June 2015: my CBYX program year was on pause for two weeks, one of my best (American) friends had made the trek out to Europe to visit me, and all of Europe was our oyster - it was time for the trip of a lifetime!

First on our itinerary was Dubrovnik, Croatia, whose magnificent Old Town features a fairy-tale like cluster of cobbled back lanes and centuries-old houses, churches, and palaces, all surrounded by imposing, well-preserved medieval fortifications.

Centuries ago, Dubrovnik was a world capital of maritime trading that rivaled Venice in power and wealth. It was a fiercely independent republic that so revered the concept of libertas - liberty - that it was the first foreign state in 1776 to recognize a little new republic called the United States of America. 

Over the last 200 years, the city has become an extraordinarily popular travel destination, and it's not hard to understand why. Lord Byron was said to have labeled it "the Pearl of the Adriatic" after he visited. These days, two million people follow his footsteps every year by touring the charming Old Town, which was recognized as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1979. I'm thinking that at least 1.75 million of those people are Game of Thrones fans vying to see the real-life filming locations for King's Landing, which are scattered throughout the city. 

As you'll see in the photos below, the city's walled medieval center has been remarkably well-preserved. That's in spite of a 1667 earthquake that destroyed a large portion of the city. Only a few palaces and the city's walls survived that disaster, and everything else had to be rebuilt. Thus while the city was most prosperous during medieval times, much of the architecture in the Old Town has a modest Baroque style.

A multi-million-dollar reconstruction effort also took place after two-thirds of the old city's buildings were damaged by artillery fire from the battles that accompanied Croatia's bid for independence from Yugoslavia in 1991. The rebuilding efforts were completed only with the use of original, historically accurate techniques and materials. 

It's time to see some pictures. After getting a look at the city's coastal charm and architectural wonders, you're going to want to visit. So start converting your dollars to kunas and take a look below at what awaits you!

A sneak peek of the Old Town

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I didn't meant to sound so ominous with that title, but my good friend Marissa's arrival in Europe in June 2015 truly did mean the final leg of my CBYX program year in Germany was about to come to an end. 

Just before her arrival, I had my last day of my internship at Kompaktmedien, so I whipped out my best German in my final goodbye email to the office. My coworkers responded and wished me well, and one of them said I was the first American they had met who could speak such good German! Now that's a compliment I'm sure to remember. 

After work, I rushed off to a subway station to greet Marissa. She had quite the journey behind her - she had flown from San Francisco to Salt Lake City, from Salt Lake City to Amsterdam, and from Amsterdam to Hamburg. Then she took a train into Berlin, and finally she had to ride one last subway train to Friedenau, my host family's neighborhood in Berlin. All in all, it was 28 hours of traveling. Thanks for going through all that, Marissa! It's almost like you're one of my very best friends or something.  

Marissa had endured the trek so we could take advantage of a 14-day break in my program schedule and travel together to a whole variety of new and exciting European destinations - but first, we had to cover Berlin. In a whirlwind 1.25-day blitz, I took her around the city and showed her all the highlights Berlin had to offer, giving her a crash course on German history in the process. I began by telling her that when you're touring Berlin, there's no better historical landmark with which to start than the Berlin Wall.

Posing at a segment of the Berlin Wall at the Berlin Wall Memorial. At this point, I've regurgitated pretty much every fact I've ever known about the wall and Berlin history on this blog, so I'll refer you to my older posts on the wall here and here if you're hungry for wall facts

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