Swimming with the fishes in crystal clear water

So day 2. It was pretty interesting. I forgot that we were going to be using tender boats between certain hours and slept through the dock time, so was stuck on the ship until 11. I ended up just waiting until some of my friends got back from trips to head out into the town. We did a tour of the city walls. We walked around and I was taken to a “swimming hole” which was basically a doorway in the city walls that was super shady that led out to rocks sticking out of the city walls that had stairs carved in them so that you could get in/out of the sea. It was awesome. You just jump in off of rocks (like 2-5 ft) and then swim around in the water then scramble up the rocks to get out.

Unfortunately we picked a terrible day for this since it was really windy and the waves were a little high, but we did it anyway. Definitely made it more interesting! Nate jumped in first. The water is so deep that it was dark blue, you can’t really see the bottom, and you definitely don’t touch, which freaked me out a little at first but it’s easier than deep Atlantic water when you can’t even really see your hands underwater. We swam around to the stairs and then this Croatian boy had to show us how to use the handholds and hoist ourselves out of the water. It was really hard with the waves as big as they were! You would go to grab the hand hold and the wave would pull you away, but then you had to make sure that you didn’t get slammed against the rocks (ask Tim Gallo about this, he has a story and will have some scars…). It was SO tiring. We were all panting when we got out!

Nate and I swam that twice before we decided to go and get changed and get some dinner. Three of us walked around until we found a menu we liked with good prices. I really like how all of the little restaurants have outdoor seating and they all have their menus on display so that you can check prices and see if they have stuff you like. It’s so convenient. I wanted traditional food, so we picked a good place. I don’t remember what it was called though; I have to check my camera. I ordered these pork skewers that came with a side of French fries and then had this weird red sauce with it and a radish which made me really happy. Nate ordered civapi per my suggestion since we made them in class. They are just small sausages with round beef and garlic and herbs and Rachel ordered the vegetable risotto, which I had a taste of and it was DELICIOUS! For desert we split palachinke. Wow… it was amazing. I mean I love palacinke with nutella, but these were filled with this ticker chocolaty filling with chunks of hazelnut. I love how Europe uses the hazelnut everywhere. It’s my favorite gelato flavor. But it was delicious!


Unfortunately this was my last traditional Croatian meal. Since everyone spent so much money on food in Spain and Italy, no one wanted to eat out here, everyone usually went back to the ship for meals or their trips arrived just in time for a meal on the ship and it was convenient. I am a little sad that I didn’t have a chance to try other things, but Dubrovnik isn’t a great place for that anyway. It is really tourist oriented. Not US tourist, which is good, but European tourist oriented. Most of the restaurants didn’t serve traditional Croatian food. There were Italian restaurants everywhere! I am hoping that when I’m in Bulgaria, it’s different. (And when I come back to Croatia!)

After eating, we met 2 other people at the theater to see Transformers - in English with Croatian subtitles. We went to the wrong theater first then tried to find the real theater. We walked passed it before someone pointed it out to us. It was just a door in the wall with a movie poster on it, then the guy opened the door and we got our tickets. I then realized that it was an outdoor theater! All of the seats were arranged on a cement terrace type area directed toward a screen. Just like a drive in, only on a small scale! It was awesome watching a movie with Dubrovnik in the background! The movie was OK. I don’t think I would have spent the normal amount in the US for it. The movie was a lot cheaper here AND you could bring whatever you wanted in with you! There were people there with ice cream and everything. It was really nice. So when in Dubrovnik, I recommend seeing a movie at this theater… and I can’t remember the street it was on… oops! After that, we were all tired from the heat, the meal, and the long day, so we went back to the ship.