Croatia Has My Heart: Dubrovnik

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The bus ride from Split to Dubrovnik is 120 km. It takes 4 hours. Why? you might ask. BECAUSE IT'S THE MOST BEAUTIFUL DRIVE IN THE HISTORY OF THE WORLD EVER. Kathleen and I didn't get to sit together right off the bat, so she slept while I had my face glued to the window for an hour. At the first stop we were able to move together, so she got the opportunity to see what I couldn't even believe. The drive from Split to Dubrovnik takes you along the Dalmatian coastline on windy roads between mountains and the sea. I'll let that sink in. IT'S REAL. I couldn't even get a picture of it because I didn't want to look away. I sat there furiously typing away on my phone because I wanted to write about it but didn't want to look down at my journal. While I don't have great pictures, this is what I wrote:

"This is not real life. I'm so overcome with emotion I could actually cry right now at the sheer beauty of it. This is officially the most beautiful thing I've ever seen, the most beautiful place I've ever been. I can't take my eyes away. I want to write but I'm afraid I'll miss something. Driving from Split to Dubrovnik on the Croatian coast. Mountains and the sea. I belong here, at the juxtaposition. It's perfect. It's my favorite things. Red roofed villages. Sheer cliff faces. Hiking, climbing, swimming, sailing. I keep having to remind myself to breathe. Nothing has ever taken my breath away like this before. The water is green and sapphire. The mountains are pure grey rocks up above. Do I look left or right? All of the rays coming through the clouds are lighting up the sea in streaks and spots of glaring sun. On a dirt road in a valley surrounded by mountains and lakes and fields of wheat. The sun is turning the mountains pink as it sets in shades. A stripe here, a bowl there. The sun sparkled in the water. It sparkled like stars as we pressed our faces to the window with our jaws to the floor. Awesome in the sense it was meant to be. Something that fills you with awe. Something that's so big and so beautiful that it can only be described in the way you feel about it. Houses with no roofs scattered among the bases of the mountains. The sky is pink. The sun it setting behind the mountains bright orange creating a perfect silhouette. Streaks of orange and pink beneath the wall of clouds cast by the sun. A reflection in the lake of all of it. I need to remember to breathe as I look at the steeple of a church beside a dirt road in front of a pink sky. This is absolutely not real life. It's too much. It's too beautiful. Sprawling valleys for farmland irrigated by canals growing a darker shade of green as night falls. The sky is still light splattered with clouds dark blue and white as if still hanging on to the perfect day while the sun sleeps. The sky is reflected in the irrigation ditches because they're partners in this. Neither of us can speak. There's only writing because this is an experience that is not meant to be said. It can't be summed up with words like "look at that." The turquoise water in each cove was acknowledged with a quick inhale as we flew to the window in disbelief. Lights turn on in the valley villages as we drive away and night falls. I think we're leaving the valley behind to rejoin the sea for the final moments of the day. The red roofs are lost to the night but the stark white houses glow against the hills and the lights are reflected in the water. We wind and wind through villages, each with their own story. But in common with them all is the sea stretching out in front of them and the mountains rising behind. Spectacular. That's the world for this drive, for this country."

So...that happened. At this point you've hopefully paused to buy a plane ticket and rent a car. Glad to have you back.

It was dark when we got to Dubrovnik. We got off the bus and found a bus to our flat. We thankfully got off at the right stop and I took out my handy dandy notebook to figure out directions. A guy our age came up to us and offered to help. He ended up walking us to our flat. SO NICE! So...unlike Hungary. The woman in our AirBnb place was super sweet. We had our own room again and a balcony that looked out onto the harbor. Our second balcony looked north to islands. No big deal.

We slept really well and got up really early. It took us forever to find a shop to get food, but we found it and made breakfast. Then we ventured into town. Fun fact: Dubrovnik is made up entirely of stairs. ALL OF THE STAIRS. We found a little market and then headed towards Old Town. Except it took us forever to get there because of adventures. Bummer. Our first adventure happened when we saw stairs going down into nothing. Naturally we went down them and ended up scrambling down what was barely a trail onto some rocks. We found a BEAUTIFUL rock beach. Unfortunately we couldn't get all the way down because we wouldn't be able to get back up again. But we hung out there for a while. When we were back on track, we found another place to explore. I think we stumbled on a homeless person's camp. Oops. We stopped for an espresso and then FINALLY made it to Old Town.

Old Town was....touristy. BUT ALSO KINGS LANDING. There were people everywhere and everything cost money. Kathleen and I wandered the streets, went into some churches, and enjoyed some street music. We played "guess where the tourist is from" and heard wayyyyy too much English for our comfort. Finally it was time for lunch. Our AirBnb lady had told us about a decently priced seafood place on the harbor, so we went.

I know I'm saying everything was the best ever. But seriously. This seafood? BEST. EVER. We ordered mussels in a garlic white wine sauce and grilled calamari. The calamari came as the whole squid, and you had to pull the bone out, but then it was CREAMY. I've never tasted calamari like that before. We still talk about it to this day.

After lunch we went to a place that Taylor and Kaely had recommended that said "Cold drinks with a great view." What could go wrong? We sat on the side of a cliff at a table and enjoyed our cold drinks and great view. Then we wandered around the city forever until we were done. More laundry, cool alleyways, lots of cats. Loved it.

After Old Town, it was time for a hike! On this Holy Saturday I was a good Catholic (spoiler alert: not Catholic), and we hiked the hill that rises behind Dubrovnik. After it took us forever to find the trail head. Unmarked. Europe. At each switchback was a station of the cross. It was really cool. The view was amazing of the city and islands and sea. At the top were cows and goats (?). We hiked down as dusk was falling. We stopped at the grocery store for dinner food and snacks for tomorrow, and then we went to the bus station to get our tickets. We got our tickets for the 8:00 am bus no problem. To hike back to the flat (which is APPARENTLY in the highest neighborhood in the whole freaking city) we had to hike up ALL of the stairs. I almost died. We made it JUST in time for sunset. I quickly snapped some pictures. GORGEOUS. Kathleen made dinner while I lay on the floor with my feet on the couch. Old waitressing trick. We ate dinner, researched Croatian history like the nerds we are, and went to bed early.

The next morning we woke up wicked early, had breakfast, and went down to the bus station. Going down all of the stairs isn't nearly as difficult as going up all of the stairs. We got to the bus stop at 7:45. Then 7:55 came. Then 8:05. No bus. I went to the ticket window at 8:10 and asked the woman where the bus was. "I don't know," she said. So we went into the station and waited. She eventually came out and had me come to the window. Apparently on this lovely Easter Sunday, this bus company just decided not to run the 8:00 bus, so we had to pay 2 extra Kuna for a 10:00 bus and wait for that. This is delayed bus #2 in Croatia.

Next Stop: Zagreb

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Comments

[Erin Nelson]

Dubrovnik
Hey Kate! I love reading your entries and your travels throughout Europe. I have been to Dubrovnik it is awesome!! When we were there the water was SO BLUE and so TURQOUISE it was amazing! My family and I hiked the wall around the city and like you, I took a million pictures they are somewhere in my stuff of crap all over the place. ON a CD somewhere. But yes i agree Dubrovnik was amazing!