Tuesday 14th May
We were up before the sun, and walking across Korčula to the RIGHT port for our 6am ferry to Hvar!
We're on! We're actually on! We did it! 12hours later and we're on a ferry! Wooo!!
We arrived into Hvar an hour and a half later and just seeing it from the boat it looks absolutely beautiful!
We walked to the main square in front of the church and people watched while we waited for our Airbnb host to meet us. It was just delivery men and shop owners setting up for the day, and a few kids making their way to school. There was something about being up and watching the town slowly wake up that felt quite special.
Our Airbnb is so cute! It's absolutely gorgeous and tucked into a really cute street actually within the walls of the old town! The view right outside the window is of the walls and the mountains beyond, its beautiful!
Well, it turns out the early morning took it out of me because the next thing I know I'm waking up from an impromptu nap!
After our little cat nap we headed out for a little wander and to find the grocery store. This grocery store is a new brand to us, it's called Konzum. The cereal we were looking for is a Tommy brand, so as such, it's not here, but we found another delicious looking muesli with dehydrated strawberries in it, and actually I think this may be their main supermarket chain, not Tommy!
The super market was really cool, they had lockers at the front after the checkout where you could store your groceries for the day!
We then made our way back to the apartment and had an early night!
Wednesday 15th May
We had a relaxing morning and made the best toasted sandwiches for lunch. I haven't had a toasty since we left home and let me tell you, it did not disappoint! We also noticed that Croatians love to eat paprika chips so we got some to try, and they were really nice! I would buy again.
After lunch we headed out and meandered our way through the streets of the old town. It is so quaint, with little cafes and restaurants on every corner of the narrow streets, little boutique stores and beautiful Renaissance and Baroque architecture.
Hvar Old Town is a pedestrian only town, which I love! It is also quite steep, with stairs and relatively steep streets separating the parallel streets. Our wanderings had taken us up to the top of the town and the start of the climb up to the Spanish Fortress.
It suddenly felt like we were miles away from any town, with rugged rock, overgrown vegetation, and the sound of birds whistling in the trees. It was a really beautiful walk up, and we passed an old crumbling church much like the one we saw when we hiked the Ladder of Kotor in Montenegro.
The lovely walk up in the warm sunshine also gave us views back over the coastline and the town of Hvar.
It really is stunning, I think it may be my favourite Croatian town so far, it's so beautiful.
We made it to the top and up to the fortress. It was a cool fortress, and while we didn't go in, we could appreciate the architecture of it from walking around the outside.
What was incredible though, was the view! On one side, nestled below the fortress was Hvar town and the striking crystal blue sea, and on the other side were rugged white rock mountains sporadically covered in green shrubs. It was beautiful on both sides!
A while later we headed back down the hill side and to our apartment for the evening.
Thursday 16th May
The weather wasn't particularly nice again today so we took the opportunity to do a bit of planning for the next couple of weeks and figure out where we were going next.
The last couple of days, the internet has been kind of patchy and at around the same time each night, it has just cut out and the network disappeared, which is so strange, so we contacted our Airbnb host and they came to sort it out. Well, the router is in the apartment directly under ours and it turns out that the people in that apartment have been turning it off at night because they didn't like the light it gave off! That explains why it kept disappearing! So mystery solved! The Airbnb guy took it from their apartment and put in ours so now we have great internet!
It had cleared up a little so we ducked out to the grocery store to pick up a few bits, mainly we needed another bag of muesli, but of course the classic Croatian Supermarket Conspiracy strikes again. They don't have our muesli, it's like it never existed! So we picked another one (it turned out to be just as good), but I just can't fathom that once we buy something, it just disappears off the shelves and we can't buy it again!
We continued planning for the afternoon and then headed out for a sunset walk.
It was beautiful walking around the harbour at this time of day, the way the soft light landed, painted it all in such a magical way.
While we were marvelling at the beauty we heard someone shout out "Sam", but didn't turn around as it wouldn't be us, we don't know anyone here! But then we heard it again, and wait a second, it sounds Australian. We turn around and there was Nat and Matt, some family friends of Sam's! What are the chances?! Bumping into friends from home all the way on the other side of the world in Croatia!
We chatted away for a while having a catch up a long way from home!
We continued to walk round the coast of the island, towards the sunset, looking for the best vantage point to watch it set over the water.
The walk round the coast was gorgeous. On one side of the path we had beautiful clear blue ocean, and on the other we had hardy plants, with a few little cottages boasting orange roofs scattered along the walk slightly hidden by lush green plants. I’m getting very Mamma Mia vibes! We passed the more resort style area, with grand pools, and bars with lounges right by the ocean, it was really cool.
Watching the sun set over the ocean was gorgeous, standing on a rocky outcrop with the ocean breaking on the rocks below us.
It is so gorgeous here, it is such a beautiful island, I think Hvar might be one of the most beautiful towns we’ve visited in Croatia so far.
Friday 17th May
We packed up a backpack and headed out to explore a little more of the island today.
We walked out of the old town and round the coast in the opposite direction to last night. It's beautiful, we passed the newer part of the town with beautiful buildings, and numerous little restaurants and cafes all opening up to the ocean. There was a little bay where all the locals had their boats moored up, and a small pebble beach where some people were sunbathing.
I have no idea how the people who's boats are in the middle of the bay get to the land! Or from land to the boats! I find it so puzzling!
It was really beautiful looking back at the town, and we could see the fortress up on the hill.
We kept walking round the coast and out of the town, just following the road round the rugged coastline, massive mansions scattered along the road on our left, and beautiful open ocean on our right.
We kept walking and saw there was a small island not far off the coast, with a house on it!
We'd followed the coast road round for about half an hour when we arrived at our destination, a little tucked away beach our host had told us about! It's a gorgeous little bay, with white pebbles for sand, and crystal clear waters!
We'd gotten quite hot on our walk across the island, so decided it was warm enough to go for a swim! It was cool to begin with but was quite nice once we were in!! Yayy! We're finally swimming in Croatia, and an island no less! It was soooo lovely to be in the water and to really feel like a summer island holiday!
We spent the afternoon splashing about in the water, and then when it became a bit cool, warming ourselves on the pebbly beach! It was such a lush afternoon. I'm in absolute heaven!
Eventually as the sun started to dip lower in the sky, we packed ourselves up and walked back round the island to the town. We wandered around the harbour for a while and then found a spot to sit and Sam sent the drone up for a little fly around. It is so stunning here!
Commenti