Croatia & Montenegro

Back again but this time from probably the best trip I've taken all semester. Dino and I traveled to Croatia and Montenegro. We went first to Split (Croatia), then Dubrovnik (Croatia), next up was Budva & Bar (Montenegro), Podgorica (Montenegro), and lastly Tragori (Croatia). The travels through Croatia were very touristy and we barely saw any of the real lifestyles but we stayed with Dino's extended family in Montenegro and got a real-life Montenegrian experience.

Leaving Copenhagen (on Friday the 23rd) was a disaster. Our flight (with Sterling.. who SUCK!) was delayed and we didn't end up getting to Split until 3:00am! Our ride who was supposed to pick us up around 10pm couldn't stay that long so we had to call a taxi which took another 45 minutes and $70 before we got to our hotel by 4:30am. Running on no sleep we were off to discover Split in the one day we had there. Luckily Split can easily be covered in a day if you only do the basics--mainly the "Old Town". As I would later find out, most cities have the old part of their city still intact. Old city of Split on the Dalmatian coast is centred on the Roman era palace of Diocletian, built in 300 AD! I couldn't believe it was that old and still had modern shops and trading going on inside of it. We walked along by the water and the harbor as well, all very beautiful. I loved the mix of old historically rich city with the blue water and mountains in the background. We walked all around and found the soccer stadium. It was closed but we peeked inside... very nice but Dino appreciated it much, much more than I did. Near the stadium we walked down to the shoreline and hung out by the water for a bit. It was so quiet and peaceful and I just can't believe that everyone in the entire world wasn't at this amazing spot! After a quick nap and dinner we were off to see the metropolitan center near our hotel. It was probably the most American shopping experience I've had this semester. A big mall, open late, and the grocery stores had more than 12 things to pick from. Later that night we watched the Eurovision Song Contest. I had never seen it before and it was pretty interesting to see all of the politics involved behind the voting.

The next morning we had an early wake up to meet Dino's family friend, Edi. Edi was going to take us to the bus station to catch our bus to Dubrovnik. He took us out for coffee and seemed to be a really nice guy. He spoke very little English to me that day (we met him on our last day too where he spoke almost all in English) but seemed to be chatting Dinos ear off in Bosnian. Our bus trip to Dubrovnik was 5 hours long and TERRIFYING! In case you don't know, I have a deep rooted fear of being a passenger in pretty much any vehicle. This doesn't sit well when the vehicle is an South-Eastern European tour bus and your driving on a mountain. Pretty much the entire drive was curves and there was hardly any room (I mean inches) between the edge of the road and a deadly drop. I was a mental wreck after about an hour of the ride, gripping the seat and Dino's hand. We stopped off in Bosnia for a break, which was well needed. My only time in Bosnia it would turn out. We had tentatively planned on going to Sarajevo (capital of Bosnia and where Dino is from) but the roads and buses are apparently even worse there and it was going to be 38 degrees (100 degrees Fahrenheit).

In Dubrovnik we had a really nice apartment/room in a sweet little old lady's house. Her name was Marija and I think she was really glad to have some young blood around. Again we didn't have all that much time in Dubrovnik (a day and a half) so we had to cover ground quickly. I think we made good work of it though. That afternoon we went to the Old City of Dubrovnik which was surrounded by fortresses and completely walled in. It was quite a bit bigger than the old city in Split. It was built around 600 AD as a place where the Greeks could seek refuge from the Slavs. The interior was the same concept as in Split--modern shops, restaurants, and even hotels. The harbor was nice and looked up to the mountains. The coolest thing was that we could pay to walk along the top of the city walls. It was a bit scary because it was pretty high up but you could get a view of the entire city (both old and new), as well as the water and mountains. It is a long walk though. Very long. That night we walked along through the Old City and into the modern day town. We ate at this little sandwich place that had HUGE burgers and chicken sandwiches for only 20 Croatian Kuna (around $4). Then we walked back and had a beer at a bar in the Old City. It was clearly all Croatian guys in there (absolutely no women) so we got a few strange looks but it was cool to feel the real Croatian atmosphere. They were all singing Croatian songs loudly together and watching sports. We got our next beers to go and walked to the harbor and sat there for quite awhile.

