Pictures! More from Croatia and Greece!

Dubrovnik, Croatia: Rocky Beaches, Peacock Feathers, Cliff Jumping, Paddle Boarding and More!

Good morning, afternoon, and/or evening everybody! Now here’s where all the good stuff starts. Dubrovnik, Croatia. Unlike the cities we had just come from, we did not feel the need to run around like chicken (chickens?) with our heads cut off looking for historical sites, nor did we feel the need to shower every 5 minutes because of the humidity. Here, we were allowed to admire the beauty and take a little siesta for a few days. After getting off the boat in Croatia, we quickly realized that the bus system was the way to get around. There are two buses that go to the center of the city: 1A and 1B. This is the bus we took almost every day, along with the rest of the city of Dubrovnik. Every bus was crammed with people that did not smell like roses, there was no “max-capacity,” and if you got a seat, you were a lucky lucky dog. The center of the city is also the entrance to what is the largest tourist attraction in Dubrovnik, the Old City. Across the draw bridge and down the marble steps you enter into a part of the city that has preserved the architecture and created a few historical attractions out of what is inside. Filled with tourists, this little Old City has one main drag with enough souvenir shops for visitors to fill an entire bag of luggage with things they “just have to have.” Off the main drag is where you really find the culture. Shops with handmade jewelry, clothes, and art, and people who want nothing more than to share it with you. We walked for a while, observed the shops, and did what any smart Europe traveling American would do, got some ice cream, sat, and people watched. Although this activity never really gets boring, we decided that wasting our Croatian adventure sitting on the steps of an unknown old building was maybe not what our parents had in mind, so we signed up for kayaking. The legacy of Dry Paddle David was continued with fervor…BUT the paddle wasn’t dry all the time. What I’m really trying to say is that when you’re in the back of the kayak, you have a big responsibility, and you get tired faster, kapeesh? With a group of about 20 other boats, the 8 of us grabbed a partner, braved the open sea, and kayaked through the wild waters of the Adriatic to a neighboring island called Lokrum. Alright, if we are being absolutely honest, the waters weren’t that wild and we aren’t really that hard core. We had four guides with us and it was only rough for about 1/3 of the trip. We stopped, ate a provided lunch, snorkeled and headed back to Dubrovnik.

The next day was mildly uneventful in terms of blog reading, but completely exciting and essential from a traveler’s standpoint. We found a beautiful beach secluded from the huge crowds and laid out in the sun all day, met some awesome locals, and some awesome not so locals. We met a guy who used to live in LA, and now he owns a paddle boarding business at the beach where we spent the day. We obviously decided to befriend him and, therefore, got an extremely discounted day full of paddle boarding for all of us. We ate awesome burgers, drank awesome coke out of a glass bottle, and drowned our stresses (if there were any) in the hot sun, salt water, and the slight breeze that grazed by every once in a while to keep us from getting too hot. What I’m trying to say is it was nearly paradise. We walked back to the bus, with a pit-stop for a crepe and got back to our port in time to get ready and head out for dinner and a great night out. We had met a nice kid who was our age that worked at a blown glass shop that day and his name was Davor (NOT pronounced duh-vor). To be honest, he must have told us how to pronounce his name that night about 15 times, but it all seems a little hazy after the wine from dinner and the free beer from our new friends. Anyway, we met up with Davor (make it what you want) and his friends and had a few (free) drinks then headed over the Club Fuego. It seemed as though Semester at Sea had taken over the night life and there was no escaping the party. We decided the night should come to an end around 2:30am, around the same time we also realized that the buses stopped running at 1am. So, instead of taking a nice cab for about 2 dollars (12 kuna) each, we decided it was a good idea to walk back. Luckily, we had safety in numbers with four girls and one guy. But boy was it a LONG walk.

The next day had the potential to be not such an exciting day. Our plan to not plan anything was coming back to bite us in the butt with no ideas. Fortunately, this lack of activity ended soon enough and we decided to hop a quick ferry over to the same island we had docked only a few days before from our kayaks, Lokrum. There was much more to this Island than a simple coastline to observe from our rocking kayaks. On this island, there are peacocks. All pretty feathered and fluffy, I must have taken 100 pictures that day and 70 of them may or may not have been of the peacocks. We arrived on this island and walked among the foliage for a while until we found a “beach.” These quotations are essential, as this was no ordinary beach. There was no sand, seashells, or beach umbrellas. There were slate rocks, barnacles and people lying out as though they were on a sandy sandy beach on the Hawaiian Islands. It turned out to be relatively comfortable, as long as you found nice crevices that matched up with your head and rear. After our time on the “beach,” we walked around the island (aka went searching for more peacocks) and admired the views from the highest point of the island.
The next day we did the touristy stuff. Walked the walls of the city, cliff jumped from a bar built into the rocks, did last minute shopping, and went to the famous restaurant. We walked back to the ship, sad to be leaving but as always excited for the next port. Istanbul next!

