f the ship and were able to manage it w/out a hitch.
Being here so relatively soon after the war (1991-1995) was something that I was really looking forward to. Not remembering much about a war that occurred while I was in high school, it was all essentially new knowledge to me. One of the most visible things about the war on Dubrovnik is all of the red rooftops that were replaced after the rest were bombed out. There are very few yellow/brown rooftops in the city, which signifies all the damage that the city endured.
The city itself is really charming to look at. Everything is completely revitalized post-war and it is a cruise ship destination now. Apparently about 700 cruise ships dock at this port per year! The old part of the city is surrounded by a fortress/wall that people can climb on and walk around to get the best view of the historical part of Dubrovnik. There are alleyways upon alleyways in this part of the city, connecting cafes, shops, and homes. Very quaint and very cute. I wandered and wandered, looking, viewing and seeing the old part of the city, trying my damnedest to respect and understand all of the history that has happened on the very stones I was walking on. Maybe I should have hired a tour guide.
Nevertheless, this port has been amazing fun! Islands and beautiful, BEAUTIFUL crystal clear green-blue water is their biggest tourism draw. (There is no industry here--tourism being the main income.) I rented jet-ski's the first day and island hopped for 8 hours, climbing in and out of coves to snorkel, swim, hike and finding great tiki bars to watch the world go by. It was awesome! and I day that I will never forget. I was exhausted by the end of it, but so very happy.
I also took a ferry to an island with an established National 
Park on it and rented bikes all day, which allowed for multiple stops to swim and covering much of the park via 2 wheels. The day ended w/ the best octopus salad that I've ever had in my life!Also, I went and visited a humanitarian organization in Dubrovnik that really impacted on me. It was started after the war to help women transition from a socialized system to a capitalist, mainly with jobs, skills and mental health (loosing brothers, fathers, husbands & sons in the war). One of the most heartbreaking things that I learned was about the ethnic cleansing that happened to the Croatians by the Serbs. The men would be killed and all of the women & girls were captured and put in essentially "rape camps" where they would be gang raped daily to impregnate the women with serbian blood. Needless to say, the PTSD that followed is still present today. This organization offers/offered services such as counseling for this, along with needs they identify at the time.
We had a long chat with a Croatian woman working for the organization about how she fled Dubrovnik and passed by the coastline on a boat watching the bombing and smoke from a distance. Her family was still left here and she knew they would die. It was a very emotional discussion for her and our group, as tears were shed by both parties as she imparted her story
on us. The war suddenly came alive for me.On a lighter note, I had my first 2 days of port call towards the end and it was .... interesting. I am continually amazed by what these kids think is an emergency and how much they depend on 'Mom' at home. Calling home for stumping a toe & splitting toe-nails, crying hysterically over a scraped knee b/c a scar would be there, to coming to the clinic for anything imaginable that tylenol & neosporin would handle just fine! I'm learning alot--mostly to keep my mouth shut!
For another view of some of the same stuff, you can read Casey's commentary on our time in Croatia at
http://hudetz.tumblr.com/
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