An overabundance of tourists...

"Anyone who needs more than one suitcase is a tourist, not a traveler."

- Ira Levin, Rosemary's Baby

So for the last 3 days of my vacation I was once again in Croatia, this time in Dubrovnik.  I was so proud of myself this trip, I only took my backpack and my purse along.  However after a 13 days in 70-80 degree heat I was not so proud.  Thanks goodness I had bought lavender in Split otherwise I am pretty sure I would have killed some people by the smell of my bag.  Dubrovnik is a medieval walled city.  For many years Dubrovnik was a free state, until it was taken over by the Austro-Hungarian Empire in 1815.  After WWI, the city joined Yugoslavia and now is part of Croatia.  During the war in the '90s Dubrovnik was under siege for 7 months.  The old town is completely surrounded by a wall.  The wall is 2 km long and varies from four to six meters thick.    

Dubrovnik, like split, is a stunning mix of white stone and orange roofs.  

 There are two cafes on the cliffs outside of the wall. The first night in Dubrovnik I met up with two of the other people who had been on the tour and we went to enjoy the sunset.

I messed up the day that we arrived in Dubrovnik so for the first night I did not have hostel reservations.  So I had to run all over the city trying to find a hostel to stay in.  I finally found one, unfortunately it was at the top of about 40 flights of steps.

 My first morning in Split, I had to check out of my hostel at 10:00 but could not check into the next hostel until 1:00.  So I walked around the city with all of my stuff, in 80 degree heat, until I found a shaded park bench to sit on and read.  

This is the Pile Gate.  One of only three gates into the city.  

 And again I couldn't get enough of the adorable tiny alleyways with the laundry lines and colorful shutters.  

After I deposited my stuff in my new hostel I took the cable car up to the top of Srd Hill.  On top of the hill is an old military fortress.  

 The opposite side of the hill was equally as beautiful as the sea side.  

 Inside the old fortress is a museum on the '90s war.  

 This fountain was important during Medieval times because whenever someone entered the city they had to wash to make sure no one brought disease into the city.  

There is a legend that if a man is able to balance on this stone, take his shirt off, and put it back on, then he will meet the love of his life.  While I was there I only saw one person succeed, an 8 year old boy.  

 On my second night in Dubrovnik Robyn and I climbed the wall and walked around the perimeter.  

 I want to be this man someday, just in my rowboat on the Adriatic.  

Orange roofs in the sunlight is quite possibly the most beautiful thing I will ever seen.  

 These guys were cliff diving near one of the wall bars.  

 At one point Robyn looked over the wall and said, "is that Andy?" and it was.  He was laying on the rocks near the other wall bar.  

 This is the water in the harbor.  Usually harbors have the most disgusting water ever, this one however was perfectly clear.  

 Someday I will be able to afford to come back and eat at this restaurant. 

On my final day in Dubrovnik Robyn and I took a ferry to the island of Lokrum which is a nature preserve.  The island has the ruins of a monastery. According to legend, Richard the Lionheart was shipwrecked on the island in 1192 on his way home from the crusades.

 The island also has an extremely large population of peacocks.

 The island has a salt lake named the dead sea.  Original, I know. 

 Only in Europe would you have a no smoking sign with a pipe on it.  

 For most of the day Robyn and I just sunbathed on the rocks and read books.  It was very peaceful until these boys pulled this crab up from between the rocks.  

I left Dubrovnik at 9:00 PM and flew to Zagreb, the capitol of Croatia, and then I had a 10 hour layover.  When I first planned this trip I thought that it would be no big deal to spend the night in the airport.  It turned out however to be one of the longest scariest nights of my life.  I was the only person in the entire airport from 1:30 to 4:30.  I definitely almost started crying at one point, I was terrified.  But thankfully I survived the night and arrived back in Copenhagen on the 17th.  

 So my time in Copenhagen has come to an end.  Tomorrow my flight leaves at 2:50 PM and by 9:00 PM I will be back in Wisconsin! I can't believe how fast the last 10 months have gone.  This past year has been amazing, more than I could have ever hoped for.  I have made what I am sure are life-long friends and traveled to way more places than I ever imagined.  Throughout the year I often forgot where I was and had to remind myself that I was living in Europe! Never in a million years did I think that this year I would eat blini in St. Petersburg, go dog sledding above the Arctic Circle in Finland, go white water rafting in Sarajevo, or walk around the Colosseum in Rome.  While I am sure there are many more things to come in my life, this year is going to be hard to pass.  There is only one more thing left to say:

Mom and Dad,