Hope you enjoyed the pictures!

Picture captions/descriptions!

So you may be thinking to yourself, "Wow Laura, these pictures are
exquisite, but I don't even know what the hell is going on, nor do I
know where you are!"

Yes, yes, i understand. So I am here to clear things up and provide
some explanations for each of the pictures! For the sake of ease we
will go in chronological order, or, from bottom picture-to top
picture.

Pic1: Welcome to Sitges, Spain! Here is the little city we graced our
presence with for one night! Beautiful beaches, great people and an
awesome night out! Nicole-Sophie-Laura

Pic2: FLAMENCO. Yes, I know, the lady on the left looks like Janice
Dickinson. On this night, we went to a Flamenco night with dinner
provided by SAS. Outstanding dancing, singing and food. Janice Dickinson-Man

Pic3: Our last day in Sitges. We were headed back to Barcelona with
all our bags and stumbled upon a rugby game and decided to take one
last picture in front of our beautiful beach. Nicole-Sophie-Laura

Pic4: The Park Guell This place was an awesome sign and there were mosaics everywhere. This was the place we biked to all up hill in the blistering hot sun. (see blog named, Barcelona! Hola!)

Pic5: We are now out of Spain and on to Italy. Two trains and i few long walks later, we have just arrive in the first town in Cinque Terra called Riomaggiore. Laura-Nicole-Sam-Tifany

Pic 6: After another form of transportation: water taxi, we were finally where we were sleeping for the night in Vernazza. In effort to explore we found countless beautiful viewpoints like this one! Please excuse the shiny faces, it's been a long hot day of traveling and exploring . Nicole-Laura

Pic7: Next morning we woke up in Cinque Terra and hiked back from Vernazza (fourth city) to Riomoaggiore (first city). It was a long hike and once again, blistering hot, but the views were spectacular and it was an awesome time. And we met some more SAS students on the way!

Pic8: ROME! St. Peter's Basilica, this day was full of sightseeing and it was all beautiful!

Pic9: Naples, Italy. Now was this before, or after we got chased by 13 year old boys...ohh right, it was before. That is why we are all so happy and not haggard looking. Went out to dinner this night and watched a beautiful sunset from our restaurant while drinking 3 euro half liters of great house wine. Laura-Nicole-Morgan-Lauren-Paisley-Kelsie

Pic10: Welcome to Pompeii. An awesome historical sight preserved since 79AD when it was nearly ruined by the volcanic eruption of the still active, Mt. Vesuvius. Nicole-Laura

Pic11: The view from the chairlift ride to the tippy top of the city of Capri

Pic12: From the top of the mountain, sitting above the clouds. Mike-Morgan-Emily-Lauren-Nicole-Laura-Jeff

Pic13: Croatia! On our island of Lokrum, just outside of Dubrovnik.

Pic14: The first day in Dubrovnik, looking of the pier. Tiffany-Sophie-Nicole-Laura-Sam-Kristy

Pic15: Kelsie and Laura attemping to Paddle Board. It's harder than it looks but its definitely worth trying if you ever get the chance. Eventually you are suppsed to stand up....we hadn't quite gotten there yet.

Pic16: The Island of Lokrum, these guys were everywhere! I think i may have taken about 100 pictures that day, and about 70 of them are of peacocks.

Pic17: From the boardering city walls of Dubrovnik, this is the view down on to the pier.

Thanks for keeping up with me everyone! I know is been a while but Dubrovnik blog is coming! See ya later!
P.S. shoot me emails too!! i love getting them! alexa117@mail.chapman.edu

Pictures from the TRIP!!! (finally)

