Day 26-Tirana to Dubrovnik

We left our gorgeous apartments this morning for another long drive, this time to Dubrovnik, Croatia. In transit, we also passed through Montenegro...the coastline was absolutely beautiful, much like Nice, and the waters of the ocean blended into land through estuaries, if my ecology knowledge serves me right. We got through the boarder of Montenegro fine, but we were told the Croatian officials were checking all suitcases, so the crossing was going to be a slow one...Jeremy tried to skip ahead in the line like coaches previous to us, but a car pulled out in front of us wouldn't move...they and a group of others were a little ticked, neddless to say! We ended up backing up and going through a different area, which after about 5 minutes of Josh and Jez talking to the officials, we passed through without a hitch! We booked into a hostel and had supper, then celebrated Josh's birthday by checking out the Dubrovnik nightlife.

Day 27- Dubrovnik

Today we explored Dubrovnik in the morning, then hooked up with the group and Josh to take a walking tour around the Old Town. Then our own boat picked us up and we went on a cruise along the Dalmatian coast and around the islands. We went swimming and jumped off the boat, stopped on an island to eat and shop, then made our way back to the port...it was so much fun with the music blaring, hot sun, and lots of laughter and conversation..one of my fave moments on the trip. Supper was out in the town, then we headed back home.

Day 28 Dubrovnik to Zadar

We're still traveling through Croatia! It's a gorgeous country with much to offer...coastline, abundant land scenery, and pretty towns with ancient Roman ruins and marble streets everywhere. We left Dubrovnik today and passed through the city of Split, the country's largest; we spent our couple hours there eating and shopping, then continued on to our final Croatian city, Zadar. Before we set up at our hostel, we had some free time in the city. Melissa and I went and saw the Sea Organ, it was absolutely fantastic! It is 70m of marble steps that go into the sea and have various holes, tubes and cavities under the stairs so that when the water and wind go under the steps, a gorgeous pan organ/whale call sound is produced...it was very neat! We also found a local cathedral and wandered around the city square for a while. We caught the coach to the hostel and set up for the night...tomorrow we go into Slovenia!