Athens Day 3: El Fin

Friday, May 23^rd, 2008: It feels great to be able to sleep in today. Having decided to forgo the rafting trip that some of the students set out on at 6am this morning and instead deciding to walk over to the Temple of Zeus and Olympic Stadium, it allowed me to sleep till 9:30 or so….a much need extra bit of sleep at the end of a long trip.

I met the rest of the group joining me on the walk to the Temple and stadium at about 11 am in the lobby and we made the 15 minute walk over to the Temple of Zeus. The Temple of Zeus is a series of columns, or at least what remains of the many, on a grassy mound in the middle of an open area. The columns were massive and cool to stand close to and put it all into perspective the great architectural and engineering feats that had to of taken place to get these columns erected.

From here we journeyed a little further up the road to the Olympic Stadium, which I found quite fascinating. It sits in a horse shoe shape with one side left open facing the Acropolis. The seats are all marble bleachers and a large Olympic symbol adorns the opposite end from the opening.

Having fully documented our sightings via photograph, we headed back across the park towards the Plaka in search of lunch. One side note here that I keep forgetting to bring up. I am amazed by the large amount of dogs there are wandering the streets of Athens. You see them everywhere, at the Acropolis, around the subway, in the Plaka…it’s a very strange site. Also, many of them appeared to have collars denoting some form of ownership, so do their owners just not care and know their pet will return at some point?

Anyway, we ended up finding a cool little area with many restaurants lining the streets. We pulled up a seat at one of the restaurants, whose menu caught our eye. I went with the pork gyros and a Mythos. I am a little surprised that the gyros again are pork, when I thought they were traditionally lamb…oh well, they were very good. Fully satisfied with our meal, we returned to the hotel to await our next journey, a tour of the Temple Poseidon which sits along the Aegean Sea coastline, about an hour and a half outside of Athens. We met up with the rest of the students that joined us for this portion of the day and soon our tour guide showed up to lead us to our bus and we were on our way.

The ride to the temple was beautiful….well from what I was awake to see. I have gotten to the point where if I sit down for any extended period of time, it is becoming increasingly harder for me to stay awake. The drive took us up the coastline, overlooking some beautiful beaches with crystal blue waters. We finally arrived at the Temple of Poseidon about 2 hours after leaving the hotel due to traffic. The temple was amazing…I feel like I am overusing that word a lot in these entries, but I just cant think of any other words, everything really is very amazing in each of these cities and tours and visits….it has been a great trip, one I will never forget. The Temple stands atop a cliff overlooking the Aegean Sea on an acropolis. It was built in homage to Poseidon and also to act as a fortification to fend off any attacks or attempts to plunder the silver mines that were located just downhill of it. As it turns out, the current structure, or remains of, were not the original ones. The guide pointed out that the original temple was destroyed by the Persians (if any of you have seen the movie 300 you know what I am referring to, if you haven’t you need to go out and rent it NOW as it is a great moving) and then rebuilt years later.

We spent about 45 minutes wandering the grounds and taking in all the sites before boarding the bus again and making the trek home. I’m not sure the 3-4 hours of driving justified the 45 minutes of viewing time, but at least the drive had great views.

After returning home, we headed to our rooms to change and freshen up before heading back to the Plaka for our final meal in Athens.

We found another restaurant in the same area we had been in for lunch and enjoyed another good meal….pork souvlaki and an Alfa for me this time, and then headed home to the hotel to back and say our goodbyes and get to bed early. Tomorrow we leave the hotel at 5:30 am and make the 19 hour trek back home to Phoenix…..not looking forward to it, but it’s a means to an end and I am very much looking to get back home at this point having done everything pretty much that I set out to do on this trip.

Looking back I would have to say Sarajevo was a huge surprise. I had very low expectations for the city and we were all very happy with our time there. Dubrovnik was amazing with its ocean views, city walls, and island tours. I think the island tour and city wall hike were two of my favorite parts of the trip. Athens was another surprise. I was shocked by its massive size and its moderness. It gives almost the same feel of New York City to me….lots of big buildings, tons of people walking the streets and always stuff going on at all hours of the night.

