Croatia

Croatia was definitely my favorite port to date. By no means was it more fun, beautiful or interesting than the other two ports we have been to, but there was something just really captivating about it. I was told by a few people that Dubrovnik would amaze me but because it’s not as well-known as the other ports, I was skeptical. By the end of the first day, my sources were proved right.

On the first day, we stepped out into blistering temperatures and made our way through Dubrovnik to the Old Town, inside the walls. It is a really nice, stone-street town with tons of different types of architecture and street performers everywhere. Everyone was really nice, and we took most of the day just walking around, taking in all the views.

Speaking of the views, the ocean and the orange roofs of Dubrovnik were breathtaking from almost every angle. There were great cliff jumping spots and cliff side bars, as well as big sandy beaches where you can kayak, windsurf, wakeboard or anything else. The nightlife was limited, but still fun. There were clubs in the Old Town that were a lot of fun, and even though Semester at Sea pretty much dominated them, it was really cool.

The highlight of the whole trip to Dubrovnik for me was the third day, when a group of us paid for a three-island snorkeling tour on a private boat. We hopped on early in the morning and got to go to a cove with some awesome underwater caves. We spent a couple hours exploring the reef and the caves. Second, we went to an island with a nice beach for a long lunch and just spent some time playing in the water and taking naps on the beach. On the way back, we stopped at one more huge underwater cave and snorkeled there and we also got to do a cool cliff jump. It wasn’t very high, but if you include the treacherous climb up and the distance you had to jump away from the cliff to avoid hitting the rocks, it was pretty sweet!

Overall, Dubrovnik is the one I’m definitely looking forward to revisiting the most (so far). I could see myself spending a significant amount of time there and I think it’s because as opposed to Spain and Italy, there aren’t as many people (locals and tourists alike) and only one big thing to see (the walls). So when you have done that, you get a real relaxing vacation in a legitimate European country. Greece is coming soon, then Bulgaria, Turkey and Morocco! Stay tuned for Athens and Mykonos in a couple days!