Two.

It was finally time to get to Croatia. I was so excited to get to the famous beaches of Croatia. The only things standing in the way of the beaches was the three hour bus trip, one boarder crossing, and two stops. The two stops were before getting to the border. The first stop we made was Medjugorje, a religious pilgrimage site. Here it is believed that the Virgin Mary appeared to six children in 1981. When we arrived an Italian mass was just finishing. It was so interesting to see all the people crowed into the pews and spilling out the back door to listen to the mass. After the service was over Marissa, Lily, and I the only practicing Catholics on the trip entered the church and prayed. We then went and visited the statue erected on the spot of Mary’s alleged appearance (below is the statue). Once all of our prayers were said we headed to the shops to pick up souvenirs, and eat a quick lunch. Our next stop was a Serbian Monastery. Here we met with a monk in training, he was very helpful in explaining the small building. He talked about how the wars have destroyed the monastery, but how the people are persistent and keep rebuilding. We then boarded the bus and headed to Croatia.

(Below left is the monastary, right is the artwork some of which has been preserved since 1506, and further down is the Monk, Dragan (the bus driver), and Mladen(our TA)). 

Our bus trip took us right along the coast of Croatia; the views were breathtaking, at every bend in the road people’s faces would light up with even more anticipation and excitement. We were ready to get off the bus and enjoy our small vacation for the next few days. As soon as we arrived in our hotel we threw our bags down, and headed to the beach. Today is Liz’s birthday so we headed over to a nice restaurant for dinner. Dubrovnik is a tourist town, so obviously the prices are high, but the view of the sunset was breathtaking. After dinner we headed into the old town to celebrate even more. The old town is absolutely adorable, it is an old fortress with a network of streets within the walls, I cannot wait to go back during the day and explore further.