It was a great trip and I had a blast, I learned a lot, and made a bunch of new friends.

Well….that’s it….tomorrow we leave for Phoenix, so this will be my final posting. I hope you all enjoyed reading it, or at least enjoyed having something to do to kill some time at work.

See you all soon!

Mike

Athens Day 2: Tours and Socialization

Thursday, May 22^nd, 2008: Today we departed the hotel and set out on what would prove to be a long day. Today our schedule included a tour of the Archeological History Museum, a visit to the stock exchange, lunch on the roof of another museum, a discussion with a professor from the local university on economics and Athens, and concluding with a cocktail reception at the home of a friend of the professors who is connected to the US Embassy and pretty much with every important thing in the city.

After riding the subway a couple stops and a brief walk, we found ourselves standing in front of the Archeological Museum of Athens, a large building, lined with large columns in the front, that houses many of the artifacts from about every period of history in Athens. We were met again by our tour guide from yesterday, the one that gave us the tour of the Acropolis. She led us through the museum, pointing out a few of the more important pieces and giving some background and facts on what we were seeing and what was going on in Athens during that time period. Some of the more eye catching items included the famous statue of Poseidon standing taught, ready to launch a spear or trident, some extremely large and intricate pots, and a gear box, its use is still unknown to this day, but it shows an extreme advancement in technology for that period of history.

Following the end of our tour, we were given about an hour and 30 minutes to wander around on our own and grab a bite at the café or shop in the gift shop before boarding our bus to head over to the Athens Stock Exchange.

At the stock exchange we were escorted to a conference room and were greeted by one of the exchange employees who would go on to give us a presentation on the market, and also to point out that they had received a bomb threat just about an hour prior to our arrival, but we had nothing to worry about as the search team did not find anything. (so that makes a protest, with police in riot gear and a bomb threat, all in 24 hours). I think we were all a little disappointed by the information given to us during the presentation as it was more on a very high level and much time seem to revolve around explaining what a stock is, how a dividend works, and how the stock market works in general. As MBA students from the prestigious Arizona State University, we all had a pretty good grasp on these items before this meeting so it was more of old hack to most of us. It was also a little disappointing to learn that no actual trading takes place in the building, as this was a brand new building for the market and almost all transactions were done electronically without the use of a physical trading floor.

Our next stop of the day would be a trip to a different museum, whose exact title slips my brain at the moment, where we would have lunch on the roof with a view of the city and the Acropolis. As we pulled up chairs around the tables at the café on the roof, we were happy to feel the cool breeze pass through and also to see a great view of the city. We enjoyed a pretty good lunch and each others’ company (its great to see that everyone has meshed so well on this trip, I really expected by this point to have some little tiffs and disjointment in the group, but everyone seems to still be getting along very well).

Full from lunch and tired from a long day and a long week and a half of go-go-go, we left the museum and walked down the street to our hotel where we were greeted by the professor from the local university and were engaged in a discussion on the state of the Athens economy, international business influence, and the effects of the energy market on Athens. It was a very interesting discussion and I learned a few things about Athens that I was previously unaware of, i.e. Athens is home to many foreign businesses European headquarters, companies like 3M and Coca-Cola.

With the conclusion of the discussion we were given about 2 hours to clean up and get dressed up for the cocktail reception.

Janice, the previously mentioned friend of the professor’s whose last name also eludes me at the moment – must be the lack of sleep, greeted us at the door of her home which was the top floor of a building directly across the street from the US Embassy. We were ushered up the stairs in her home to the roof of the building and were amazed at patio and view. The patio area was all decked out for the party, including a large selection of traditional Greek appetizers, a Greek band, and a group of traditional Greek dancers. Soon after our arrival several other guests began arriving, including several students from the university, a few important Greek public figures, including the head of UNESCO, as well as Janice’s son and daughter. The party was a success as everyone had a great time socializing, drinking some good wine, enjoying some Greek foods, and even joining in on the Greek dancing. We were all very thankful for all Janice had done for us on our stop in Athens as she helped organize and pull some strings on a few aspects as well as the party.

