Montenegro

It's been quite the day! 

We left for Montenegro early this morning for a day of exploring.

We traveled in style, here is our Benz: 

Before arriving in Montengro we drove through a town called Konavle.  

If I ever move out of the United States, I will be in Konavle! 

It was agricultural town with the most gorgeous valleys.

We learned about some of their traditions, for example, when a couple is married they plant Cyprus trees, so the area is filled with small Cyprus forests hugging the hillsides. 

Here is just a glimpse... this photo does not do the area justice!

Our first stop in Montenegro was in Perast. 

Perast had quite the view! 

While in Perast we took a taxi boat out to an island right off the coast of the town. 

The island is a man-made structure with a rather interesting story. 

Centuries ago a painting of Mary (which you will see below) was found on a small rock surface in the bay. 

The locals believed this was Mary telling them that this is where she wanted a church to be built.

After sinking ships, and tons of rocks over many generations the church was completed. 

Here is it:

Gorgeous painting line the church walls and ceiling.

Above you can see the photo of the Virgin Mary. 

Sailors leaving the bay would often stop at the church to pray for safe passage on their journeys, and while praying they would make certain promises in exchange for their safety

Upon their return they would give the church (or rather give Mary) tokens of their appreciation. Their gifts of silver and gold plated carvings line the church walls.
The carvings often depicted events or illnesses that the sailors survived with the blessing of Mary.

Below are other photos within the church, and photos from the boat ride over to the island.

 The church we visited is on the right.

 Unfortunately we did not visit the second island, but I believe it also houses a church.

 

 This embroidery was made by a sailor's wife. It took 25 years to complete, and contains both gold and silver thread, along with the the wife's hair.

 The roofing was shaped by human thighs.

The crew.

Emily, Kelsey and Philip.
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Following Perast, we went to Kotor.

 Montenegro's flag.

 Flowers hanging from the roof of an old building. 

 On the left you will see a 12th century church, it was originally Catholic, but has since transitioned into  Serbian Orthodox.

 12th century painting. 

 Interior of the newer Serbian Orthodox Church. 

 Gold man on the entrance to the Catholic Church. 

 Interior of the Catholic Church. 

 Maybe a Pope? 

 The view out of the back window in the Catholic Church. 

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After we left Kotor, we traveled further south to Budva.

In Budva we had lunch, and went to the beach.

Budva was our last stop in Montenegro, and probably the most culturally interesting of our three stops.

While on the beach you will notice a lot less clothing, and nudity is not uncommon. 

There is little to no privacy while changing, so you just have to shimmy you clothes on and off under a towel, which in my case was quite entertaining to a group of onlookers. 

Oh well! It was interesting, and certainly part of the experience! 

We've grown more careful of sea urchins, because two of my classmates have already stepped on them. 

I am praying I have better luck than they did. 

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The rides here are fairly difficult for people with motion sickness, so we've been going though mass amounts of Dramamine. 

I rested most of the way home, but I managed to see the Old City as we entered Dubrovnik.

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A siesta was absolutely necessary for most of us when we arrived at our apartments.

Following the siesta, we went to dinner down by the beach. 

I had carbonara pasta and red wine... yum! 

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It's now nearly 1:00am here, so I am off to bed! 

Goodnight! : ) 

Just Keep Swimming! - Day Two

It's about 6:00pm here, so I believe it's about noon back in Madrid. 

I'm posting a little early tonight, because I have to cook dinner, then go to bed!

Our crew leaves our lovely little apartments at 7:00am Croatia time, or 1:00am Madrid time for Montenegro.

By the way, these are our apartments: 

I only have a rough idea as to what we are doing tomorrow in Montenegro, so I won't talk much about that until we get back tomorrow evening. 

Just so everyone knows, Montenegro is the country directly south of Croatia, it's also a coastal country, so the drive should be beautiful! 

Before I get into what we did today, let me tell you about yesterday evening. 

Our crew went out for dinner at a small restaurant near our apartments. We ordered three pizzas, wine, beers, and water. The pizza was great, and the wine was even better (I didn't have any beer). Croatian wine is at least twice as strong as the wine back home, AND I learned this morning that Croats (people from Croatia) water their wine down. Needless to say... it hit me hard and quickly. Lesson learned! 

I didn't get any pictures of the food, I know... probably the first time I haven't photographed my food! ;) 

Today was our first day of classes! We have class on weekdays from 10-12, which in Madrid time is 4:00am-6:00am. Jet lag? YUP! 

Our classes are held in a beautiful building just outside the walls of the Old City in a building owned by RIT (Rochester Institute of Technology). Small world, right? 

Here it is: 

After classes we went out to lunch at a nice restaurant inside of the Old City (the very very old part of Dubrovnik). 

Unfortunately I was not all that hungry yet, but I still enjoyed my meal quite a bit! I had Bosnian Cevapi (sausage), fries, soup, and salad. 

Here is my lunch, and Kelsey's fish:

Afterwards we walked around the Stradun (main street of the Old City), all the way to the port. I was drooling over the architecture, and we barely saw any of buildings. We have a tour coming up within the test few days. 

Here is some of what I saw in the Old City/port:

Victor, Ethan, Paige, Emily, Kelsey, Philip, Ethan, and Robert

 Walls of the Old City

 Old City

These purple trees are everywhere! So beautiful.

 Quite a crowd! 

 See a below photo for a close up of the Latin. 

 Giant water fountain. 

The streets are paved with these polished pieces of limestone.

 Looking all over the place! 

I liked the shutters. 

 Shiny streets. 

 The alleys are designed to promote cool airflow from the sea. 

 Statues everywhere! 

 So much detail! 

Part of a church? I plan on going to mass there at some point. Croatia is a highly Catholic country. 

 Fish in the port. 

 Port. 

 My friend Emily. 

 In the distance you can see a hotel built for Mikhail Gorbachev. It was heavily damaged during the break-up of Yugoslavia. 

 Monk? 

 Barfing up some drinking water! 

 Aunt Susie should see this! 

 City walls. 

Cats wander the city. 

Zdravo, Dubrovnik!

I MADE IT!! 

Dubrovnik is gorgeous, stunning, astonishing, etc. 

We've just settled into our little apartment, and we will be having dinner shortly. It's only 12:34 in Madrid, but it's 6:34 here... let me tell you, it feels much later! 

I've slept about an hour in the past 36+ hours (personal record). 

The plane rides were not bad at all! All of our flights were on time, we barely ran into any turbulence, and they fed us very well in the air! 

I met some very interesting people from all over the world, and I even ate their candy. Yup, I took candy from a stranger, but it was Austrian chocolate... heavenly! 

After landing in Dubrovnik we drove for about 20 minutes through the countryside to get to our apartments. To our surprise our apartments are air conditioned! It's very hot and humid here, so we feel very blessed! 

I am all over the place in this post, but give me a break... I'll be more organized when I've slept! 

I can't wait for the real adventure to begin tomorrow!