D6: Dubrovnik, Croatia
For $22 USD, the hostel I slept included a single bed in a 8-bed dormitory room where the bed was maybe six inches too short for me and the walls on both ends of the bed prevented me from using my normal strategy of letting my feet dangle off the bed for extra space. I slept in an extended fetal position all night, but hey at least the hostel included a free breakfast. Pros and cons. Pros and cons.
In the US, my usual travel is arriving at the airport under an hour before my flight (sometimes half an hour before if I am feeling frisky), but here in Europe I don't want to miss my flight so I arrive a whole two hours before my flight which is an entirely too early in hindsight, but it did afford plenty of time for me to lay out my travel yoga mat on the airport floor to take a glorious nap. Pros and cons. Pros and cons.
The bus from the airport dropped me a 15-minute walk from my hostel since the city I arrived in, Dubrovnik, does not allow cars inside its city center. I marveled at the Old City before me with its massive stone walls that feel straight out of my imagination and into the world of Eragon, my favorite book series of all time set in a fictional medieval type world. It is early evening at this point and I am ravenous since I haven't ate since breakfast. The hostel clerk, coincidentally from Indiana too, recommended me an affordable sandwich shop where I destroy a ham and cheese 'wich with a large fry.
After dinner I explore Dubrovnik and end up at a bar set into the seaside cliff wall where the entrance was a non-descript door cut into the towering city wall. I found a flat spot of rock towards the bottom in the small public beach area to practice a bit of yoga to the setting sun. The spot was busy and the people around me likely thought me to be a bit odd, but that is okay since I felt extremely at peace.
When the mosquitos started to bite, I packed up, ordered a beer at the bar, and found a spot in the cliff to enjoy the sunset. A fella climbed past me to the edge of the rock, took of his shift and set down his phone, and without a moment's hesitation jumped off the 30 foot high rock into the sea. Holy hell, I want to do that! And so I did. The water felt so amazing and I floated easy in the salty sea; I'd learn later the Adriatic Sea is one of the most buoyant seas in the world.
The busy season of Dubrovnik ended a few weeks ago, which meant the clubs were closed. Without an option to party, I spent the rest of the evening strolling the city streets without a destination in mind, an incredibly freeing way to experience a place.
I turn 28 years old tomorrow. Tonight was a wonderful way to send off the evening.