Following the party, we all headed back towards the hotel and found a bar where we could all have at least one more drink together; tomorrow being a free day and it was likely this would be our last chance to be together as a group. We had a great time drinking and sharing our favorites from the trip.

Soon though we all started to call it a night as some had plans that involved an early morning tomorrow, so with that we headed in, said some goodbyes, and called it a night.

Tomorrow, as I mentioned, will be a free day, and a group of us have decided to visit the Temple of Zeus in the morning and tour the Temple of Poseidon in the afternoon, so stay tuned for what should be my final post of the trip tomorrow, I can’t believe its already time to go home, though I am starting to desire seeing my family, girlfriend, and friends, and my bed.

So for now, goodnight.

Mike

Athens Day 1: History and the Plaka

Our first full day in Athens would be spent visiting the Acropolis, Agora and a few other sites, with an afternoon free to roam about as we wished.

Following our complimentary breakfast, which consisted of bread, jam, cereal, bacon, hot dogs, and potatoes and some form of orange Tang, we headed out by foot to the Acropolis where we met our tour guide. The Acropolis is simply stunning. For those of you whom may have taken Greek history too many years ago to remember, the Acropolis (which literally translates to “high city”) houses many historic buildings including the Parthenon, the temple of the Athena Nike, the Erechteion, and a few other massive structures. Unfortunately today, while the structures are still massive and amazing, they are only shells of what they used to be, due to pillagers, weather, earthquakes, and pollution. Many of the columns and statues and such have fallen, and there is much work going on currently to help preserve and restore as much as possible so that they may stand for thousands more years.

From atop the Acropolis you can see pretty much all of Athens, which seems to span for many miles in every direction. You can also see two ancient theaters used for the theatrical performances; this is also the site where Yanni delivered a stunning performance in our recent history. Further off in the distance you can see the Temple of Zeus, the Agora, and the Areios Pagos.

Following the conclusion of our guided tour and few minutes of free wandering, we headed down the hillside, back through the Agora to its entrance where we met with Professor John Camp, who is one of the lead officials on the archeological digs in Athens and has been working on recovering the ancient city for over 20 years. Having been a former professor to our professor he granted us special access to some of the areas that not many people get to see. Our first stop was just outside the Agora gates, alongside the subway tracks, where they had unearthed the remains of a few buildings, one of which served of significant importance as it was basically the office of the “king” who oversaw the religious and judicial matters in the city. Based on historical references in various writings, it is said that Socrates stood in this very building.

Professor Camp then lead us across the street to a site currently under excavation, where they had claimed the current buildings and tore them down so that they could dig down and unearth more of the old Agora. Here they were currently working on digging up a large Stoa, that they believe used to be a sort of “hang out” spot for many of the people and it is further believed that this is where many of the great philosophers came to speak to the people.

We were then led back into the Agora and to the Ancient Agora Museum which was built on the foundation of the Stoa of Attalos and serves as an almost exact replica of it. Today it houses many of the artifacts found within the Agora. Professor Camp again granted us access to a non public area as we got to tour the basement of the museum, which housed many rows and drawers full of all sorts of various items from ancient pots used to carry large amounts of wine, to bones, to rocks containing parts of the Ancient Athens’ laws. It was very interesting and exciting to see all these items that only a handful of people have ever seen.

Before departing, Professor Camp, took us up to the main level of the museum, which was public access and gave us a brief and quick tour through the museum.

Following his departure, we were again left to our own vices for the rest of the day and night, so a few of us decided to walk through the rest of the Agora and up to the Temple of Hephaistos, which is a roman temple still in pretty good shape, though the inside ceiling is completely black from all the pollution in the city, which is very sad to see.

