Day in Dubrovnik

Well I'm now in Bari, Italy (heel of the boot) in between ferries. I had an absolutely fantastic time in Dubrovnik, Croatia. I took this picture during my hike that I'm about to talk about. Please check out all of the pictures of this wonderful place -sorry they are a bit out of order, there might be some Vienna and Budapest first, but then you'll see Zagreb and Dubrovnik.

The town is incredible. There is literally an entire Medieval town surrounded by 50 foot walls right on the rocky cliffs of the Adriatic. I payed 50 Kuna (10 euro) to wall around the entire old city on top of the walls, very nice. Then, I hiked up to the top of this mountain overlooking the town and I could see Albania to my left and all of these little islands up the Croatian coast to my right. This wasn't even the highlight of my stay...it was actually where I stayed that made the trip. I booked one night at this place, Villa Kaic. Turns out, this guy, Milo Kaic, redid his home and rents out 11 rooms to guests from March to December. He is very nice and so is his family. His son and wife accompanied him to pick me up from the airport on Tuesday night. He actually graduated from Medical school when he was younger but because it is mandatory to do 5 years in the Yugoslav army he had to join the army straight after that. He saved 3 lives during the war and was respectfully discharged early. He told us about Albanian people too, who apparently and vehemently stick to their word for generations and generations if they make a promise to you. This is why many people travel to Albania, not so much for the countryside, but because the people will go out of their way just to help. Also, we learned that Dubrovnik has one of the lowest crime rates in the world...and I believe it. Nothing was locked or anything and the people are very nice and respectful. The room was very nice and it overlooked the pool which overlooked the town. The entire town is up on a hill so you must walk up and down stairs to get to the old city. He let me keep all my stuff there all day no problem: free internet, free laundry, free beer. For dinner, he cooked up this feast for everyone who was staying there. We had chicken skewers, steaks, sausages, Croatian salad and potatoes, it was brilliant. I met 2 Irish guys traveling on vacation and they gave me some good tips and told me more about Croatia. There were lots of Aussies, some traveling alone and one couple. I also met two special ed teachers from London and a family from Norway. It was a great night and Milo made sure I was a little boozed up for the ferry ride so that I'd fall asleep right away. He dropped me off at the port and that was that. All of this for 20 euro, absolutely amazing. I told him I will be back and I really hope I can keep that promise.

As for the ferry, it was okay. I immediately fell asleep and it got a little chilly out on the Sea late at night. I woke up with the sun and eventually we made it to Italy. Bari is completely different than any other place I've been in Italy. It's almost like a different country...much poorer and dirtier and I assume much less safe. Apparently the mafia still has a strangle hold on everything down here but it's not the Sicilian mafia like in the past, it's actually the Albanian mafia who run all of Southern Italy and Albania. This goes back to what Milo was talking about. They are very nationalistic and organization and stick to their word...perfect for the mob.

Tonight I catch a 20 hour ferry to Patras, Greece. From there I will bus to Athens and have 2.5 days there before flying to Istanbul. I'll talk to you soon!