Port 3: Naples, Italy

Welcome to the interesting, old, somewhat sketchy town of Naples, Italy. With not a day to rest between our time in the two ports of Italy, we arrived into Naples thankful that we had our very own ticket on a Semester at Sea sponsored trip. Every once in a while, I find these extremely gratifying. No scrounging around for food like poor college students, no questions about where to go next, and no need to locate the most efficient mode of transportation between a train/bus/taxi/shuttle ride to our next destination.
At about what felt like the butt-crack of dawn the next morning, (8am is the new 4am these days), we hopped (like little bunnies) off the boat and got on our bus to the historically preserved and uncharacteristically humorous city of Pompeii. Our tour guides name was Elisa, she was fantastically knowledgeable and had a great sense of humor. Everyone in our group wanted to be her friend…as for me…I wanted her to join my family. In fact, from the back, she looked exactly like Mom, or Jackie, which you may know her as. After the 14th double take, I think I just about got used to it…maybe the Italian accent helped. I was so intrigued the entire time, and simply wanted to hear more about the city that was left in ruins so long ago, yet preserved so well. We were taught about the first “fast food”, the design of homes, writing on the walls, familial history, and even about the neighborhood brothels and how to find them. Elisa called it “sex GPS.” In order to keep this, PG-13, if you want to know more…you will have to email me…or just wait for the pictures.
We returned from our half day in Pompeii, and decided that there was some much needed time for relaxation. We cleaned our gear, took some naps, caught up on blogs, journals, and homework, and took more naps. We decided to have a night out in Naples; a large group of girls took a shuttle to the “pier.” Once again, don’t imagine Santa Monica in the summer, more like old castles, rundown buildings and some water in front of it all, still it was a beautiful sunset under the warm sky and we couldn’t help being thankful for where we were sitting. (I sound like my mom) After dinner of pizza and a 3.50 euro half liter of wine for everyone, for some reason we decided to walk home. This was a good idea…(sense the sarcasm). It was about an hour walk, on which we found a Gelato store with a bar to boot. Drinks were not good, gelato was delish. Upon walking home, we were subjected to a high speed chase by foot. Don’t get too worried, we were being chased by 10 year old boys; it doesn’t sound too bad, but let me tell you, at the time I felt like a big weenie running from little boys.
The next day we had another SAS sponsored trip. This trip has been the most rewarding by far. We took a ferry to the island of Capri which was followed by a bus ride up to the tippity top of the city. The bus ride was exhilarating to say the least, and after 6 near death experiences, 3 close calls, and 8 thrilling switch backs at 40 miles per hour we were at the top. And after a 15 minute chairlift, over the river and through the woods, to an even higher point of the city, we were above the clouds, taking pictures of the little people below. After coming down the mountain we were offered a few options of things to do for the last 4 hours of our time. My group opted to take a boat tour around the island and swim in the Mediterranean Ocean. The warm water and the boat ride was just enough to make it an awesome finish to a great trip. That night, after we returned to Naples, it was time for more dinner and more wine. Our group of 5 girls grew to a mixture of 11 girls and guys which made for a hilarious dinner. We were the only ones in the restaurant and thankfully so. We were obnoxious, loud, and the whole waiting staff loved us so much they gave us free drinks! Lemoncello and Meloncello on the house! The walk home was a little more peaceful this time, no high-speed chase or bad drinks at a gelato bar. Before we knew it we were back and ready for our last day in Italy.
This final day was a perfect finish. We walked the city during the day, shopped around at local stores and had an interesting (understatement) lunch. Lauren and I specifically asked for pasta with “cream” sauce. We were quite excited because we thought we had thoroughly conquered the language barrier with the word “cream.” This obviously was not the case. When our food arrived, we were presented with spaghetti noodles, olive oil, a light garnish of parsley and about 5 shrimp on top. Actually, these shrimp were so small, I may even categorize them in the Krill family. I didn’t even know they came that small, and once I finally got the shell off, a large magnifying glass was needed to see them….and as for chewing…that’s just silly.
Ciao to Italy for now! It was beautiful beyond belief. Croatia next!

When In Rome...