Having seen all that the Agora had to offer we decided to wonder back into the Plaka and view the shops and people. We spent a good couple hours walking throughout it, stopping here or there to look at items and buy a souvenir or two, before deciding that it would probably be a good idea to eat. We decided upon a restaurant we had seen the day before in the square across from the hotel, however, after walking the maze of streets of the Plaka, our sense of direction was off and ended up having to ask for directions….turns out we were not very far and it actually allowed us to view a protest by the students of the university taking place in the street. While we are unsure of their reason, we do know it was something that warranted a bunch of police in riot gear to surround the streets.

We found our restaurant and sat down for a sandwich and a beer….this time I went with Mythos Beer, another local brew, but I think I still prefer Alfa.

After lunch we headed to the hotel for a break and then met up again across the street at the coffee shop where they had free internet access, since the hotel makes you pay 5 euro per 2 hours. After coffee and some checking of the emails, we returned our laptops to our rooms and headed back into the city. A few hours of walking later, it was about 8pm and time for dinner so we found a cool restaurant with seating in the streets and had another great meal. This time around I went with the gyro plate (consisting of pulled pork, pita bread slices, onions, tomatoes, sauce and fried potato slices) and an Alfa. The service was also great, as I have noticed it has been at most of the restaurants here, as the waiters were friendly and even brought us a small shot of some sort of coffee liquor to cap off the meal.

Tired from all the walking and sightseeing, we decided to head back to the hotel, to relax and hang out before calling it a night.

Tomorrow will be a full day of museum tours, a visit to the Athens stock exchange and a cocktail party. So for now, goodnight.

The Journey to Athens

Tuesday, May 20^th, 2008: 3:30 am is no time to be waking up, yet there were up with the 3:30 wake up call, hurrying to stuff everything into overflowing suitcases, make ourselves look presentable enough to be allowed to board a plane, and by 4:30 we were off to Dubrovnik airport, despite the howling wind and rain.

Our arrival at the airport was early enough in the AM that we even beat the workers there and had to wait about 15 minutes or so before someone could check us in for our flights to Zagreb (capital of Croatia – North of Dubrovnik), Vienna (capital of Austria – North of Zagreb) and Athens (south of Dubrovnik in Greece). I know…makes logical sense right to take two 1 hour flights north and then 1 two hour flight south to reach your destination, however it seems this is the only viable option we were presented as Dubrovnik airport is fairly small and didn’t appear to have many flights out each day.

After check in and passing through the standard security check point, we proceeded through our gate and instead of finding a plane on the other side of the door we found a bus. It appears it is such a small airport that they use buses to shuttle the passengers to the planes. The plane ride to Zagreb, Vienna and finally Athens were short and uneventful, with the attempts of sleep disrupted by the distribution of drinks and food items. However, 9 hours and 3 countries after boarding the shuttle at our hotel in Dubrovnik, we found ourselves boarding our shuttle to our hotel in Athens.

The ride into the city was interesting, it became immediately apparent that Athens is a huge sprawling city, bound to a huge cloud of pollution, one that turn the sky a grayish color day and night….this was not really what my mind had conjured when I first thought about the journey here. I guess I expected it to be all historical and such, when in fact it is extremely modern. Despite the difference in expectations and actuality, once off the bus and into the streets it was quite great. The city was bustling with people, shops, street vendors, and motorcycles – ready to mow down any pedestrian willing to tempt fate and step in their paths.

After checking in the Professor took us on a quick walk through the nearby streets and down to the end of the Plaka, the shopping district where every store is basically a one room shop selling anything from t-shirts to furniture. Once orientated, we were set loose into the city to look around, eat or do as we wanted. We found a nearby restaurant and were offered shots of Ouzo (the local drink, a liquor tasting of black licorice) and some fantastic bread and butter/cream cheese spread and olives. I ordered the Lamb skalvokia (spelling?), basically lamb kabob with a side of fried potato and veggies. The food was fantastic, as was the beer, Alfa, which seemed fitting, as Alpha was the term used to designate the President of the fraternity, which I was back in the glory days of Lambda Chi Alpha.

