Dubrovnik, Croatia
June 20-24See photos below
There wasn’t much sleep to be had aboard the Marco Polo ship. I woke to the sun shining on my face through the windows below deck. As I got up to stretch my stiff body, I walked to the front of the ship to see Dubrovnik in the distance coming into view; it was a stunning sight. I quickly woke Ashley to join me on the upper deck so we could watch the city inch closer and closer. Pulling into the port was like a dream. We were still half asleep as we basked in the morning light, gliding across the bay. It felt surreal that we had crossed the sea overnight and made it to a new city. As the boat docked, we waited in a long line of passengers to exit through the claustrophobic, keyhole shaped doors.
Stepping into the fresh morning air was a treat, especially since the heat hadn’t picked up yet. We found a bench in the shadow of a church where we sat and made a plan. We couldn’t check in to our accommodation for another few hours, but had nowhere else to go. We ultimately decided to walk there and test our luck with an early check in. The apartment we booked was on the other side of the bay, so we made had quite a walk ahead of us. At least it was scenic. We walked by ships docked next to the sidewalks, past fisherman untying their lines and sailing off, near stray dogs and cats scrounging for food. Finally we arrived at the base of a hill where the steps to the apartment started. We sat and waited for a while, enough time for Ashley to make friends with two cute cats lying next to a trailer. I decided to take a little stroll around the corner to scope out the area. By the time I got back, I saw Ashley holding a baby. I was perplexed to say the least. Moments later, a young woman came over and retrieved the child, thanking Ashley for helping her while she loaded a stroller into her car. I couldn’t help but laugh at the funny situation. As we continued waiting, the owner of the apartment came down and, after confirming that we had a reservation, told us with a big smile that our room was ready!
The place was perfect with amazing views of the bay and picturesque bridge across the water. We were both pretty tired from the near-sleepless night onboard the ship, so we hung out in the air conditioning for a few hours to save some energy for the rest of the day. It was much needed. We then made our way around the small cape where the apartment was located to a stunning rock beach with breathtakingly clear water. The walking path to get there was lined with small boats, a very cool detail seen throughout the city. On the way back up to the flat, we stumbled across a small turtle trying his best to trudge through freshly poured cement. We lifted him out and into a grassy area, before he quickly returned. (Turtles are surprisingly fast, much quicker than I previously thought.) After doing this back and forth a few times, we picked him up and asked a woman in her garden if the turtle was hers. She didn’t speak English of course. After a moment, she called for us to join her in the garden, where she proceeded to open a wooden box full of baby turtles! We all looked at each other, smiling and laughing. It was definitely not the encounter we were expecting, but welcomed it nonetheless.
Later that day we took the bus to Old Town, which is without a doubt one of the most beautiful places I have ever been. Pictures and words can’t do it justice. We wandered around with our jaws on the floor as we snuck between steep alleyways and around winding corners. We eventually made it to a small port that led to the area outside of the wall, full of people swimming in the pristine water. We unfortunately forgot a change of clothes, so we would have to return another day to splash around with them. We sat on a rock taking in the new city and the surrounding beauty, returning to the apartment not long after to cook and get some rest.
The next day we got revenge on our poor planning and successfully made our way to the beach, fully prepared to spend hours in the water. It was my birthday after all. We switched off between laying on the large rocks and jumping in the water, going from wet to dry and back to wet at frequent intervals. When we got too tired of the sun we walked back to the flat to cool off. Later on we made our way back to the Old Town to swim beyond the wall. We wandered back through the historic city, finding a small door that led us to a bar perched on a cliff just outside of the walled city. Not too far below that was a spot perfectly made for clip jumping and swimming. I took the high plunge about ten times and swam in the perfect water for hours. On the walk back home we loaded up on some sweets to keep the morale high. For dinner it was chicken tacos with a view back at the flat. I couldn’t have asked for a better birthday. It was our last full day in Croatia before we were off to Montenegro for a seven week work exchange along the stunning Tara River.
