Italy, Slovenia, and Croatia

   Having to wake up long before the sun is due to rise has got to be one of the crueler things in life. I woke up on Saturday morning at about 4:15am. I spent the night with a friend because this made it much easier for me to get where I needed to be when I needed to be there. 

   Anyway, the bus eventually came and we loaded up, sort of excited and talkative despite the hour. As soon as the bus started to move, everyone was asleep (or trying to go to sleep). As strange as it was, I couldn't really go to sleep. All I would've done was developed neck and back pain. So I sat up and looked out the window. I could still see stars, but it was especially cool to see because I was about to see the faint silhouette of mountains. As we drove, I watched the sun rise. At that moment I was enjoying something I haven't done very often--listen to Josh Groban while cruising through mountain ranges. This combination is truly awesome.

   We finally made it to Trieste, Italy about 5 hours later. Going from Salzburg to this location in Italy made me wonder how it was possible that 2 places which are so different could be so close. The water was clear and blue. It wasn't warm, but I got away with not wearing a jacket. We went to a castle/palace that had been built right on the shore. We didn't go inside, but walking around outside was good enough for me.

   After we left this place, we wandered a little more in the middle of the city of Trieste. It felt very nice to be in Italy again. 

      We soon boarded the bus again and headed for Slovenia. Crossing the borders was, first, hilarious. Slovenia is a part of the EU, so getting in there as American citizens was no big deal. The funny part was how close the Croatian border was. We drove a whole 50 feet and reached the border of Croatia. Slovenia isn't 50 feet wide, but that's about all the coast they have to call their own! Never have I had 2 stamps put in my passport within such a short amount of time. Getting into Croatia was a little different for one student, however. Croatia is not a part of the EU. This didn't mean much to us Americans, but there was one student with us who is from Thailand. They wouldn't let her cross the border. We all felt really bad--we had to leave her in Slovenia. It wasn't for very long, we came back to get her less than 24 hours later. But still. : (

   We didn't spend much time in Slovenia that day. We headed straight for Croatia after we reluctantly left our Thai friend behind. We had a late lunch, but it was still good. We ate at a restaurant that was already expecting to feed calamari to about 25 people.

   We hung out around here for a little while before we headed to our hotel. 

   Once we arrived at our hotel, some people wanted to immediately go swimming (as in outside). I opted to lie down on something that was actually flat and sleep-worthy: my bed. It wasn't so much exhaustion, but more because of my unwelcome headache. Soon after people started to come back, we headed downstairs for dinner. It was a huge buffet. I wasn't actually that hungry because of our late lunch, but I ate anyway. It was very good. : ) 

   I wasn't sure what language people speak in Croatia. Well, it's pretty obvious: they speak Croatian. But because of its small size and its location, they had signs everywhere reading the same thing in about 10 different languages. I was happy to read not only one, but two of the languages.

   After dinner, we wandered around Croatia a little. We took a cab to get to the center of town, which cost 15 Kunas. One Kuna equals $0.185. It was a very cheap taxi.

   

   These pictures make Croatia look a little sketchy, but it was just dark outside. These buildings range from about 700-900 years old. After a little more wandering, we walked back to the hotel. Some went to the discoteque down the road, but several of us chilled at the bar in the hotel, ordered a drink called Cuba Libre, and just talked till we were falling asleep in our chairs. We all shared 3 people to a room. One of my roommates went to bed when I did, but the other went to the discoteque. The problem was we only had one key, which we needed to power the room. So one of us was going to have to get up to let her back in. The next morning, I saw both of my roommates asleep. I assumed that my other roommate let her back in and didn't think anything of it. Then we were informed that it was I who let her in. I don't remember this at all!

   We left the hotel in the late morning and headed to the border to pick up our Thai friend (who was just fine). We walked a little through Slovenia (which looks a lot like Italy, and for good reason) and then boarded the bus again to head to the caves.

   Nobody knew what to expect, but once we were inside these caves, we were all dumbstruck. I felt as though we had just entered a National Geographic special. Please, do yourself a favor and google caves in Slovenia. They're amazing. My pictures do them no justice--plus it was really hard to capture anything clearly. But here are some that aren't completely incomprehensible. (And yes, there's a railing to the right in this first one)

   At one point during the tour, the electricity went out for about 5 seconds. I have never been in anything so completely dark as the inside of this cave. 

   The entire tour lasted about an hour and a half, but felt a lot shorter. These caves are truly one of the most amazing things I've ever seen--and I've seen quite a bit.

   Well I must retire to get ready for class. I hope you've enjoyed this one! Let me know what you think! : )

Until next time,

Hillary