Bok! After taking a healthy dose of Dramamine to survive the 12-hour journey, we made it to Dubrovnik, Croatia! There was a wave of surprise in the plane over how beautiful the scenery was at the airport since we were surprised to find there were mountains visible from the plane runway. After going through customs, we then took our bus to our hotel.
Since there was no elevator, we carried our luggage up the stairs. Immediately, I realized that it was totally worth it because of the jaw-dropping view from the hotel window. There was a beautiful, bright blue water beach, and large surrounding mountains scattered with Mediterranean styles homes with orange roofs.
We hit the ground running, only dropping off our luggage at the hotel after our 12-hour journey, before driving down to the old town of Dubrovnik to explore. Our guide, Lidija, insisted we needed to stay awake and go to sleep when the locals did, so jet lag wouldn?t be an issue. On our second day, we went back to the old town, but this time with a tour guide from the city who taught us a lot about the town?s history and culture. One example of a cool landmark we saw was Large Onofrio’s Fountain, which was built to celebrate the city?s amazing water supply system. The water from the fountain was not only safe to drink but delicious! In fact, I?ve found that most water sources in Croatia are safe to drink and that Croatia has very clean water. We visited an Oyster farm, Mali Ston, and learned how oysters are ethically grown and harvested. Farms like this have been in the family for many, many generations.
The third day, we visited the small town of Kor?ula, where we visited a very quaint family-owned restaurant and learned how to make a traditional Makaruni pasta, which was so tasty! Today, we passed through Bosnia on the way to Split, Croatia. We learned a lot about the political history of Bosnia, and how many people are still struggling today. In fact, Bosnia has three presidents for each different ethnic group.
Tomorrow, we are going on an island-hopping cruise. It?s crazy we aren?t even halfway through our trip, but there?s still so much planned, and we are still visiting more companies! I?m learning a lot about Eastern Europe and their way of life. For example, they like to handle every situation with lots of patience and they will never rush. I?m so blessed to be here and can?t wait to see more!