The next day was beach day! Of course, one of my favorite kinds of days. We went to the beach right outside of the Old City (the one in most photographs and postcards of the place). I guess there's not all that much to say about a day at the beach. The most beautiful beach I've ever been to in my life with crystal clear blue water and sun all on one beach. We did a lot of laying and swimming. They have rock beaches down on the Dalmatia coast though, which hurt like hell. That night we had to catch a bus to Montenegro. The bus ride, again, was pure torture for me. The bus driver was going 90km/hr in a 70km/hr zone, talking on the cell phone, smoking, and chit chatting with passengers. Oh yeah AND changing the radio station too. I was freaked out. When we got there, his uncle picked us up and we went into the city of Budva with him and his girlfriend. His uncle has THREE girlfriends!! Supposedly they don't know about each other but seriously how could you not?? Either way, we went to the old city of Budva (of course there was an old city!) and then to the energetic side of town with a lot of music, food, restaurants, and people. Dino and I were dead tired so we didn't stay all that long. We drove to their summer homes right outside of Bar. Dino's family is rebuilding their summer house and three of his aunts/uncles have their summer houses right in the same neighborhood. We stayed at his uncles (who has apartments for people to rent and he let us stay for free)



The first day in the summer house town (called ''Dobra Vode'' or... good water) was a hot one. Temperature ranging in the 90s so it was nice to have a beach to go to. In the morning we ate breakfast, met his grandpa, and then walked around the neighborhood. Dino's grandpa seems like a nice guy, although again I couldn't really tell because of the language thing. By 10:00 we were on the beach.



Dino took me for a walk around the beach and pointed out all of the changes from over the years they've been spending their summers there. From a quaint private area it's now quickly turning into a tourist attraction. Sad to hear how much things change just in the name of making money. But I guess it is understandable--either they have private beauty and no tourist revenue (large sorce of income in the area) or they share it with other people and turn a profit at the same time.



It was nuts to see how much construction work they were doing. It is an upcoming tourist area so it's not surprising, but it was so hot I couldn't imagine having to wake up and do manual labor for the entire day. Plus their ways of construction were way different than I'm used to. Although I'm no construction expert, it looked like they were building anything everywhere. A lot of cement and fights over electricity, sand, and water pressure.



We ended up staying the whole day at the beach, until 7pm and it was still ''beach weather''. We went back, ate dinner, showered, and went out to a little town called Ulcinj. My shower was OUTSIDE!! The house is under construction and the power was out so we had to shower (with bathing suits on.. of course) from a hose. It was probably one of the coolest things we did because 1) I was showering outside and 2) there was a mountain sunset in the background. Ulcinj was nice..of course, there was an old city but a lively nightlife to go along with it. I was told typical natives walk the strip on a typical summer night. The strip was in fact covered with locals and there was an outdoor soccer game going on down at the sand part of the beach.



The next day we were moving on to yet another city--the capital city of Montenegro--Podgorica. We were going to meet the last of Dino's extended family. First, we stopped at a little store to pick up a few gifts. He has three young cousins that live there permanatly--Edi (3 yrs), Lara (6 yrs) and Eni (10 yrs). We ended up deciding to spoil them a little bit and picked up a big toy truck for Edi and Barbies for the girls. Along with chocolate, Pez, and lip glosses as well. We took an old communist train into Podgorica, it was a little eerie to be in such an old, historic, and still working train. We were greeted by his uncle and cousin Lara and then driven to his grandparents house to meet the rest of the family. The city seems under construction and just driving around was quite a sight. More laborers and construction, poor neighborhoods, and gypsies. Giving the gifts didn't start off too good... Edi started to cry when we gave him the truck because apparently he had just seen a snake get ran over by a truck. Lara was unimpressed by her gifts as well. We spent a lot of time out on the balcony talking and visiting, a little hard for me to join in with but it was interesting to see the family dynamics. His grandparents have had their house since at least his mom was growing up, his grandpa built the house himself.

