When we arrived in Dubrovnik, I was already impressed. The sun was setting and we had a beautiful ride into town. Once we got there, however things started to get crazy. There was a huge summer festival going on right outside our hotel. Our room was LITERALLY right in front of the stage. The streets were packed with people, and we were given QUITE the welcome with an orchestra and choir singing.
Even though the music kept some of us (ahem, Ingrid) awake until 2 in the morning because it was so loud, we had a great apartment. It was right in the centre of the old town which was perfect for what we wanted to do in Dubrovnik. That first night, the girls and I went out for a little bite to eat, did some exploring and watched the festival fireworks along with every other local.
The next day, we began bright and early. Unfortunately, our early start was not enough to beat the grueling heat. After our walking tour, we were already boiling hot.
So, we went on a little boat ride! It was a great way to see the coast line and the little islands just a few kilometers away from the mainland.
The only thing that was a little disturbing for me were the nude beaches on the islands. I don't understand why people are against wearing bathing suits. I understand the whole "I want to be free and be naked" thing (I guess) but that is what the bath tub is for! I am aware that I am a little TOO awkward about naked people in comparison with others, but apparently so are my sisters. Common phrases said on the boat trip were, "Ingrid, you have naked people at 3:00, just keep looking straight ahead" or "Annika, don't look now but there are naked people over there". Great. NOT. The worst part was that they were all looking out at the water, and there we were just slowly driving by on the boat trying to look EVERYWHERE ELSE except in their direction. Otherwise, the trip was FANTASTIC and it was so nice to get a break from the heat.
Then, we hiked the city walls. This is the top activity for tourists in Dubrovnik. It was about an hour and a half long, and we were very sweaty by the end of it, but it had beautiful views of the coastline.
That night, after dinner we went out for gelato and then had an early night. As a side note-Ingrid kept telling me that I looked like an 8 yr. old all day because of my pigtails (which I completely disagreed with, of course) but then when I was eating my ice cream, Dad took this picture:
...Maybe Ingrid was right.
The next day, we tried to stay out as long as physically possible, but the heat was LITERALLY unbearable. Dad saw a bunch of museums, monasteries, churches etc. while the girls and I tried to stay out of the sun. We went for dinner at an authentic Croatian place just below our hotel and then packed up all our stuff because we had a decently long travel day ahead.
Our next Croatian destination was "Split". If you want to hear a lot of great things about this place, don't ask Kristen. She definitely wasn't a fan. Well, to be honest none of us were crazy about it. Mostly because it was SO BLINKIN' HOT!!! We didn't get to Split until the middle of the afternoon, but it was hotter than Dubrovnik, and unlike our last hotel, this one didn't have air conditioning...We didn't stay in the hotel too long because it was too hot so we we hurried to a pizza place that we knew had A/C.
That night, we literally slept in our own sweat. Dad was in one room, the girls in another. We stripped down to as little as possible and Kristen even resorted to wrapping a light pashmina around her as a dress and calling it her pajamas. In the middle of the night, I would have to make trips to the bathroom and sit in a tub full of cold water to cool me down. Let's just say, we weren't very well rested when we awoke the next day.
After a walking tour in the morning, we went to the old palace in the centre of old town. It was great because it was made of stone, and thus-very cool.
We also heard some acapella singers in a courtyard, so that was a nice surprise!
In order to keep cool during the day, we wet bandanas and tied them around our neck, head, under our hats etc. and I also ran through a sprinkler many times. Anytime we found a place with A/C we celebrated.
We had hot dogs for dinner, stopped for Gelato and then packed up. In order to stay cool through the night, we decided to wash our hair with cold water. Unfortunately, the place we were staying didn't really have a shower (or a shower curtain for that matter), so we went back to the days of playing "hairdresser".
Before we left for our final stop in Croatia, I noticed some grafitti.
Apparently Kristen isn't the only one who isn't the biggest fan of Split. :)
Our last stop in Croatia was WONDERFUL. It was the Plitvice Lakes National Park. Though the bus ride to get there was long, it was totally worth it. We were staying in a very cute little house and did a hike the evening we arrived. The waterfalls were amazing and the lake water was SO BLUE!
Even though we'd seen the park and loved it, the following day was our big day of hiking. We planned on doing two hikes that were each about 2 hours. But, then we ended up hiking around both the upper and lower lakes and I loved every minute of it! The views were incredible and it was so much fun hiking with my family. I was even able to get them to agree to making a little music video. Unfortunately, my computer isn't being very cooperative so it isn't uploading but...it was quite the experience filming it. :)
That night we had pizza for dinner at a restaurant across the street from our hostel. The following day was filled with bus, train, and taxi rides. It all went pretty smoothly except for the fact that we had to wait 5 hours for our train to arrive. We made the time pass by eating lunch (being served by a waiter who spoke to us in German for the entire meal even when we would reply to him and ask questions in English), going to the bathroom (to be greeted by a very harsh Croatian woman who would only respond to us with grunts and shrugs), and playing 20 questions or other games that I learned as a camp counselor. On the train, there were not very many seats open so I spent three hours sitting with three old men who would blatantly stare at my cleavage. It was pretty awful. But we made it to Slovenia!
We didn't do anything our first night there because it was late and we were very tired. We only had one day in Ljubjana, Slovenia but we made the most of it. It was perfect weather-not too hot! We did a walking tour, bought some fresh fruit at the market, stopped for a crepe, and visited the castle. It was a beautiful, picturesque town and I'm so glad we were able to make a stop here!
Next, I was headed back to Germany. It has become one of my favourite countries to visit! I had a blast in Eastern/Central Europe but I am excited to go back to Deutschland!
I will keep you posted!
Sending love to you all!
A
I LOVED this blog!! I had so much fun reading about our own adventures when you would post them, but this is hilarious, because I can just imagine all of that happening to you. Loved the Greece one too, and I am commenting so you know that people read them! Thinking about you lots on these last couple weeks of your adventure...can't wait to talk to you again, soon!!!
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