After dinner we walked through the Plaka, did some window shopping and then returned to the hotel to hang out for a little bit, check emails, contact loved ones and let them know we made it to Athens alright, before heading to bed and calling it an early night after a very long day of travel.

Tomorrow we will visit the Acropolis and Agora which I am very much looking forward to seeing up close.

Mike

Dubrovnik, Day 4: Lectures and shopping

Monday, May 19^th, 2008: Our last day in Dubrovnik would be much like our last day in Sarajevo, in that our morning would consists of meetings with local businessmen/women, followed by a free afternoon spent traversing the local shops.

Our meetings today took place at a near by hotel where one of the local heads of Marketing at the local university spoke to us about the city of Dubrovnik and on Croatia as a whole and how they are struggling to create an identity and a plan to become a year round attraction to the tourists, as it currently only has a few months in the summer where tourism is big and it is the major source of income for the city and many of its people. We also heard from the manager of one of the local hotel chains who discussed the hotel industry in the city and how it is a battle with all the cruise ships, who supply many of the tourists but they only come into the city off their boats for a short while, maybe buy a souvenir and then return to their ships. Lastly, we heard from one of the MBA students there, who also worked for Abercrombie & Kent, one of the premier travel agencies around the world. She spoke on the aspects of marketing Dubrovnik as a year round tourist destination and all the challenges that it presents, as she mentioned many people, particularly Americans still view this area as an area recently out of a war and still a hostile environment, which is not really the case at all….not once on this trip so far have I ever felt fear of the area or people.

Following our meetings we were met by the owner of the kayak company that had taken some of the students out a couple days ago. She spoke on the complexities for an American owning a business in Dubrovnik, as she was currently facing many legal problems with the government trying to basically shut her business down.

Following her discussion we were given the rest of the day off, so we decided to get cleaned up and dress a little more comfortable and went back into Old Town. In old town we hit up the pizza joint for a couple slices and then walked around some of the areas we missed in our prior excursions. We also managed to do a little shopping for ourselves, family and friends. Following my disappointment in finding out that the local cravat (a tie, which was invented by the Croatians) store was asking obscene amounts (up to 700 kuna) for a single tie, we decided to head back to the hotel.

At the hotel we decided to take advantage of the great weather and donned swim attire and hit the beach/pool once more for some diving, swimming and all out relaxing. It was a great time and exactly what many of us needed.

We followed this up with dinner at the hotel and then called it a night as tomorrow we would be traveling to Athens, departing Dubrovnik airport at an early 6:30 am!

So for now, goodnight, and I will write you upon arrival in Athens.

Mike

Dubrovnik Day 3: Island Crawl

Sunday, May 18^th, 2008: Today is our free day, no school, no tours, no lectures….free to enjoy Dubrovnik at our leisure and do what we choose. Most of us chose to take an island boat tour.

The tour, for 52 euro, included boat ride to 3 islands (of the 1,158 off the Croatian coast), lunch and wine…..quite the bargain….and because there were enough of us going, 17 total, we got our own boat!

At 9:45 our guide showed up with a shuttle bus and we piled in and headed for the harbor just on the other side of the hill from the hotel. We pulled up to the harbor, jumped out and jumped on the Maria, our boat for the day. Interestingly, the captain built the boat by hand and it was very nicely done, the perfect size for cursing the islands for the day.

Our first stop was Kolocep, a decent size island just to the north of the hotel. As we got off the boat we noticed a palm-frawn covered bar just off the dock. A few of the crew saddled up for a couple drinks, while the rest of us wondered along the harbor to the sand beach in the middle. We tested the water out, but made sure not to go too deep as the water was full of sea urchins and those would surely not feel great on our bare feet. We decided to move along and found a path leading away from the water back to some houses. We ended up coming across a farm with a cherry tree hanging out across the path. We stopped and picked a few and they tasted fantastic. We decided to head back to the bar and grab a couple beers before heading back onto the boat for the next island.

