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!
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