Undiscovered beauty behind the Dubrovnik Walls of Croatia

Matt woke up at 6am to watch the ship pull into Dubrovnik, Croatia. The Master Captain is from Croatia. As we pulled past the city chapel, the captain blew the ship horn once, and the chapel replied with the sound of their bell three times. As we pulled pass his house, he blow the ship horn three times and the town harbor responded with three horns. At that moment, the captain's wife waved a white flag while standing on top of a stone wall. It was one of the most touching and romantic moments ever.

Croatia is amazing. It is a beautiful country with a very recent sad past. This country was heavily impacted by war, death, and destruction about 17 years ago. We had the opportunity to go to the War Photo Museum. There were photos of the war in Croatia, Columbia, and of wounded soldiers from the US. It was quite profound and moving. We had the opportunity to talk to several locals who survived the Croatian war and their stories were overwhelming. They showed us all the places where the city had been bomb and rebuilt. There is a great deal of pride and love from the people towards their country. We feel very blessed to have been able to be visitors and not just tourist to their beautiful country.

We have had the opportunity to really relax these past couple of days. We spend a whole day at the beach on the island of Lopud. It was a beautiful place, but extremely hot. We walked throughout the Old Town, walked 1,715 steps around the Wall (the video above; it is the largest fortress in the world), and tried great Croatian food. Are time here has gone by slowly which is nice...We will be talking off and headed towards Greece tomorrow night. So, one last day to enjoy this breathtakingly beautiful country. We hope you enjoy the pics above.