Croatia

Arriving in Croatia was fabulous. The coastline is absolutely beautiful in contrast to the red tiles on all the roofs, the intrigue of the old walled city, and the giant mountains looming in the background. Joe and I decided to rent a car with our good friends, J.B. & Theresa, which totally made our trip. Having the freedom of our own vehicle was wonderful, and of course – Joe was our official driver and the three of us were happy to be sightseeing passengers.
On the first day we ventured into the walled city – built in the 1600s, which is a fascinating place. We had a beautiful blue-sky day, so we walked around the entire exterior of the walled city on top of the passageways on the outer wall. Joe and I took hundreds of pictures – it was such a beautiful day! (You’ll see the pictures SOON!) Some students decided it would be a good idea to cliff-jump off the cliffs below the city’s walls. Many of them had a great time, however, we learned later on in our trip that one of the students jumped from over 60 feet, hit the water wrong, and broke her back. Scary. Luckily, her spinal cord was not affected, so she was rushed to the hospital and eventually transferred via a medical evacuation plane to a different hospital in Vienna for immediate surgery. One of the RDs, our friend Kate, went with her to Vienna, and she just wrote me and let me know that the student is doing okay. It’s amazing that more stuff like this hasn’t happened on this voyage. I’m just glad the student isn’t paralyzed, although her voyage is over and I’m sure she’ll have permanent physical damage. Scary.
Anyway – after exploring the walled city, we were on a mission to rent a car. Dubrovnik, and the entire coastline of Croatia, is a huge tourist destination in the summer, but it is very serene and quiet in mid-November. Thus, tourism offices are not exactly prepared, nor excited, to deal with tourists. I can relate to this, having lived in Steamboat where the winter and summer are absolutely brimming with tourists, and the mud-season is barren of visitors. I used to relish those months where we had Steamboat back to “ourselves,” so I didn’t blame the Dubrovnik folks who seemed a little off-put by our presence. So, it took us a little while to find a rental car, and once we did – we decided to book the car for the following 4 days, stay on the ship the first night, and venture out early the next morning. And that’s what we did!
The next morning the four of us hopped into our Ford Focus and hit the coastal road. We knew we wanted to find a little villa along the sea, but we didn’t have a solid plan. So we just started driving. What a gorgeous drive!!! After about an hour and a half we arrived in the small town of Orebic on the Plejesac peninsula. We decided to stop and have lunch and check-out one of the tourist agencies to see what was available. The gentleman at the tourist agency was pretty doubtful, at first, that he had anything available by the sea. Then, after making a few phone calls, he directed us toward this house that didn’t have a seaside view from our apartment, but was attached to a home with a large terrace overlooking the sea. We decided to go check it out, and it turned out to be perfect and became our home for the next 3 nights. It was set right on the coastline amidst a grove of orange trees. So perfect! It was also within 5 minutes walk of local markets, so that we could make dinner in our little kitchen, drink wine, and kick back & relax.
This was the first port that truly felt like a vacation. All of the other ports have felt like a mental and physical challenge in some sense – which is good. Croatia didn’t feel that way. It is a tourist destination, and – beyond its recent history – I’m not quite certain why it is a port on Semester at Sea. Particularly in the off-season, it’s not a place that has a whole lot going on, and for the students it’s not easy for them to get around because they are not allowed to rent cars.
It’s hard to believe that Dubrovnik was a war-torn area in the very recent past – the beauty and serenity of the place masks its ugly past. The one aspect of the city that reveals the effects of the war is the tiled roofs. Many roofs have very new tile work, which we’ve been told indicated that those homes or buildings were bombed during the war and had to be re-built. You’ll be able to tell the difference in the pictures… some roofs look very new, while others are clearly worn.
Some highlights of our trip:
1. Croatia is wine country, but – again – since we were visiting in the off-season, most wineries were closed. But that didn’t stop us!! We ventured into one particular winery (that looked closed) and asked if we could do a wine tasting. Not exactly what you’d expect in the states… The gentlemen were more than willing to allow us to have a taste, so the man who spoke the most fluent English led us through the winery, arrived at one particular vat of wine, picked up the hose that was lying on the floor, brushed it off, picked up a glass that was sitting by the vat, brushed it off, and proceeded to pour the wine from the hose into the glass. We all thought this was hilarious, and – wow! – it was good red wine! So, we decided to buy a few bottles. Again, this was a little different in that we were asked – “Do you have any bottles with you?” Stunned, we looked at each other and said, “Well, we have some empty plastic water bottles..?” The gentlemen nodded that this would be a perfect solution, so we got our plastic bottles, he promptly filled them with the wine hose, and we went happily on our way. Pretty funny, huh? This was only one of a few times that we received wine in this manner.
2. Another highlight of our trip was being able to play Bocce Ball in an outdoor, lighted court while we drank our hose-filled wine, ate pizza and french fries, an d laughed the night away. We were certain the Bocce ball court was going to be closed, but were delighted when the not-so-helpful woman behind the counter said, “yes, you can play.” Woo-hoo!
3. Joe and I were itching to go for a hike in the mountain range behind our villa, so we went on a 2-hour hike to the top of the ridge and it was absolutely beautiful! It felt SO GOOD to be out in nature, taking in the fresh crisp air, and d getting our heart rate up after so many countries where we were breathing the intense pollution and humid air. We also ventured on many mini-hikes to old churches (which reminded me of the missions in California), old villages, and a few quaint local towns.
4. At one such old village, Joe happened upon a sign that read, “This site protected by the law.” This intrigued Joe, so he decided to check it out. Lo and behold, we were met by a wonderful woman named Vesna who was very surprised to see us in the off-season. After concluding that we seemed like nice people, she led us on a personal tour of this old, mostly abandoned stone village where only she and one other couple currently live. Wow. Her stories were fascinating. She was originally born in Bosnia, moved to London for much of her young adult life, was a journalist for the BBC, and then – somehow – found herself on the coast of Croatia inquiring about a home in an old broken-down village. And she’s been there ever since! She was definitely – and expectedly – a little quirky, but that only added to the charm of the place. She invited us into her very simple but amazing stone house, and offered us some homemade herb brandy, which she said she gets locally from “the brandy man in the van.”
This is one of the most amazing things about Semester at Sea… that you can end up totally off-the-beaten-path, in a small village with someone like Vesna. On most cruise ships, you are only in a port for 12 to 24 hours, which does not allow for these off-the-beaten-path experiences. I value these moments so much because they really give one a true taste of the people and the culture of a place.

All in all, we thoroughly enjoyed our time in Croatia. I’ll let Joe fill in the blanks with his picture commentary, but this is our story for now. We are currently docked in Gibraltar for a re-fueling session, and we arrive in Cadiz, Spain in the early morning. I can’t believe this will be our last international port!!! Where has the time gone? I’ve already asked some of the crew members if they will hide me in one of the closets so I can stay on the ship for the next voyage. The laughed and said they’re not allowed to do that. WHAT?!
See y’all SOON!!!