Our island crawl, next took us to Sipan, an island known for its great wine. We hopped off the boat and found the nearest bar, a little place on a platform on the water. We ordered a few beers, some wine and some snacks and toasted to good health and drank up and enjoyed the views and company, even our tour guide joined us. In return for us buying his drinks he arranged a deal for us to buy bottles of wine at a discount. Many of us chose to purchase a bottle or two or three…..I decided against it. We took a walk around the harbor area, took notice of the old architecture, especially the tile shingles which we were told were made by the women of island from laying clay on their thighs to mold it and then laying it out to dry in the sun. So it could also be inferred the attractiveness of the women in the house by looking at the width of the shingles. After finishing our walk, we jumped/stumbled with help, back onto the boat and shoved off for our next stop, Lopud.

Lopud had the most to offer out of the three islands. Not only was it the largest of the three, but it housed a couple old churches, a big garden, and more restaurants/shops. As part of our tour fee, we were given lunch and wine at a restaurant on Lopud. Upon arriving at the restaurant we were greeted with a shot of Rakija, the local spirit – a plum brandy, a traditional way of greeting and welcoming guests into your home or establishment. Burning subsided, we took a seat at the tables overlooking the water and anxiously awaited lunch. It became apparent that we were all about to be served whole cooked fish, scales, head and all, so the vegetarians and non-fish eaters of the group (myself included of course) spoke to the waiter and they kindly agreed to prepare a different meal for us, which turned out to be some chicken in mushroom sauce and fench fries. It was very good, as was the wine, and the fish eaters appeared to really enjoy the fresh fish.

After lunch, a few members decided to go for a swim and went back to the boat and were allowed access to the roof to dive off of into the water. Those not wanting to risk the chilly water walked up the road a little to the ice cream shop and purchased some scoops of the local flavors. From here I decided to break from the group, as I decided it might be nice to have some alone time for the first time on the trip. I walked up the path a ways and found an old house that had been converted to a small church. I went in and paid my respects and noticed a sign referring to a fisherman whose house this used to be along with the house next door that was in much worse shape. I decided to venture next door and found the remains of the home….it was pretty cool, all that remained were the stone walls and some fish hooks and a very over grown yard. After exploring for a little bit, I moved on down the road and came across the entrance to the gardens. It was amazing, as I spent the next hour or so exploring the paths, views and solitude it provided. By the time I had finished exploring it was time to get back on the boat and head back to our harbor.

The ride back, most everyone was exhausted from a long day of drinking and exploring, and all were looking for a nice relaxing ride, but Mother Nature intervened and it became pretty windy and the ride home became one of heavy rocking back and forth with water spraying over from the sides, but everyone made it back safe without any problems.

After a long day, we decided to grab an early dinner and call it an early night. Many of the students decided to head up to the park behind the hotel and dine at a restaurant there, per the recommendation of the front desk. But Trina, Jenn and I, wanting to break away from the group for a bit, decided to explore the coastal walk which was home to a few restaurants along the rocky shoreline. The walk was great and we stopped here and there for various photo opportunities. When we reached the end, where it met up with the main streets, we sat down at one of the restaurants on the water and enjoyed some drinks and some mozzarella as the rest of the food was rather expensive….around 100 kuna for pasta….UGH! After our drinks and appetizer we headed back to the hotel as it began to sprinkle, luckily the path was pretty well covered by trees overhead.

When we got back to the hotel we decided to just grab a bite at the hotel as we had enjoyed the food the night before and it is reasonably priced for the area. We ended up running into our professor in the restaurant and he joined us for dinner. The girls and I all decided we should have one last drink before calling it a night, so after eating our dinner, we decided upon flaming Lamborghini’s, don’t ask me what it contained, just know it involved several steps. First they divided the shot into two and the waitress lit one on fire as she instructed us to quickly insert a straw into the bottom and start drinking, as we neared the end of the shot they poured the rest into the glass and we continued drinking….all in all it was an ok shot, more entertaining then tasteful.

With that we called it a night and went to bed. Monday would be our last real day in Dubrovnik before journeying on to Athens and we wanted to be well rested for it.