That night we took the two girls out in the city. At first it was going horribly. We tried a walk through a park, offering anything from ice cream to pizza to toys for the girls to talk to either one of us. I couldn't figure out why they were being so quiet and then Dino told me a nice little story about how much Lara hated his brothers old girlfriend and doesn't like when girls take her cousins away. I was losing hope fast, to the point that Dino even had to call his mom to see what was up! Awhile later for some reason we got on the subject of putting make-up on Dino. I guess that was the answer because after that they couldn't stop talking. Lara ended up really taking a liking to me and I don't think she stopped talking or let my hand go for more than 2 minutes the whole night. Keep in mind she speaks Bosnian so I didn't know what the heck she was saying but she didn't care. Dino could help us but then she wanted to start telling me SECRETS! When we got back the adults thought it was so funny and kept telling her that I didn't know what she was saying. In the city we had seen the famous bridge, the center square with a fountain, and had ice cream at a cafe. We had done a lot of bonding on picking out dresses and make up for Dino. Those girls just adore him, it was so cute to see how much they look up to their cousin. (I think he has a weakness for us girls too)

Our last full day was spent by a river in Podgorica. It was sooo hot I couldn't go another day without air conditioning or water. The water was freezing but I jumped in anyways. It was me, Dino, and Lara that went and she kept taunting us to go in. It felt like I was doing a polar plunge it was so cold. We also saw a cool waterfall and sheep being herded. Who knew sheep really got herded in real life?? That night we met Dino's uncle and (another) girlfriend in the city--walked around and had a soda at ''Cafe Trendy''. Some workers tried to rip me off by selling me a water for 6 euro ($9), luckily Dino heard them and saved me.

The next day was all traveling. We were out the door by 8am and drove with his uncle to Dubrovnik. We had 2 minutes to spare to catch the bus to Split and arrived there around 7pm. Edi (family friend) picked us up there and suddenly couldn't stop speaking English! Of course I loved having someone to communicate with after a full week of only being able to talk to one person really. He's a really interesting guy and very nice to both of us. He has two degrees from universities and has lived a lot of places in Croatia. We met his family and saw his house too--the home was a modest apartment but very nice and his family reminded me of an All-American one. After that we still had awhile before our flight so he took us to Trogir, a small city near Split. It had the same historical harbor city feel but much quieter than cities like Split or Dubrovnik. Not too much time to stick around there because we had a plane back to Copenhagen. All was fine on the flight home.

Overall impressions (not already talked about):
**It seemed like even though people may not have as much as people in other parts of the world, it seemed like they were more generous and wanting to make sure everyone was taken care of. It seems like in US people are more concerned with getting ahead personally. Not necessarily even by taking from other people, but just not going above and beyond doing their share.

**You can really tell that money plays a big part in a countries development. We saw gypsies, actual gypsies, in Podgorica. People that lived in shacks made of tin and scraps of garbage and didn't have enough money for a car so instead used horses and flat beds as their form of transportation. Roads were much less safe than any regulations would ever allow in the US--maybe because of lawsuits? Or do we just have all of the basic needs taken care of that we can concentrate our resources on improving safety? Health issues too--It wasn't unusual to see missing teeth or hear stories of people who needed medical care but those services can cost a large percentage of a family's income so are gone without a lot of time. It's weird to see that lifestyle when in other parts of the world people aren't happy unless they have their weekly teeth whitening appointments or cosmetic surgery.

**The human body must be really adaptable because it was so hot there (100+ degrees and humid) and I thought I was going to die. Natives were wearing jeans and working construction! I could barely leave a dark room sometimes and they were actually doing physical activity outdoors. But they do eat really fatty foods which I think they need to be able to not sweat to death.

**I think maybe it's human nature to never be satisfied. As soon as we came back to Copenhagen, we were on the metro and these little punk boys were drunk and broke the door. We were delayed 10+ minutes and they just laughed and left. Danish kids especially have it pretty darn good. A social welfare system that provides health care, dental care, and they are allowed to do pretty much anything and everything yet still abuse it. I sorta can't blame them though. They don't know any better so of course they will not appreciate anything but just think that of course they will have all of that stuff.

**My favorite foods were cevapcici (sausages), these krem stopi things (wafers with chocolate inside), and the Bake Rolls.

**Best descriptive words for the area (thank you Dino): ''Wild Beauty''

.......thats all I can think of for now, might add more later as time goes by.....