Dubrovnik: The Finale

Remember that time I went to Croatia TWO MONTHS AGO and it took me two months to blog about it?  Me too.  I'm here now, ready to finish up with some pics and a poem.  I will say that Clark was supposed to write a guest post, and I'm still hopeful, but...it's not going to happen anytime soon.  Sorry pals.

The rest of the highlights include taking a funicular up the mountain for amazing views, trekking up the steep steps for some delicious meat dishes at Lady Pi-pi, a strenuous sea kayaking trip around the island off the coast of Dubrovnik, sitting on the cliffs outside the wall having a drink, lots of rose wine on the terrace, and an emotional dinner where we all started talking about...each other basically.  And what we all meant to each other.  So that was really nice.  

This trip was one of the best of my life, and it was with some of the funniest/best/lovliest people.  We never ran out of things to talk about in 7 full days, and we happily made fun of each other all the while. It was just...a really good group, and a really good trip.  And we're hopefully doing another one next summer, and forever, until we die.  Or something.

Anyway, here are some pics.

Another pretty pic off the wall.  You can kinda see the tiny kayaks over in the corner; that's where we took off from.

View from Mount Srd!

Mountain pic

Who's that laadddyyyy

Cutie relaxing with beers and fries.

Headed down.

More views of the wall.

Walking to Buza Bar along the inside wall.

Sunset on the cliffs.

Sunset drinks.

Panoramic pic!

Mere and Kathleen and Clark came and had a beer while Drew and I swam.

Cool shot.  Photo credit: Clark Baker.  As are most of these shots, I think.

Matching in nautical stripes!  

Terrace time!

Not sure what's going on here but I like it.

MEAT!!!

One of very few pics we have at our fancy going-away dinner.  Meredith clearly liked her fan.

The last shitty pic of all of us together.  Happiness.

And last but not least: the poem.  Clark worked on this poem from the minute we got there, incorporating every inside joke we laughed about and making it cleverly rhyme at the same time.  He's pretty talented, that one.  Only one line has been omitted as it was inappropriate and was about me and Drew.  So here it is - enjoy!

Ode to Croatia

By Clark Baker/Claud Barker

To vees as deep as our knees
Sea bees that attack with ease
Modular backpacks please don't tease
Long Island ice teas that give you herpes
Croats on boats touring the island of Vis
Shrimpees that must bid adieu to families
Tank top tees featuring dangerous sharkees
Beaches where women expose their boobies, releasing the hounds in the warm summer breeze
And crystal clear seas in which I must pees

To goofing on Mere, shooting grape seeds in hair
Hot island air that makes one sweat like a bear
Fat Macklemore with skin so fair, the sun beating down on his shoulders so bare
Yacht week bros who don't even care, smooching our babes as they perch on a stair

And drivers who act like theres no time to spare, rocketing round corners as we fly through the air

To bountiful plenties of namaste and cleansing your shakra with ohms you must say

Millions of generations and the bricks that they lay to build up the city so invaders can't slay

Irregular poops and their formidable bouquet, Evan's GI is definitely cray

Rick Steve's holding a book as he sprints away, roasting on the wall like an overcooked filet

Scottish dopes and their kayaks that sway, knocking us around and leading others astray 

And alley cats with which I must play, running through streets as others smack them away

To Drew and Lauren "who you ALSO know...", and Kathleen who always whines about air flow 

To Evan and Drew and their bald spots that grow, slathering on sunscreen as white as snow

To Mere's Instagraming and the photos she must show, to her parents whose likes are anything but slow

To me and the wall that I went up an average Joe, but came down a Captain with a hat in tow

And a final important adage so awake from your comedy daze:

"Enjoy the rest of your birthdays"

Dubrovnik: Part 1

I haven't posted in well over a week - though I'm still feeling pressure about the amount of pictures I have and the stories I'm supposed to be telling that I can't remember or I've deemed inappropriate and I've worked late a lot of nights this week and haven't had TIME to gather my thoughts.  So I'm sorry!  I'll hopefully get caught up on Croatia and post about Amsterdam before we head to Munich for Oktoberfest this weekend!  

So anyways, we had a harrowing drive to Dubrovnik and arrived relaxed in our apartment building on the terrace and had dinner somewhere that I can't remember.  And let me tell you...it was HOT.  Hot hot hot hot hot as hell.

There are lots of "touristy" things to do in Dubrovnik and we decided to knock them all out the first full day we had there so we could chill the rest of the time.  These touristy activities included touring Walls of Dubrovnik, the defensive stone walls that have protected the city since the 7th century(!) which are now a UNESCO World Heritage Site, as well as a funicular that goes up the mountain overlooking the city (but more on that in another post).

Drew and I have acquired several Rick Steves books about Europe throughout our time here, and he always includes great "walking tours" in his books to help you explore the city yourself.  Drew took it upon himself to act as our own personal Rick Steves as we walked around the streets of the Old Town, learning about the history of the city.  Here are some pics of our tour and of the wall.

Drew reading about the history of the main square to the group in a patch of shade.

Screenin' it up.

As I mentioned, it was SO. HOT. in the city.  And this was one way Clark chose to cool down. 

And this is how Drew chose to cool down.  (Sticking his head in a fountain.)

And this is how we tried (and failed) to cool down.

Fans are manly too, guys.

I feel a little guilty for not including a ton of history about the city, but it's so vast and so much that I'm just not sure I can.  Just know that it's been around since the 7th century, was under the rule of the Byzantine Empire, then Venice, then became it's own republic and had huge success with maritime trading, then there was a huge earthquake in 1667 that destroyed everything, and then they got everything back up and running only for Napoleon to take over, then the Hapsburgs took over, then they fell after WWI, then they were free at some points in between all this, and then after WWII Italy/Germany gained control, they became part of communist Yugoslavia, and then Yugoslavia broke up in 1991 and they had horrible civil wars not so long ago.  Whew.  That was exhausting.  