Dubrovnik Day 2: Tours and cliff diving

Saturday, May 17^th, 2008: Today we set out to tour Dubrovnik Old Town style, and then we were given the afternoon off to what we pleased.

Our tour began when the bus and guide picked us up at the hotel and he began to explain the history of the city as we made our way to Old Town. He explained to us how the city came to be and how they were able to avoid the plague and other outbreaks through history and become one of the major port cities in all of Europe.

When we arrived into the city gates we were told of how Dubrovnik had one of the first ever orphanages in the world due to all the “a la carte children” in which the father was unknown. We toured the monastery (where we saw some of the fine examples of the great architectural pillars made from limestone), the church (where we were allowed to peek into the gold closet and view many treasures including a piece of wood from the actual cross, bones of a baby that was killed when mistaken for Jesus, and many bone pieces of Saints encased in golden copies of that which they represented), the market, and the palace. After all the tours we were allowed 45 minutes to roam around and grab something to eat if we wanted before meeting again for the second half of the tour.

Me and a group of the students decided to seek out Pupo, a restaurant mentioned in the show Three Sheets (a TV show on HD where the host goes from country to country experiencing the local drinks and culture) where the host Zane Lampry shared drinks with the owner and the owner mentioned that if you come to his restaurant Pupo, and mention the show he will give you 50% off. Unfortunately, it is no easy task to find this place, if it even exists. We found two signs for the restaurant, both saying “follow me” but giving no direction in which to follow. After 20 minutes of searching we gave up and settled for a slice of pizza from Don Corleone’s, it was pretty good and fairly cheap, only 10 kuna (about $2.25).

After our snack we headed to the clock tower where we were instructed to meet and we began our next stretch. We made one more stop at a small museum where a slideshow depicted the destruction of the war on the city where many Dubrovnik citizens were killed defending the city with only shotguns against tanks and rifles.

Next we headed to the city walls which run 2.5 km around the city. It was an amazing, breathtaking walk. The views were amazing and the city was stunning from up on the walls. It is probably the best part of the trip so far, and if you are ever lucky enough to visit here, make it your top priority.

Half way around the wall, half of the students left, as they had made arrangements to take a sunset kayak trip out to Lokrum island. I stayed behind with the other students as I was not up for paddling out to an island and wanted to explore the city a little more.

After the tour we were given an hour and a half to explore the city before the bus departed back for the hotel. We walked around for awhile, ate some more pizza, had some ice cream and were back on our way to the hotel.

At the hotel, many of us still tired from many long days and late nights, decided to hit up the pool/beach at the hotel and relax for the rest of the day. We hit up the near by mini mart, grab some wine and a sixer of Ozjusko, changed into our suits and hit the beach.

The pool extends out onto the near by rocks that hang over the Adriatic sea, so we pulled up some lounge chairs onto the rocks and laid out for awhile. After a short period, I got warm from the sun and decided to test out the waters. I made my way down the steps and jumped in much to everyone’s surprise, as they all thought it too cold to swim. After seeing my enjoyment of the waters, which felt great, they began to join in. We soon noticed the cliff area next to us about 15 feet out of the water, and we began jumping into the water from the cliff. This drew much attention from the other people in the area as many of the other guests gathered around and began taking pictures, even the people in the restaurant above began standing and peering over the edge to watch us perform dives one after another into the water below. We even almost convinced an older couple to join in, but they chickened out at the last minute. All in all it was a great and relaxing afternoon, exactly what we all needed.

After watching the sunset over the nearby island we went up to our rooms to clean up and then returned to the hotel restaurant to sit on the patio and enjoy each other’s company, some good food, and some good wine/beer (OZJUSKO!).

We spent the rest of the night in the lobby with the others that returned from the kayak tour and exchanged stories, checked email and just hung out.

Tomorrow we have an entire free day, and almost all of us have decided to take an island boat tour all day, it should be a lot of fun, so be sure to check back tomorrow.

Night!