Cool Spots in Dalmatia

Fresh on the heels of a hard post about lessons we're learning in Denmark and how being here has forced us to grow as people, it's back to our more-normal style of "here's some cool stuff we did". Although it's not always easy being in Denmark, one period when it is easy is a three-week holiday that the majority of Denmark enjoys throughout July. Having already taken two weeks to travel to the US in early June, we used our remaining week to explore Croatia.

I opted to go high-technology for this post and created a google map of our adventure, as I probably couldn't have told you where Croatia was before I moved to Europe.

Sometimes your train hitches a ride on a ferry. We did not know this was possible.

Hamburg is a pretty cool place.

After a day in transit with a short stop in Hamburg (the 2nd largest city in Germany - who knew?), we arrived in Zadar, home of the ominous (but cool) sea organ and a happening old town. All three of the major Croatian cities we visited have a cultural center defined by the walls that once protected it from pirates and the like. On our second day in Croatia, we woke up to realize that it gets incredibly hot in Croatia. We soon discovered the antidote: staying by the water and copious amounts of ice cream. After missing the bus to the nearest national park, we decided to salvage the day by ferrying to the nearest island for a beach day. It was probably our most relaxing day - no traveling, just the sun, water, words on a page, and the aforementioned ice cream.

Who needs air conditioning?

Places like this exist on Earth. No kidding.

The next day it was off to Split, the former retirement home/palace of Diocletian, Roman Emperor from 284-305, and generally not too nice to Christians. However, they got the last laugh by turning his tomb into a church (that'll teach him!). The whole palace area is now the Split old town, filled with shops and narrow European walkways. It's a great place to hide from the sun for a few hours and contemplate how old everything in Europe is (we do that a lot).

YOU SHALL NOT PASS

After a few hours in Split, we headed to the most remote segment of our trip: Vis island. The first thing you notice as the ferry pulls up to the island is the boats all along the harbor. The main thoroughfare is about a kilometer long and has shops on one side and boats on the other. As you walk along, you can't help but notice these *very* nice sailboats / yachts, each with the regular contingent of smiling rich people toasting themselves. Then, at the end of the row is a super-huge mega-yacht that is clearly much more expensive than the rest. I couldn't help but wonder how all the other boat owners felt in the shadow of that monstrosity: were they satisfied with their own (very) well-off lives, or were they eyeing the next rung of the diamond-encrusted ladder? Friends, appreciate what you have, even if it's just a backpack and your walking shoes. There's always a bigger boat - don't buy the lie that you need it to be happy.

The next day, we set off to explore the island via rented scooter. Alana was our driver as I forgot my driver's license in Denmark - whoops. It was terrifying. This was probably a combination of a) being our first time on any motorcycle-type thing, b) me weighing considerably more than Alana, and c) not being in control. Fortunately, both our bodies and our marriage survived the 10 km trip intact.

Head out on the highway / Looking for adventure /

BORN TO BE WILD

We were traveling to catch a taxi boat to Modra špilja, a cave that seems to glow blue due to sunlight bouncing off the sandy white floor of the cave through an underwater opening. It was surreal and beautiful, as the not-quite-believable photos show.

On the return trip to our part of the island, we parked our not-so-trusty scooter (We had a short pit stop while some locals helped us replace a faulty spark plug. They were incredibly nice.) at an overlook and hiked down to Stiniva Bay. There is an easier way that avoids the hike, but unfortunately we left our 50 ft. yacht at home. I'm going to say we enjoyed the water more after hiking in the heat to get to it. I choose not to describe the bay because then I'll just get sad that I'm not there anymore.

Midway through the descent to the bay. %€#& yachts.

Remember the reading rainbow theme? "I can go anywhere..."

I risked the ticket and took the reins of the hog on the way back - I gunned it and took a few sick jumps on the way back (j/k I stayed below 45 km/hr and got passed by a dozen cars). But my fearless passenger did manage to snap a few photos during the return journey.

I now see the appeal of fast things with two wheels.

