabins, so we slept in the bar, which was all kinds of uncomfortable, but makes for a good story. I woke up around half five in the morning to see this, the sun rising over Croatia. It was impossibly beautiful.


This is the view from the side of the highway - not even kidding. The sun literally sparkles on the Adriatic Sea, which is a gorgeous shade of teal, and the water is so clear that you can see all the say to the bottom. It's unreal.


After a gelato break, we climbed the city walls, which completely enclose Old Dubrovnik and lead to some of the most spectacular views that you can imagine. This is the view looking over the city toward the Old Port.


Travel buddies enjoying the sun and the breathtaking views. We all got sunburned up there!


The bells of St. Nicholas Church.


The Old Port - just look at the colour of the water. It's really like that, I promise.


I'm sitting on my couch now wondering, "Why on earth did I ever, ever leave this city????"


Absolutely one of the best days that I can ever remember - great friends, beautiful weather, amazing sights - does it get any better?


After a long day of gelato and taking in beautiful vista after beautiful vista, it's good to sit and dangle your feet in the Adriatic Sea while watching the sun set.

So yes, that was our first day in Croatia, and it was absolutely spectacular. We got an amazing sea food dinner in the city and then caught a free concert given by a travelling orchestra from Antwerp, Belgium. This was especially cool for me because I played in Antwerp when I was travelling with USYE, so it felt like an exchange of sorts. And they played "Lord of the Rings." I mean, come on now. This day could not have gotten any better. The next morning we bid adieu to Dubrovnik and boarded a bus to Split, which meant that we more or less drove a large part of the Dalmation Coast, and it was all breathtakingly beautiful, even from a bus window. More on that in my next post, however.

In other news, I've been back in the States for nine days now, and they have been the longest nine days of my life. Suffice to say that it has not been easy - the transition from Britain to small-town New England is not a kind one, and the Atlantic Ocean seems much bigger from this side than it did while I was in Norwich. It's going to be a "character-building" summer, I think. I'll try to write something more reflective when I've finished blogging about Croatia, and honestly I think that I'm still too upset and frustrated to do it properly at the moment, anyway. So instead of boring you with my current emotional turmoil (which was expected, but that doesn't make it easier), I will leave you with someone else's words, someone much wiser than myself. I found this poem last night when I was going through a particularly rough stretch, and it was perfect. It is a poem by Rumi, a thirteenth-century Afghan poet, who is just incredible.

The Guest House
This being human is a guest house.
Every morning a new arrival.

A joy, a depression, a meanness,
some momentary awareness comes
as an unexpected visitor.

Welcome and entertain them all!
Even if they're a crowd of sorrows,
who violently sweep your house
empty of its furniture,
still, treat each guest honorably.
He may be clearing you out
for some new delight.

The dark thought, the shame, the malice,
meet them at the door laughing,
and invite them in.

Be grateful for whoever comes,
because each has been sent
as a guide from beyond.