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I don´t know exactly what to tell you about my hostel in Dubrovnik, except that it is owned by probably the most lovely couple I have ever met. The hostel is actually their apartment where they live, plus the bottom level of the apartment complex. While the hostel is small (only about 25 beds), it feels just like a cosy home. Our lovely host mother Mijlka is such a gem - every morning she bakes fresh bread and makes everyone french toast, and if she catches you not eating she will tell you ¨Hacchyley, you must eat girl. Eat! French toast for you? Tea?¨. She made us all this yummy baked apple cake when it was raining, and we all sat around watching movies and munching down on some home cooking. YUM! I heard that they have about six children who have all grown up and left home, so I suppose we are all their surrogate children - and they love us all! When I left she made sure to give me a big hug and wish me the best for the rest of my trip.
After settling into my hostel/home, I was very excited to find that my mate Bree who I´ve been meeting up with all over Croatia was staying at that very same hostel! After a quick gossip session we headed into the old town of Dubrovnik with another Aussie chilck called Kylie for some dinner. When our meals arrived we found that Buffy the Vampire slayer had actually been preparing our dinner - absolutely everything was coated in minced garlic! Kylie made a good point - on the bright side, all of us ate a bucket load of garlic that night, so we wouldn´t notice each other´s garlic breath. But we decided to get some gelato to wash it all down - just in case...
We decided to ask an elderly gentleman if he would mind taking our picture in front of the town gate - Bad idea...
No, you press the big button - no no no, you just turned the camera off. You need to hold the button down, not just *FLASH* oh no, we weren´t ready (photo with Bree´s mouth open yelling instructions, me looking amused)! Ok, so that big button on the right. That´s it, push that o... *FLASH* (all of us with our mouths open yelling instructions). Let´s try that again. It´s not working? Let me have a look *FLASH* (photo of the pavement). You´ve got it on movie mode. Ok, try that now *FLASH* (photo with Bree´s eyes shut). Oh, wow... thank you so much... that looks wonderful, thank you so much... (Interrupt young man) Excuse me mate, would you mind taking our picture? Thanks so much!
The next day Bree, Simon (Aus) and I, along with a fun Irish fellow we ran into on the bus decided we would take and excursion boat across to Lokrum island, which has a national park and has Croatia´s equivalent of the Dead Sea (which, in reality is just a small, salty lake with no fish). But when we arrived at the harbour, we found that because of the torrential rain, no excursion boats would be leaving that day (what´s a little water, really? Why would a boat be scared of a bit of water? I don´t mind bucketing water from the bottom of the boat!). So we found a nice restaurant, and by the time we´d filled our tummies the rain was starting to clear! It was Bree´s last day in Croatia, and so she´d decided she needed to have one last swim before she left - HA! It was still freezing! We began an epic walk from the old town along the coast, walking down the cliffs every now and then to check out the swimming prospects in that area. While walking back to the main road after one such detour, Simon spotted a snake in the bushes! Ahhhhh!!! Simon and I quickly scooted up the path but Bree had heard that snakes don´t like loud noises, so after bellowing, stomping and squealing she too decided it would be best to just scoot up the path as quickly as possible. Later on we concluded that considering Australia seems to be home of all of all the world´s venomous animals, we probably could have played with that snake just for fun! It could be our new pet.
Tour groups - a gaggle of sensible walking shoes, bumpacks, and quick-dry cargo pants with lots of pocket. A herd of tennis visors, sunglasses with neck straps to hold them around your neck, and backpacks full of items brought ´just in case´. A flock of bulky SLR cameras that are too complex for simple minds, two litre water bottles that are never less than half empty, and walking sticks that are only to be used for nudging through crowds.
I feel sorry for Dubrovnik. It has definitely had its share of pain over the years. First it had to endure numerous attacks from numerous countries - most recently it was a casualty of a Serbo-Montenegrin army siege in 1991 that lasted over seven months. Now it has to endure numerous attacks from numerous of tourists every year (I´m not quite sure which attack is worse!). Tourism has been grafted painfully onto this beautiful city - that is if you can actually see its beauty through the sea of middle aged retiree day trippers blocking your view. It´s just occurred to my how incredibly hypocritical this all sounds - hell, I was there the last few days, another body joining the crowd. All I can say is, the locals are truly the best hosts in the world. I´ve found that in places like France and Spain, where tourism has been popular for many years now, the locals have become jaded by the number of loud, annoying tourists that crowd their streets every year. Not in Croatia. While Croatia is relatively new to the tourist scene, I hope that the locals can always retain their good humour and endure what I´m sure will be an increasing number of visitors each year.
Tuesday was my last day in Dubrovnik, and the skies had cleared! Hooray! ...However that peeking of blue had meant that everyone who had been holed up in their cruise ship rooms the last couple of days also decided to venture out. Bummer.