And with our city tour complete, we scaled the walls.  Rick Steves warned us that the walls get UNBELIEVABLY HOT, like even hotter than down in the city, and that the worst time of day to go was around noon.  So when did we decide to go?  High noon!  The walls are tall (close to 80 feet at some places), have lots of stairs, are almost 2 miles long, and....hot.  It was pretty touch-and-go there for awhile but we thankfully made it - because if you brave the walls, you reward yourself with some spectacular views.

One big happy sweaty family.

We stopped at a gift shop on the wall where Drew stuck napkins to his forehead to absorb the sweat.

Cannon pic.

Clark acquired this Captain's hat on the wall and didn't take it off the rest of the trip.

This was Buza II, a really amazing bar/swim area on the outside of the wall.  We came here a lot for the Croatian beer and the people watching.  Lots of gorgeous water and cliff divers!

And this is Buza I, another bar/swimming point that we frequented and swam at.  

We made it!  Celebratory beers at a cute cafe terrace inside the walls to recover.

Self portrait time!  Doesn't KP look pretty here?

The Cap'n

Stay tuned for my final posts and Clark's epic poem he wrote to Croatia!  Goodnight!

Hvar

I'm back after a self-imposed computer hiatus, due to it being slow and ridiculous and life-ruining.  So here we are.  Alright...where are we on the Croatia adventure?  Oh yeah, Hvar!  We met the other kooks in Hvar on Sunday afternoon, greeted by a couple huge liter bottles of beer and a breathtaking view from our sobe, or apartment, high above the coast.  There was a lot of laughter and dancing and free flowing Croatian beer and music and singing of "We're the 6 best friends that anyone's ever had...!" and general silliness and happiness.  Hvar was also the beginning of an amazing poem written by Clark, titled "Ode to Croatia", filled with inside jokes that would only be funny to those on the trip but which I'll probably post later.

I should probably take a sec right now and praise our amazing travel agent we used, JayWay Travel, who a friend recommended - THANK GOD.  They couldn't have been easier to work with, they scheduled every aspect of our trip for us, they picked us up from the airports, took us to our apartments, arranged private drivers to drive us all over, arranged excursions and fun activities, and we generally just...the best.  Highly recommended if you're ever coming to anywhere in Eastern Europe or along the coast.

So...Hvar is billed as the "party" island, like a miniature Ibiza, with lots of beach bars and douchey dance clubs and also a stopping point for the infamous Yacht Week - a bunch of college kids/genetically superior humans on a fleet of yachts up to no good.

But party we did!  We went out to amazing dinners and went on an all day private sailing trip and then hit up the clubs with the Yacht Week folks for some long island iced teas lit up on fire.  Huh?  It might have been the most fun section of the trip.

Anyway, here are some pics.

We bought some snorkels, met our driver, hopped on the boat, got some cold beers, and headed out for the day!  First stop: the Green Cave.  We pulled our boat right on in there in the back and took a dip.

Drew bought this shark tank in Berlin for the trip.  It says "Meow" at the bottom.

That's Ev, our resident diver and photographer, with his GoPro camera on his head.   It takes video above and under water!!  Cooool!

We're all splashing around in the cave here, and Drew's swimming off with his snorkel.

Something's catching our attention over there.  Probably some sort of sea monster.
Side note: the water is pretty darn chilly, so when you jump in, it literally takes your breath away.  PLUS it's incredibly clear and you can see all the way to the bottom and you're in a deep cave and you think maybe something weird is gonna swim under you.  So that takes your breath away too.  I had to stop looking down.

Cheese!!
We're freezing but happy.

"We're on a boat!"

Coming out of the cavet and on our way to the island of Vis.

Vis.  Is this not the prettiest water you ever saw?

Oh hey Clark!

On Vis, there's an amazing little place called The Blue Cave, and it literally looks like a mermaid lagoon.  Because mermaids exist and are alive and real, people.  You have to get off your boat and onto a teeny tiny skipper and duck your head under the rocky cave opening to get in. 

Light flooding in from the tiny opening.  And our boat driver standing up like a gondola captain.

It's blue because the sun reflects from the other side underneath the rocks/walls!

We then cruised over to the Pakleni Islands for some lunch at Zori, a delightful little seafood place right on the water.  Lots of boats in and out and good people and water watching.

After lunch we went to a "beach, just like in the movie The Beach", said our driver.  And...it actually kinda was.  He parked the boat out and we swam in to shore and lounged around and there was a tiny bar up there that accepted wet money!  So that was a relief.

Living the dream.

And...more living the dream.

Back on Hvar, we ate dinner at another delicious seafood place up on a terrace that overlooked this side street down to the water.  We proceeded to watch the drunk idiots on Yacht Week take shots and try to hook up with each other.  It was very...one foot in the door, one foot out in terms of life phases.  We're still young but we're a little past that.

But if you can't beat 'em, join them!  We then went to the same club to show everyone/ourselves that we're still young!

I actually think that's what we kept chanting: "WE'RE STILL YOUNG!!"
And Meredith proceeded to buy us Long Island Iced Teas in huge pitchers with fireworks shooting out of them.
Help!

#werestillyoung

#werestillyoung

We got home late and went straight to bed to get ready for our drive/ferry back to Dubrovnik the next day.  An excellent time was had by all in Hvar and we'd all highly recommend this fun island if you're going to Croatia.  Hopefully more posts this week about Dubrovnik - and Clark is supposed to be writing me a guest post!  

Goodnight!