 

The next day we traveled via ferry / bus to Dubrovnik, our base for the remainder of the trip. The Dubrovnik old town is pretty magical: a single main street with tendrils of great restaurants and shops peppered with ancient architecture and surrounded by a 700 year old wall. As Alana described it: "it's what every planned pedestrian area is trying to be".

The Pearl of the Adriatic

On our first full day we strode the walls, eating ice cream and watching for pirates (they chose not to attack on our watch - smart). Afterwards, we escaped from the heat in the war photo museum, which had incredible images of both the current Ukraine conflict and the bombing of Dubrovnik during the Croatian war of independence. Everyone in Croatia our age and older had lived through a war that my American education had barely covered; it was a sobering reminder of the human cost of war.

And now, a picture of us smiling

Ever vigilant (and stylish)

The pirates would probably have a hard time here

The next day began with a 4 hour bus ride to the Tara River Canyon, the "European Grand Canyon" that serves as a natural border between Bosnia and Montenegro. It was worth the wait: we got our mountain fix while rafting above crystal clear, drinkable water. As one of the few English-speaking groups, our raft consisted of Swedes, Belgians, and Americans living in Denmark. The day was more relaxing than exciting, as the tough part of rafting season was already two months gone. During our 3pm lunch, we chatted with a Ukrainian woman from Odessa who liked Montenegro because no visa was needed as "they still like us here". When she asked where we came from we played it safe: "We live in Denmark."

By the time we got back to Dubrovnik, it was time for our standard 10pm dinner. Right after we found a good spot and ordered our Dalmatian ham pizza, the lights went out. Local wildfires had cut power to the entirety of old town. We nursed our wine, made shadow puppets with the candles, and snickered at the customers sitting inside, roasting without their precious air conditioning. After about 30 minutes, the power came back, accompanied by cheering across the town. After pizza, we celebrated civilization's victory over the elements with more ice cream.

Longing for pizza in the dark

Our last full day in Croatia was spent sea kayaking between islands northeast of Dubrovnik. We kayaked under arches, snorkeled in the ever-abundant crystal water, and jumped off cliffs to the water below. Our guide was a Dubrovnik local, hopeful Ph.D. student (you can do it Mario!), and beer snob (why do those last two go together so often?). After one last night in old town, it was time to leave.

Coasting through life

So long, and thanks for all the ice cream

During this trip, David was reading The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (thanks again Marius!) and Alana was reading Cutting for Stone.

So...why did we move...?

Summer 2015 started with a two week dose of the familiar as we headed back to the USA for Jon and Emily's wedding in Colorado and my youngest brother's graduation in Las Vegas.  We couldn't have planned it better to have both things happen within a week of each other. For real, perfect timing.  Covering four states in two weeks, we hiked in Zion National Park, walked the Las Vegas Strip, visited the place we got married, ate our favorite Mountain Sun nachos, watched a Mets game, agonized with the hometown crowd when the Cavs lost it in overtime (as we watched the game at the Cleveland airport on our anniversary during the worst flight delay ever), and tried to see as many of our favorite people as possible as much as possible.

Jon and Emily got married where we got married!

And it was so great.  Sigh...

In all honesty folks, I had been feeling kinda down on Denmark in the weeks leading up to our visit.  The weather was s&!#.  Aalborg was boring.  My job wasn't perfect.  I was incompetent in Danish. People weren't welcoming to foreigners. The beer was expensive.  There was nothing that could escape the scope of my complaining (just ask David).

It doesn't get any more Boulder than a morning hike by
the Flatirons followed by Mountain Sun nachos for lunch.

With those thoughts on the brain, I headed to the USA. And I think the people I talked to will vouch for me when I say that I didn't really gush on and on about wonderful Denmark while I was there.  Then we actually returned to Denmark, and the post-homeland-trip-slump only magnified my negative feelings.  Why did our time in the USA seem so great in comparison?  Well, it was probably because we spent two weeks surrounded by people we love and hadn't seen in a long time.  And it certainly didn't hurt that we didn't have to work or clean the house or go grocery shopping or run errands or worry about any of that day to day stuff for two weeks.  So of course vacation time always seems better than "normal" time and that realization helped move my perspective in a bit more positive of a direction.  But still, if all I was going to do was complain, then why did we move to Denmark?  We made it back for this wedding and this graduation, but there have been a few weddings that we've missed out on.  Why were we choosing to miss kids being born, PhD defenses, birthdays, other important things?  What were we thinking when we made that decision?  What did I expect to happen on this journey?