After a squeezing my way around the old town, I bought a ticket and joined the masses in walking around Dubrovnik´s town walls. The town is extra beautiful from up there, and all of the tour groups look like little ants that you could just swat with your city map. Mwah ha ha ha!!! It was really humbling to see the remains of some buildings that had obviously been blown apart during the recent war. While Dubrovnik has done it´s best to restore the old town to it´s former glory, scars of its past lie littered throughout the city.
I had probably the best lunch of my entire trip on Tuesday. Not because the food was the best I´ve ever tasted (it was still nice though), not because I had the best company (I was flying solo, just me and my book), not because it was super cheap (it was a bit of a splurge). It was the best lunch I´ve had because of the waiter and the toilet (ha!). After dodging tour groups all morning and spilling gelato down my dress, I was feeling a bit less than cheerful. Then, amongst the rows of Italian and Mediterranean restaurants, like a shining beacon I spotted a small and funky looking VEGETARIAN RESTAURANT! Hallelujah! It was so lovely perusing the menu and knowing that I could order anything, absolutely anything that I read! I decided to get some vegan spring rolls and a country style warm potato salad. YUM. The restaurant was decorated so funky, lime green and eggplant purple table cloths, with these cute little plastic animals on each table. They had the biggest eyes, as if to look up the carnivores seated at the table and say, how could you eat me?! I´m so cute! Although, I´m not quite sure why an elephant was among the ranks of cows, sheep, fish and ducks... Just to top it off, they had black and white spotted cows hanging from the roof (the stuffed variety, not the real thing!). My waiter (possibly gay) was probably the most hospitable waiter I´ve ever had, to the point where he came outside with a blanket and draped it over my shoulders when he saw I was a bit cold. After I had ordered my meal, I realised that I hadn´t gotten any money out of the ATM, so I let him know I´d be back in a second, to which he replied, don´t worry, we´ll be here, unless of course there is a meteor. HA! He was just so friendly, and even yelled through the door when I was sitting on the toilet ´say hello to the duck!´. When I got up, I turned around and low and behold two little plastic ducks were perched on top of the toilet system with a sign saying ´say hello!´. I wasn´t sure if he would be outside listening, so I quickly introduced myself to the ducks, and bid them a good day (they were a bit shy though). There were two signs in the toilet which were just so lovely and inspirational, I thought I would share them with you all!
The Earth - Our Mother
The earth is to a certain extent our Mother.
She is so kind,
Because whatever we do,
She tolerates it.
But now, the time has come
When our power to destroy
Is so extreme that
Mother earth is compelled
To tell us to be careful.
The population explosion
And many other indicators
Make that clear.
Don´t they?
Nature has its own Natural Limitation.
- Dali Lama
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Never give up.
No matter what is going on.
Never give up.
Develop the heart;
Too much energy in your country is spent developing the mind instead of the heart.
Develop the heart;
Be compassionate, not just to your friends, but to everyone.
Work for peace, in your heart and in the world.
And I say again; never give up.
No matter what is happening or going on around you.
NEVER GIVE UP!
I felt so inspired that I stayed in there a few minutes longer to read them again, causing my waiter to ask ´was the food that bad you had to throw it up already?!´. Bless him. I stayed with my blanket at the restaurant for about two hours reading my new book called ´Eat, Pray, Love´, There was this one section I read that I thought was highly appropriate, considering where I was dining...
¨I´ll bet Gandhi never ate lamb intestines in his life,¨ I said.
¨He could have.¨
¨No, he couldn´t have, Luca. Gandhi was a vegetarian.¨
¨But vegetarians can eat this,¨ Luca insisted. ¨Because intestines aren´t even meat, Liz. They´re just s***.¨.
HA HA.
After heading back to the hostel I decided to give myself a spa pedicure - why the hell not? My poor little tootsies have endured so much walking over the last month, and have many kilometres ahead of them that I thought they deserved it. Problem was, I was staying in a hostel - not exactly the ideal location for some old fashioned foot pampering! I ended up with a chair in the bathroom, with my legs above my head soaking in the sink, hoping to God that someone didn´t open the bathroom door and knock me off of my chair into the shower. I got the worst pins and needles in my feet, however they actually turned out to be a blessing when I attacked my feet with a foot file.
I feel quite sad to be leaving Croatia. After my first month in Western Europe, Croatia was the Eastern European beacon at the end of the first month tunnel - Eastern Europe is really what I came over here for. When I was getting home sick in my first few weeks (sick of the French getting cranky and the Spanish ignoring me), it was counting down the days until I made it to Croatia that really helped. Now that I´ve teethed myself on Croatia, I feel like I can really take on the rest of Eastern Europe boldly and with confidence in my happiness! And I can´t wait! This month is going to be a blast. First up on the agenda is Montenegro, where I´ll visit Budva and Kotor. Next, Bosnia where I´ll visit Mostar and Sarajevo. After that is Slovenia, where I´ll Couchsurf in Ljubljana and hopefully go white water rafting near the beautiful Lake Bled. Then I´ll head up to Germany to visit my mate Kortine in Heidelberg and we´ll go to Oktoberfest in Munich together, then Mum makes her way over! This is going to be the best month.
Talk to you soon!
Love Hayley xxx
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