An Adventurous Day, Indeed

Dubrovnik was absolutely amazing - every where I turned was just incredibly beautiful. We walked along the old city walls, took a boat out to an island and hiked around, rode the cable car up above the city, and sweat our asses off. It was awesome!  

Today we started our morning with a delicious chocolate croissant and cappuccinos before we began (what should have been) a 4-hour drive to Split.  The drive out of Dubrovnik was just as breathtaking as the city, but we soon realized that we needed gas for the car and we were in the middle of nowhere.  We have a GPS in the rental car, but in trying to find gas she almost made us do a Thelma and Louise off the side of a mountain. We ended up waaaaaayyyyyy high up on a mountain-top dirt road, pretty terrified. Here is a view from the front seat:

And a reaction shot  :-)

Eventually we found our way back to the main road, no thanks to the GPS, and made it to a gas station just in time to avoid having to hitchhike the rest of the way.

New Rule: when you see a castle off in the distance, always go to it!  We took a detour to a place called Ston and Mali Ston, these little towns made in an old fortress, connected by a 5 km wall. We had the most wonderful lunch by the water, in an old turret or guard tower. It was very cool!

The waiter talked us into a local dessert, a chocolate "cake" made out of pasta noodles! It was weird and delicious.

Back on the road, we drove for a while and came upon an elaborate toll booth. There were two booths to stop at, and at each the guard just waved us through without speaking to us or taking our money.  After driving a bit, we realized that what we had passed through was not a toll booth, but actually a BORDER CROSSING into Bosnia Herzegovina. We drove around a bit in Neum until we found our way to the next "toll booth" and at this one the guard lady said "passports" but by the time we pulled them out of our purses she was waving us through.  Strangest border crossing I've ever seen!

A couple hours later we found our way to Split, but again the GPS gave us crappy directions.  We drove around for at least 30 minutes in the vicinity of our hotel, trying to find it. Some old men yelled at us, we drove around in circles past them at least 4 times. Finally we stopped and called the hotel and they sent a nice man named Carlos to rescue us! He found us and jumped in the car, but as my husband can attest I am incapable of parallel parking a vehicle. Carlos tried really hard to guide me into a spot, but the three of us were all laughing so hard (at me) that we all finally gave up and drove around until I found a spot to park ON THE SIDEWALK. I parked that car on a sidewalk like a boss!!!

Split is pretty cool, but both Shannon and I agree that we prefer Dubrovnik and the countryside. In Split, the Old Town is a UNESCO heritage site and it's really neat - an old palace built by Diocletian that's 2000 years old is what the entire city is built inside and around. Inside the walls of the palace are hundreds of shops and restaurants and promenades where people hang out and walk around. Very cool.