A week in the Balkans

I wasn't originally planning on coming to the Balkans. I was thinking Eastern Europe, mainly Greece, and trying to connect Poland in there too. Someone I knew told me I should think about Dubrovnik. I looked at a few pictures online and I was sold. I'm about four days into my Eastern Europe adventure. I flew in to Zagreb on Wednesday, August 23rd. I spent one day at Plitvitse (PLEET-veet-seh) Lakes National Park, this gorgeous forested crater carved by glaciers that now holds lots of lakes. You walk through the gorge on a series of narrow pathways and these log walkways and pass waterfalls. It's gorgeous. It also is a pain because no one knows how to walk and tourists stop in the middle of everything every five seconds to take pictures.

 Also, women of the world, what makes you want to hike through a slippery gorge in wedge sandals? And how do you avoid plummeting to your death, a real fear of mine in normal footwear? I spent a little time in Zagreb, which is a great capital city. Not too big but very lively with lots of great spaces to explore and very cutely arranged. Then I flew to Dubrovnik, aka King's Landing from Game of Thrones, a gorgeous medieval walled city along the Dalmatian coast. I've been up a cable car, on a boat, hiked around the city walls, and dove into the Adriatic Sea. Also, I slept a lot. Jet lag and flying directly after a month long intensive summer camp mean that I was pretty wiped.

 Today I took a bus to Sarajevo. It sounds silly, but I really didn't know how incredibly beautiful Bosnia-Herzegovina was. It's all mountains and valleys and rivers. It was raining today as we came in, and the tops of mountains were obscured by clouds. Beautiful. I only had dinner in the city so far, but it was delicious and cheap (which Dubrovnik has NOT been, so my bank account is happy). Excited to explore more! Happy summer 2014!