Zagreb

Zagreb is Croatia's capital and has one of the most amazing atmospheres I have ever felt in a city! There is a main square, trams and busses that run right through the center, food markets, antique markets, museums, galleries, churches, statues, monuments, and of course tons of people (some of the best people watching I've gotten to encounter while abroad). We ate at some great restaurants, my first time at a beer garden! We went to the museum of broken relationships; very interesting to say the least. We visited a very special cemetery, walked trails up a mountain, laid in the grass, drank on the beach, and did cartwheels in the hallway of our hostel :). It was an amazing time! I wish we had more time to explore the city - I'd go back in a heartbeat. 

Split

Split was amazing! After arriving at our hostel Snooze and Booze, which was actually quaint and adorable, we got an amazing tour of Diocletian's Palace (aka his retirement home) which was probably my favorite part of the trip. All of it is preserved, a little restored, and some has been turned into shops and restaurant areas but it still feels so real. The palace is right on the water - so when your walking down the street it feels like a bigger, fancier, Miami meets Italy  with a palace and a mountain to your left and the beach to your right. We ate some great seafood that night but sadly had to leave the next morning early for Zagreb.

Them City Walls

Art history trip number three was walking Dubrovnik's good old city walls early in the morning!

The Elaphite (aka deserted) Islands

Our second field trip for art history was to two of the three Elaphite Islands named Lopud and Koločep. My class took the ferry an hour over to these islands; this would be my second experience with dramamine. Now I was awake but felt like I was drunk and my eyes got all puffy! (made great conditions for climbing up a mountain) We looked at tons of old ruins and reconstructed churches and buildings. If I remember correctly Lopud only had a thousand people living on it - we were only there for an hour so which involved a hike up a ton of stairs, a fifteen minute talk, then the treck back down to the boat. We spent most of the afternoon on Koločep which only had four hundred people living there! This place was like a ghost town! Beautiful, but so small and it looked like it had been stuck in time years and years ago. The only people we saw were two guys on a tractor who drove back and forth down the one road to haul some sand. We saw restaurants none were open, we also saw a really cute fat dog but no owner. It was really strange, but the sun was out and thats all that mattered!

A Castle In Počitelj

We got back on the bus and left sweet Sarajevo around 10am on Sunday. This was my first dramamine experience: I took a little white pill... and woke up three hours later in the middle of no where Mostar for lunch. It kills me that I didn't bring my camera into the restaurant because this would be the first time I ever ate an ENTIRE fish (trout to be exact). And by entire I mean, it came on my plate as the whole fish and I had to pull all the meat from the bones and stare into its eyes while I did it! But to be completely honest it was the best fish I have ever had. If I wasn't so drowsy I probably would've remember my camera or at least my iPhone to document the experience. Anyways, about an hour on the bus after lunch and we arrived in Počitelj to meet our previous Mostar tour guide to show us this beautiful town. This was the first time I ever stepped foot in a Mosque, he taught us about the muslim religion and it was absolutely fascinating. Then we climbed to the top of of a castle tower where we felt like we could see the entire world! A bathroom break later we were back on the bus to Dubrovnik, about two and a half hours later and we were home. What a weekend.

Sarajevo You've Got Soul!

We arrived at The Hotel Saraj, ate dinner, ran around the second and third floors like little kids then passed out. We had a tour of the city with a guide at 9  Saturday morning; it was cold and raining. The tour guide was very nice and didn't take up too much of our time before we were free to roam around. It was an interesting mixture of a city: there were mosques, churches, a shopping center, the downtown local artist shops, clubs, bars, buildings still fallen from the war, stray dogs everywhere, buildings covered in bullet holes, and a huge white cemetery. Due to the war, all of the headstones had death dates within a span of five years from '91-'95. So long ago but still sounds so recent. The lunch we had in Sarajevo was the best so far - Bosnian food is basically anything under the sun... stuffed with meat and sometimes cheese. I love this country! We had the best baklava after too! We went back to the hotel for much needed naps, dinner, then headed out for the night. Soaked and cold to the bone we still  had fun at the club! It was a late night, but a good one.

 my little traveling pup! him and his pack followed me around all day!

The Hotel Saraj

Mostar, BiH

We left for Mostar early in the morning (as most of our trips do) and arrived in the old city about two and a half hours later. We met our tour guide Salir who taught us all about how old this city was and all the thousands of people who have lived there. This city was under six different rules through out its years and so many people came and left their mark on the city that its very diverse. You can see a mosque, a Catholic church, a temple and a greek orthodox church all within this city! It was amazing. We had lunch then exchanged our Euros and Kunas into Marks and shopped! I bought a pair of sunglasses, two scarves and a dress! They have such beautiful linens there. Around 5 at night we got back on the bus and drove to Sarajevo, where we arrived around 9 to The Hotel Saraj.

 Nick purchased a third Reich era passport!