Alright, so I know the title is completely cliché, but to be honest it was the only thing I could think of at the time. So kill me.
Contrary to what the title may imply, stories about my adventures do not begin in the historical landmark known as Rome, or what they call it here, Roma. Instead, we will begin our adventures in a town that most have probably not heard of, nor can many pronounce; unless you have had some outside education on the Italian language. This roaring sub-sub-sub-suburban city is called Civitavecchia. Here, for the sake of ease, I’ll help you out, chiv-eet-uh-vek-ee-yuh. Now, say that really fast, while pretending you’re an attractive metro-sexual Italian man with a great tan……Now, say that really fast 5 times, while pretending you’re an attractive metro-sexual Italian man with a great tan……Ok now stop, don’t give yourself a headache.
As soon as we arrived, it seemed almost everyone on the ship had the same idea. HOP THE FIRST TRAIN TO ROME. Fortunately, my group did not have this idea. We decided to take the “high road”. Basically, we went north instead of south. To an area called Cinque Terra. This area consists of 5 (cinque) cities (terra), all of which are stuffed into rolling mountains on the coast. Similar to what I said about the Sagrada Familia, you will get the right idea if you look it up on Google yet again. We hopped a 3 hour train to a small city called La Spezia, (sketchy) then hopped on a 9 minute train to the southern most city of Cinque Terra called Riomaggiore. After eating at a restaurant that perfectly depicts a “hole in the wall,” we walked our way down to the pier. Now when I say pier, I don’t mean like Santa Monica in the summer with crowds of crazy people and a Ferris wheel. I am more referring to a small inlet of coast line, stuck into a mountain, and carved in to an area that allows people to snorkel, cliff dive, and swim, and a dock for small boats. We snagged our own private water taxi and boated 3 cities north. A magnificent ride, 20 minutes, and about 49 pictures later, we arrived in Vernazza. This is the second most northern city in Cinque Terra. Our first goal: find a place to stay. Without booking a room or researching for hotels, we were banking on the fact that worse comes to worse, we would sleep on the beach. Fortunately, this was not needed. On our second try, we found someone who was willing to rent us a room for 70 euro for a night. At this point, our group was shaved down to four. We got two rooms, each with a king size bed and our own bathroom, and only had to pay 35 euro each. We put our stuff down and immediately left to explore the hills and sights of the city. The views were amazing, the wild flowers were spectacular, and the architecture was one of a kind; built into a nearly vertical mountain where going “further on the path” meant going farther up the mountain. After some swimming off the dock at sunset, the day finished with a shower, a nice dinner, some gelato, and then bed time.
Our task the next day was to hike back to the first city, a slightly more strenuous mode of transportation than the private boat ride on the previous day, but eaqually if not more beautiful and rewarding. And despite the fact that I woke up with my eye looking as though I had gotten socked over night, we still took countless pictures. Just don’t be surprised when you see I am wearing sunglasses in every picture. (don’t worry about my sense of sight, it was only a bug bite and the swelling has since gone down) Anyway…the rugged path ran through all of the cities, and we (did not run) but hiked while following this path and stopping periodically to take pictures, wet our feet in a small stream, or inspect inlets of ocean below the path. Each of us carring large backpacks, we hiked through the cities of Corniglia, Manarola, then finally back to Riomaggiore. Once we arrived in our destination, were what you may call, spent, pooped, tired, or in the native tongue, “Estamos fatigado.” All we had left was another 9 minute train ride and a whopper of a 3 hour train ride back to the ship in Civitacecchia. ETA: 11:30pm
Our DANDY of a night’s sleep was essential for our activities the next few days. I’ll try and mention these with haste as I have already taken up a good chunk of your time with my genius writing. The next two days were filled with ROME. (remember the title? It was only like 3 paragraphs ago) Woke up the next morning to a Semester at Sea sponsored trip. With these trips, we are supplied with transportation, food, free entry, and no lines in to the amazing sights of Rome. We followed a tour guide, who unfortunately sounded as though he didn’t speak a lick of English because his accent was so heavy…not to mention the fact that we had to wear these little ear-bud microphone thingys all day so we could “hear him better”. I’ll just say this, if the volume of his voice was the problem, I would have just gotten closer. But since I was only able to catch ever 6th word or so, I was required me to employ the use of my imagination, which can sometimes be equally as entertaining. On this tour we were able to see the gargantuan spectacles of the Colleseum and the Vatican City. Talk about ancient architecture. And to use the words of Erin Hassen, “these were AMAZING!” We signed off the trip in order to stay the night, walked around Rome for about 2 hours and finally found a place to stay. It was hotty hot hot and muggy mug mug all day so we felt the need to shower before dinner. To give you an idea of the rest of the night: dinner, Italian beer, Italian wine, running around the cobblestones of Rome, and a sketchy club called Mood. The end.
There was more to see in Rome the next day. It was a day of walking and seeing the last of the sights before returning back to our home on water. We walked the city, backpacks packed, and flip-flops on feet and saw the Trevi Fountain, Spanish steps, and the Pantheon. By the end of these sights, to say we were tired would be an extreme understatement and made our way back to the ship. One missed train, a lost souvenir, 6 dirty feet, and 1.40 euro later we were back on the train to Civitavecchia and couldn’t be happier about it. I loved you Rome, but you were exhausting. Next on the list, Southern Italy. Stay Tuned!