Week 13b: *Some Clever Pun Relating Dubrovnik, Kotor, & Tirana*

April 21st-24th
I did not realize until just now that I was in three different countries within the span of three days. That is crazy! It is unbelievable what a whirlwind this week has been. I feel like I use that word a lot ("whirlwind") but there is truly no other way to describe it. As I had mentioned before, this was the spring break I have been subconsciously dreaming of my whole life. The quasi-unplanned, somewhat spontaneous, cross-country traveling with nothing but the contents haphazardly stuffed into my backpack. It was pretty much everything I've been looking for from a study abroad experience, and I'll try to explain why.
In my last post, we were just pulling into the port in Dubrovnik around 9pm--a bit later than we expected, and much darker outside than we hoped it would be when we would have to hunt or our hostel. Thankfully we found it with a cheap enough taxi ride. This hostel, Dubrovnik Backpackers, was complete with our own pair of Croatian grandparents. The couple that owned the hostel was the absolute sweetest, offering us juice, tea, coffee, Croatian specialties, cake, and most importantly, some advice on how to navigate the city and the rest of our journey down the Adriatic Sea coast. This was around when we ended up adding Montenegro to our itinerary, as it would be a necessary pit stop on our way to Albania (where we needed to end up to catch our flight).
The next morning, we woke up early and headed down to the Old City. The old city of Dubrovnik is its own world, bordered by these massive stone walls. We walked the entire border of the city on top of the walls (lots of slippery stairs and beautiful views) in a little more than an hour.

We also explored the street-level of the town, and spent some time enjoying the weather on the rocks at the water's edge (do you sense the pattern here?).

Next up, was a kayak tour. Now, this tour was supposed to be the easiest difficulty level, with no prior experience necessary. But it was just our luck that this Tuesday was accompanied by some very strong West winds that not only completely altered the original planned course, but made this shorter, modified one even more difficult. After this three hour long kayak expedition, I understand what it feels like to be completely helpless at the mercy of nature and its whims. We could be paddling forward, completely synchronized and with all the strength we possessed, and still be moving backwards because of the wind and the waves. The return journey took almost two hours because the two of us were left stranded at the very back of the group while we struggled to make any progress in our desired direction. There was a point when we could not see anyone else in our kayak group (because they had all turned the corner and safely docked) and we were moving farther and farther away from the coast. I will admit, it was here that I screamed out of frustration because I've always wanted to know what it's like to have your screams muffled out by the wind in the middle of nowhere (it was pretty surreal). Somehow, by the grace of God, we made it to the shore--though our bodies were stiff and could barely get out of the kayaks.

Too exhausted and frozen to function, we made our way to the closest gelato stand and enjoyed some gelato in the sunniest part of the marbly street we could find. We caught a bit of the sunset near Lokrum island before we headed back to our hostel for some much needed showers and rest.
On Wednesday, we caught our two-hour bus to Kotor, Montenegro. We booked our hostel late the night before and bought our tickets about 15 minutes before the bus pulled out of the station. Kotor was unbelievable. I could not be happier that our adventures brought us here. In addition to the beautiful landscape, the quaint town, and the cute shops, our time in Kotor was truly made by the hostel we stayed at. If you're ever in Kotor, definitely check out the Old Town Hostel because it was fantastic. The hostel was teeming with all kinds of people from all parts of the world (special shout out to room 4 for being awesome). The approximate 19 hours we spent in Kotor would not have been the same without this hostel experience that pretty much encompassed everything I expected from European travels.

Our last 24 hours would be spent in Tirana, Albania. We started the five-hour journey by car at the bright and early hour of 8am. About two years ago, I had read that Albania was in the top 10 destinations for young people to backpack through, and since then it was on the top of my list.

Tirana is pretty small by capital city standards. This country actually has a very interesting and surprising history. Within about an hour of arriving, we realized that there was almost no trace of heavy Western influence--no McDonalds franchises, very little Coca-Cola, no signs of the quintessential American influence. Apparently, the country was run by communism and imposed a strict self-isolationist policy until 1991. The rest of the 90s were therefore spent transitioning from this. Some of the sights included two old mosques, the opera house, and the "pyramid." This pyramid was once a museum in honor of some communist ruler, but it has since been closed and (clearly) graffitied.  Now people can climb it for a pretty cool view of the city (though I did not experience this because I have absolutely no idea how they actually get up there...). 

Now it's back to the daily grind in Istanbul. This coming week is probably my equivalent to GT hell week, and then it's almost two weeks before my first final. It's crazy that everyone back home is taking finals already and that graduation for so many of my amazing friends is just around the corner! This year has gone by so fast it's unbelievable and a little bit daunting...