Very early the next morning, we gathered our things and drove back to Croatia.
We stopped right before Dubrovnik to climb to see a bird's eye view of the city. From up there, we enjoyed our bakery breakfast. We shared a meat bureka, a nut pastry and a cherry pastry. I loved the bureka and really enjoyed the nut pastry. It's a shame the US hasn't figured out how to do bakeries well. Or at least affordable, common and simple.
After our breakfast with a view we made our way into the old town. We were very annoyed at the extremely high parking prices and were debating what to do, and just kept getting more frustrated. But as I drive back out, I drive past a hotel that had parking for 1/3 the price of the cheapest one we had seen!! I stop on a pin and somehow manage to back the car up the hill and park. This find mage the day so much better!
After our breakfast with a view we made our way into the old town. We were very annoyed at the extremely high parking prices and were debating what to do, and just kept getting more frustrated. But as I drive back out, I drive past a hotel that had parking for 1/3 the price of the cheapest one we had seen!! I stop on a pin and somehow manage to back the car up the hill and park. This find mage the day so much better!
We then walked into the old walled city and I made my way to the Jewish quarter. The Jewish ghetto is a tiny street in the city. Jews came to Dubrovnik from Spain and Portugal in the 14 and 15 hundreds because they were kicked out of their respective countries. In Dubrovnik has the second oldest synagogue in Europe still existing (second to Prague, which I have also seen). In the museum next to the synagogue, they had torahs from as early as the 13th century! I really liked seeing the old torahs, it shows how far back my culture goes, and while society and technology change, there are some things that connect us to our ancestry. I went into the old synagogue and thought it was beautiful! It has a nice arc, with a bimah in the middle because it's Sephardic. The ceiling was blue with Star of Davids. I thought it looks great but also distinctively like a synagogue and not a church. I'm the synagogue, I met a nice younger lady who is a part of the current Jewish community in Dubrovnik. We talked for a long time about what it's like to be in the community there and I found it so interesting. 1/3 of the community in WW2 was killed because Yugoslavia was conspiring with the Nazis. Currently the community is 10 families, 55 people. It is a tight community but very liberal. They don't have a rabbi, but are visited by a traveling rabbi from Zagreb that comes and teaches the kids. This weekend, a family is coming from the states to have a Bar Mitzvah in the old synagogue! I was quite inspired by this visit. |
We then went on a great city tour where we were walked around the old town and taught history and culture. This area is one not often taught about in schools, so I appreciated the lesson and was particularly interested in the recent war. We visited a few churches and i found it interesting to learn how Orthodox Christians differ from Catholics. During the tour we went into an orthodox church, learning about this sect, and afterwards went into a needful Catholic Church. After the tour, we went to a memorial about the recent homeland war that had photos of those who dedicated their lives. We also saw many buildings with bullet or shrapnel dents and the new versus old roofs based on if they were destroyed.
For lunch, we tried some Croatian specialties, including a pasta with beef that was a circular tubes homemade noodle with a delicious tasting sauce. We also had a capon risotto and mussels. Yum!
After lunch we went under the city to visit an archaeological site that archaeologists only found recently (2005 - 2008). The remains are of a metal factory and we learned all about how they made cannon balls and other metal items. The employee gave us a personal tour of the site. He really knew his stuff! I think for the first time in my life I truly understood what each thing in an archaeological site was for. We saw the furnaces, the molds and the casting sand. He taught us about how they conserved the sand and how the put a cannon ball together. The details were so interesting, the tour was certainly worthwhile. We ended the tour with seeing the pottery and other items found in the site. After the tour we got ice cream! It wasn't my favorite flavor but had an amazing texture. We brought our ice cream out of the city walls and ran into a movie filming. They were in the middle of filming Knights Walls and I could even hear the director yelling action and watch the actors in the scene. There were quite a few explosions, both in the water and near the walls of the city. It was very cool to be near the scenes, and I'll have to see the movie when it comes out! We ended the day by walking around the old port. We had a beautiful view of the island and walked by the water. It was a great way to end an amazing week with Nicole and Dan. Because now they took off on a ferry. |
After our goodbyes I went to my hostel for the night. The hostel had an amazing view of the city, so I enjoyed some leftover brandy with a few girls from the hostel while watching the sun set. It was picturesque and lovely.
For a quick sidenote, it's a very interesting time to be in Europe because just a few days ago, a British referendum was voted on to leave the EU, and it passed! Meeting people from England has been interesting because most of them are so upset to be leaving. There has also been a few terror attacks while I've been in Europe, including one in Orlando at a gay club, one in the Istanbul airport and then of course the one in Tel Aviv while I was there. |
For my last day in Croatia, I had met a girl in the hostel who was going to the airport at a similar time, so we decided to spend the morning together. She does so many amazing things, currently she's on her way to teaching English in the Czech Republic. We started very early and went to a natural spring. It was at the top of one of the shortest rivers (fact check anyone?). It was next to an abandoned winery. It was beautiful as there was a waterfall but the source was underground. It was such a peaceful place and wonderful. We drank water from a spout that connected directly to the spring and it tasted so delicious and fresh. Truly natural spring water.
From there, we drove to Lapad and walked down a pedestrian mall with lots of little cafes. We then walked around the waters edge along a trail. I must say, we got along so well! It was so fortunate to have met her! We even stuck our feet in the water because I couldn't resist. There is a famous cave bar that we went into for a coffee and hot chocolate. The cave was so interesting. I loved seeing the bar in there and it was nice and cool. There was a room that you could look both up and down and see cave! It's so hard to explain. It was a great morning and hopefully I'll stay in touch with Sarah! We then headed off to the airport. I'm so excited to see Bettina! Next stop, Budapest!!!! |