Some good looking kids.

There's a tendency to think (among people I've talked to and myself too) that moving out of the country is kinda like a really long vacation.  All those things you worried about at home don't matter, and you're in this cool new place trying all these new things.  And it did feel like that for a little while.  But eventually, you realize that you have to make a life in this new place.  On vacation, it doesn't matter if you make any friends or not, it's only temporary.  But when you're living somewhere long term, you want real friends in your actual location.  And all of those work-related stresses that come up on a daily basis still come up on a daily basis even if you're in another country.  Now they're just partially (or maybe totally) in another language.  And every day isn't some grand life-defining moment of self-realization where I'm sitting on the beach laughing with my Danish friends as the wind perfectly blows my hair around my face.

Was I totally off base 1.5 years ago when I thought moving to another country would be a good idea?  Well, no, I don't think so.  In my ignorance of what the experience would actually be like, I may have had some ideas that didn't turn out to be true.  But a lot of things I thought would happen actually did.

On top of Angel's Landing in Zion National Park.

We have met SO MANY people from pretty much all over the world.  Denmark, Romania, Lithuania, Costa Rica, Honduras, South Korea, China, India, Malaysia, Ghana, Philippines, Iran, Canada, Hong Kong, Italy, Portugal, Spain, Netherlands.  It does seem to happen that when you're a foreigner in a country, you meet a lot of other foreigners.  Something about solidarity, I guess (and getting put in the same Danish class).  This really is the coolest part.  Hearing the stories of people who grew up so differently than me, I appreciate being able to learn more about a country than what's in a (typically negative) news article.  Cliche but true...we have a lot more in common than we think.

I now know all this stuff about Denmark.  A lot of it is random, like that the Queen turned 75 this year.  But I'm also fortunate to know a couple of Danish people who have been willing and interested in talking with me about Danish culture and history and values and how that compares with my American perspective.  Evaluating how/if certain Danish concepts would work in the United States, discussing pros and cons to various laws and traditions from each country, realizing that politics and politicians are crazy just about everywhere.  I may complain about some things here that I'll never really "get", but this isn't the first time that I've mentioned the amazing Danish pastries, and Denmark is really beautiful in its own non-mountainous kind of way.

I have a million times more compassion for people who are trying to learn another language because I too have to try my hardest just to communicate some really simple concept very slowly and with mispronounced words and verbs in the wrong tense.

And it's not just language learners, but everyone feeling uncomfortable in a new place.  Never before in my life have I been in such a regular state of feeling uncomfortable.  And it's no one's fault.  Well...actually...it's my fault because I chose to move to a different country.  In general, people have been very friendly, but there are still instances where I'm just not sure what to do and I'm just praying that the person I'm interacting will be patient and gracious with me while I attempt to learn their language and culture.

Of course, one of my biggest hopes when moving here was that we would be able to travel not just around Denmark but to lots of different countries around Europe.  I am SO thankful it's worked out that we've been able to do this.  I think I'm uncomfortable in Denmark then I find myself in Greece where they use a completely different alphabet, and I'm even more dependent on other people's kindness.

Somebody wasn't too excited about the Mets game.

I never studied aboard in college or in grad school so this was my first experience being not a tourist in another country.  Obviously, I still have a ways to go, but it's been helpful to think about just what I expected when we made this move and consider that in light of reality 1.5 years later.  I'll credit you in the USA for reminding me that the opportunity to live abroad is really cool.  Thanks for letting me attempt to impress you with funny and embarrassing stories about our time here.  You too can have funny and embarrassing stories to tell your friends if you come visit us (bring some Sriracha and Trader Joe's mango slices, please!).