We spent most of our trip in Dubrovnik, Croatia, which is one of three preserved medieval cities in Europe. The plane touched down in an airport hidden in a valley, and our ride into the city unfolded into a ridiculous view of sea and sky. The city itself is a white marble walled-in fortress.
The view from our apartment. Dubrovnik is a steep place-lots of winding stairs and crooked walls. Best of all, it's practically covered with tropical plants. Nearly every home has a pergola, and everything is in bloom.
Here's me getting winded on some wack staircase. It just kept going and going. I need to stop for a beer, please.
A view of the city from the walls. You can take a 1 mile tour of the fortress walls which really gives you a bird's eye view of the layout of the area. I've never seen so many terracotta roofs in my life. There is a good chunk of the city that is still very much under renovation after being bombed during the Serbian-Croatian War. 
It was the World Cup while we were here, and Croatia was kicking ass and taking names. It was cool to walk to down to the bar and watch the game-you could literally hear a unified victory cheer throughout the entire city when they scored! Then you hear what I think was the national anthem...over and over again with dudes zipping by on tiny motorcycles getting wasted and just freaking out. The girl in the photo had a Croatian flag painted on her cheek, which is somehow cuter than getting drunk on a motorcycle.
Robert plunging into the Adriatic off of Lokrum island.
A beautiful maritime cemetery in Cavtat.
Rob and I drove to the top of a nearby mountain for a dinner made "under the bell" which describes a local food prep method: basically they take whatever meat you want to dine on and cook it for 4-5 hours over smoldering embers covered by a (yup) giant metal bell. You have to call a day or so in advance, which Rob did, and was presented with a list of potential meats we could have. We chose the lamb, since we figured it would be a bit more local (no beef or pork....nowhere....not that I really care that much, because ~duh~ we are in a seafaring town and I love seafood) When we arrived at the mountain top, we found a sweet little patio and a server in full native dress. She kept suggesting dishes and we just kept saying yes, because we didn't know any better and we didn't want to be rude. All of it was delicious: local meats and cheeses, brandy, "salad" (shredded lettuce and tomato-how I was longing for some spinach and tempeh and such!) and then a massive platter of our lamb with potatoes in what basically constituted a stick of butter. IT WAS AWESOME! High five Croatia!
A view from the mountain after our infamous dinner.
One of our day trips was to Montenegro, which borders Croatia on the east. I believe it translates to roughly "Black Mountain" which has a distinct metal appeal, but it was a very discomforting and emotionally draining day for me. This whole country seems oppressed, whether financially or politically, and is sorely underdeveloped. Even the weather was bleak: a kind of half-hearted overcast sky, a slight drizzle of unconvincing rain, a breeze that often fell flat. We eventually stopped for lunch and I had the most depressing bowl of spaghetti and meat sauce ever. Really, did I come all this way to sit in some strip mall and eat this slop with a bunch of surly locals? Where's the interesting local specialty? Where's the charming waterfront cafe? Where's the freaking booze already!? Bitching aside, we did stop and see some ancient Roman mosaics dating 300B.C. on the drive home which gave the landscape a little context.
Miljet! Whoo-hoo Miljet!! (pronounced Mill-yet) One of our last little hurrahs in Croatia was to take a 2 hour boat ride to Miljet island for a sleepover. It's basically a giant national park, and we were restricted to a few areas, but it was so quiet and beautiful that it didn't feel restrictive. We rented a scooter and traveled all over the place, which was seriously the best thing ever because we were all alone on this green island just humming away under the blue sky and bright sun. It's one of my favorite memories of our whole trip.
While we were on our scooter, we passed this elderly woman at her roadside shop and we pulled over to check out her goods (the food and drink goods I mean. Ew, stop it. I know what you're thinking. Ew.) She had bottles of homemade brandy and wine for sale, and by that point we had finally learned the words for wine and brandy so we could communicate with her. She had the gnarliest hands I'd ever seen, and all her liquors were bottled in used water and juice bottles. It was nice to have this encounter since so much of our time had been spent in relatively touristy spots, where everything is prepackaged and orderly. We went back to our room to make dinner and get relaxed with our backwoods-peasant-lady-moonshine.
Easy summer fishing on Miljet.
There really were an endless supply of great sights on this leg of the trip. I didn't even get to the feral cat population, the squid incident, the monastery with the bomb hole, the Serbian-Croatian war crimes photo exhibit (WHOA), the ice cream proliferation, the bar on the rocks right on the ocean...But! I will leave you with this: a photo of a sunbather's butt. You're welcome!
