Sunday, June 13, 2010

Dubrovnik, Croatia

First of all, I would like to thank Seka, Tia, Mato, Uri, Evo, Rina, Nika, Mato, Juro, Katica, Luce… probably forgetting somebody… for making my time in Dubrovnik so special! All of these people are family members of Julia Hanlon, my friend from school, and all of them welcomed me into their homes graciously and generously helped me with everything I needed- vegetarian meals, laundry, rides to the buses, ice cream (which is definitely necessary), etc. etc.

I won’t go through a play-by-play of my time in Dubrovnik, but I would love to share some highlights and pictures.


This is what the water looks like- it starts clear, gets turquoise and then turns this teal, dark-blue green color. I went swimming every day I was in Dubrovnik, sometimes twice a day, and sometimes even when I did not have a bathing suit available- I just went in my clothes. This was Nika’s last two weeks of schools, so she was very jealous that I was swimming all day while she was in school.


I walked along the city walls, and got views like this! Dubrovnik is truly a beautiful city, both the old and the new. And the views from all around the walls were all different. On several people’s recommendations I went in the late afternoon, managing to avoid crowds and stay cool.


This is my only picture of Nishta, the vegetarian restaurant I frequented three times while in Dubrovnik. It’s a poem written on the wall inside, though I usually ate outside. In Croatian “nishta” means nothing because that’s all the locals could imagine a vegetarian restaurant could serve. I got tempeh burritos there, as well as veggie spring rolls, a salad bar salad, and iced tea. The food was really good! And the lady gave me a free veggie hummus plate when I left for good. I also often got gelato, especially chocolate-raspberry swirl “rock star” ice cream and coconut ice cream, at Dolce Vita in the old town.


This is the spot where I dipped into the water on Lokrum, an island just a quick ferry ride away from the city. Lokrum is a tamed-but-still-wild island, with forested areas, a little café by the dock, a saltwater pond and undomesticated peacocks! It was a rocky area so this swim was brief, but I usually swam laps on the beach below:


It was free to swim on but showers and changing cost a bit extra- a small price to pay for cooling off in the middle of the day!

After a three night visit in Dubrovnik I headed out. At one point I had hoped to visit Sarajevo on the way to Budapest, where I would meet Willie, but the logistics of the buses made this more trouble than it was worth. I’ll just have to come back!

Love,
Katie

2 comments:

  1. Yea!!! Finally got the pix... beautiful... I'm there anytime you want to take me back... Love Mom

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  2. OMG I WANT EUROPEAN GELATO SO SO MUCH. (i'm jealous.)
    <3

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