Dubrovnik, Croatia

An official at the Montenegro/Croatia border crossing empties the entire contents of my backpack and laughs when he finds my tampons. What is up with that? I am the last one through the line and it takes me so long to put everything back in my pack that the bus almost leaves without me. It is already moving when I sprint to catch up with it and hop in. That was a close one!

Several people are waiting to show me their available rooms when I arrive at the Dubrovnik bus station. Sanya is the most aggressive and gets my business because she has a private room available for 80 Kuna (about $15 usd and a good price in this town) However, I later regret staying with her when I meet Sado who owns the Begovec hostel. He claims Sanya the "crazy, gypsy woman" once beat him with an umbrella to deter him from competing with her business! I like Sado's gentle demeanor and decide to stay with him the next night. After he gives me tea and a croissant, Sado shows me the shells that fell in the hostel's garden during the war. Amazingly, the hostel remained open during that time! I make a new friend named Marty. He is headed to Mostar and I tell him I will be there the next day and maybe we will see each other.

On my way to Dubrovnik's Stari Grad, I meet Harold from Norway. Harold is on a tour of the Balkans with thirty other people from his former workplace. He is the one who informs me about the volcano eruption in Iceland and how it has suspended air traffic throughout Europe. Wow, the events I miss not speaking the language or watching television!

I stroll through Pile Gate then ascend the steps on my left to Dubrovnik's ancient city walls. This pathway leads you around the perimeter of Old Town, offering sublime views of the sparkling Adriatic sea. A bird glides above a sea of slanted, orange rooftops. Laundry hangs on a line near the green wooden shutters of a peeling building. Men crouch on the rocks below, fishing as glass-bottomed boats float by. I hear laughter, conversation, and the clinking of silverware from diners at seaside cafes. Potted plants sit on rooftop terraces surrounded by fragrant orange and lemon trees. It is a perfect sunny day in a fairytale castle!

I walk around the Stradun taking photographs of whatever catches my attention. A child of about 2 runs around outside Rector's Palace. A man who is not his father picks him up, hugs him, then sets him down again. The little boy's mother is not fazed by this stranger's affection. I get the impression Croatia does not share America's intense child molestation/abduction fears. I watch two elderly ladies walk arm and arm and two teenage boys kick a soccer ball back and forth. A group of boys sit in a line on the Onofrio Fountain checking out the girls passing by. There are baroque churches to lean on and ocean views to marvel at. There is a maze of crumbling walls to wander and patches of sunlight to bask in. And there are too many tempting desserts trying to entice me! Walking around this breezy, gorgeous city it is hard to believe almost 70% of Old Town's 824 buildings were hit by shells in the early 1990s. Thankfully, everything has since been restored, using the original materials and techniques whenever possible. Visitors have been pouring into this lovely city ever since!