#22 Cruising through Croatia

Back in Prague Adam and I had another night out with nothing to exciting to talk about except that we saw this lady with bright red, leather pants that we found very funny and took lots of pictures of, you will see a couple.
The next day we toured and walked all around the city and ended the day with a boat cruise up the river through the city.
Thanks again to the Topalo family for being so kind and letting us stay in their apartment and feeding us as well.

Adam and I were then off on a flight to Dubrovnik, Croatia. We arrived and were picked up at the airport by people who we booked the hostel through. I on the way to the city we booked scooters (mopeds) for the next day and a 3 island boat tour for the following day. But for this first night we were ready to go out and check out the city's nighlife. We had our own apartment in the old part of the city. (The old part is surrounded by walls) It is a very special place, something very unique, the pictures will help you get an idea. So we headed out for the night and found out that everyone in the city goes out on saturdays to the point of being clostrophobic in every bar. Even when there is no room to go anywhere people keep pushing in and barreling through. The ones pushing through with the most force arent the big guys, but the girls. They are like running backs making space for themselves. We went to about 5 different bars and clubs until we just couldn't take it anymore.
The following morning we woke early and headed to a place we had been waiting for; the beach. It was absolutely stunning, so we laid there and swam for a few hours soaking up some sun and checking out the local scenery. After we both were worn out from the sun we stopped for lunch and then went to get our scooters. We felt like tough guys on the scooters, me with my helmet too small for my head and adam's helmet going over his ears we were off to explore as much as we could. We first cruised around the main city getting comfortable with our bikes and then headed for the main roads out of the city. We ventured to a neighboring town where we walked around and went swimming in their beaches as well. After a while at the beach I told adam that I'm going to get a speedo on this trip because it is acceptible here and when he asked me what if I get a boner all I could think was that then my back would get really tan. (I still haven't gotten one) We then headed up, up, up to the top of a mountain that overlooked all of Dubrovnik. To the backside of the mountain were hills and mountains that we were told not to go around because there are still lots of landmines out there. It is crazy to think that only 15 years ago there was a war going on where thousands and thousands were killed. The view from the top of this place was brilliant and at the point where we were resting and getting our views this dog kept coming by us and licking us and laying right next to us. We couldn't believe that the owners (who we assumed were the other people there) would not call their dog off. But then they left and when the next family came and the dog went to check them out which led to the little girls screaming we got bad looks because they assumed it was our dog. This was an ongoing cycle and we still never found out who's dog it was, but it was a very friendly, gentle dog.
We eventually made our way back to town with no accidents although I almost got ran off the road by a bus and adam almost skidded out once and almost became part of a pole another time. We had an easy night this night so we would be ready for our island tour the next day.
We boarded our boat along with a brazilian couple, a german couple, and a french couple. The brazilian couple was late and would be the entire day with no cares in the world. We left early in the morning and arrived around 7 in the evening. In between we visited three local islands and getting to know our company on the boat. We got a chance to have lunch with the French couple who were very nice and made lunch a bit more enjoyable. We went swimming off the different islands, and I had my first injury which was by a black plant in the water, the plant was more like bunch of black needles that got into my knee. When I stopped bleeding I asked our captain and he said not to worry, he's gotten it many times. This was the same captain who smoked and drank while he drove our boat with his foot and knee. It was a great day trip being able to see the local islands with the great company we had on the boat.
That night we wandered out into the city again. There is a building on the main street that has a stone protruding out of it and it is said that if you can stand on this stone and take your shirt off and put it back on without falling off you will have good luck for a year. We watched many people try and fail with only few actually being able to stand. We did watch one guy do it along with the shirt removal; I guess all the locals can do it. We tried and couldn't even stay up on it. There was an Ausralian girl who could stand on it easily, the only problem was she had a dress on and so wouldn't take it off. All the guys she was with wouldn't lend her their shirt so I told her I would lend her my shirt, but if she accomplished it we would share the year of luck and with that an agreement was made. She did it successfully and we were both happy. I'm not sure if my luck is the first or second 6 months or if it's split monthly.
The next morning adam was off back to the states and I once again am flying solo. I headed to the local national park island where I swam in their version of the dead sea and tried climbing a rope from the water before heading to the top to see the fort. When it began to rain I went back to get on the ferry and headed back to the main city. After getting dinner I went and sat in an outdoor cafe where I sipped a glass of wine while listening to a jazz band for a few hours and let the last couple of weeks soak in.
Two weeks traveling with adam flew by but still we did a ton of stuff: A walking tour in Budapest, a bike tour in Krakow, I river boat tour in Prague, a scooter and island tour in Dubrovnik along with many nights out and a lot of other sighseeing. When we weren't busy we were usually laughing about something stupid or making fun of each other for something or another.
Adam-I'm going to be in internet cafe's a lot less without you. It was a lot of fun, I'll just think of the mirrors or other little things we did if I need a laugh.