Hvar

Friday, August 5

Our ferry docked in Hvar on time and the hike up to the apartment wasn’t too bad so we were at the place by about 4:30pm. Feeling a little hungry, we set out to explore the town a bit and find a snack. We walked back down the hill to the main city square. The city square sits in a valley between two hills- one hill was where we were staying, the other had an old fortress and wall.

Hvar town is teeny, so there wasn’t too much exploring to do but we liked looking through the narrow, cobblestone alleys. We found a place with cheap pizza slices and then wandered up the hill to the Spanish Fortress.

The path up switched back several times and it ended up being further than we thought it would be. But the area was planted as a Mediterranean garden and was teeming with cicadas so it felt like a real nature hike.

The sunlight was getting weaker and an ocean breeze was picking up, so it wasn’t unbearably hot. Near the top we explored a little temple before looking out at the view of the city. We opted to not go into the fortress itself because it seemed overpriced for what it offered (and we’ve seen similar things recently).

So we hiked back down, to the grocery store, and then back up the hill to our apartment. There was an older Swedish couple staying in the apartment next to ours, with which we shared a kitchen. As we prepared dinner (it took forever to boil water on the electric stove) we chatted with them about Sweden, California, and motorcycles because the guy, Christian, has a dream of riding a motorcycle along Highway 1 someday.

Carl made us a delicious pasta with red pesto and Croatian prosciutto. We ate and drank some Croatian wine, Plavac Mili, while talking to the Swedes. Christian told us we should rent a scooter or motorcycle the next day and he recommended getting one with a bigger engine to manage the steep hills. The WiFi was awful but we somehow managed to watch a show on our IPad before passing out.

Saturday, August 6

We set out to get a scooter to explore other parts of the island. Down in the main square there are several rental kiosks that rent out everything from scooters to motorcycles and boats – even VW bugs! We had to stand in line for a bit but were surprised when they said they still had bikes to rent.

The staff person was about to give us a 125cc bike but then, at the last second, asked if Carl had a motorcycle license. Carl tried to act like everything was all good without straight up lying, but the guy didn’t accept it. So he gave us a 50cc scooter. We asked if it would make it up the hills with both of us on it and he waved his hand in dismissal saying ‘or course, you’ll be fine”.

To get out of Hvar town meant going up a hill to the ridge so we figured we could test out the hills and return back down if needed. We charted a course toward Brusje, which is famous for its fields of lavender.

There was no one else on the road and it was absolutely gorgeous as we wound up to the hill crest and then popped over to see the Adriatic Sea from the other side of the island, welcomed by a cool ocean breeze. The hills weren’t too steep after all, and since no one else was on the road, it didn’t matter that we puttered slowly up. We even passed a girl on an electric standing scooter – like the ones you rent in cities- and even she seemed nonplussed to be slowly creeping up the 6 percent grade.

As we neared Brusje we could smell the lavender, although we didn’t see fields of it. Probably the wrong season. Along the road were stands selling lavender products. We stopped and got a few small items, to support the locals.

Then it was downhill again to Stari Grad, one of the bigger towns on the island. Right in the center of town was the motorcycle and scooter parking. We parked and walked along the boardwalk a bit before returning to the parking lot to find a restaurant.

We had thought the motorcycle parking was capped at 15 minutes, which seemed weird, so we wanted to keep an eye on the bike to not get a ticket. Then, after we had sat down, the waiter said the sign referred to cars on the other side of the rope. This mix-up was serendipitous though because it caused us to choose the restaurant more inland, instead of a touristy overpriced one on the harbor.

I ordered a glass of lavender champagne and my eyes rolled back into my head because it was so good. One of the top 10 best drinks I’ve ever had. Carl ordered the fish soup, a Hvar specialty, and we were surprised how buttery, and not fishy it was. We also got meatloaf balls (i.e., meatballs) and rigatoni pasta with gorgonzola and mushrooms. It was a lot of filling food, but it was tasty.

We got back on the scooter and took the main road – which had all the cars and other scooters- back to the south side of the island to go to a beach. Every time we passed a fellow scooter, the riders would wave enthusiastically as if we knew them. It was so cute! We were all puttering around, praying to make it up hill, but at least we had each other.

We got to the stretch of road where you turn to go down a gravel road to the beach, called Dubovica. The road down looked treacherous and we saw a bunch of cars and bikes parked at the top so we did the same and walked down. The path led through an olive tree grove before we suddenly emerged onto the little beach.

Dubovica is a small beach that is sheltered by a mountain jutting out on one side. There is also an iconic little stone house on the other side that people have in all their photos. We couldn’t figure out whether anyone lived there or if it’s a hotel. The only other building down there is used as a bar and restaurant and the family that owns it must be making a killing.

We didn’t bother to find shade this time and just set our towels close to the water. We both jumped in and kept an eye on our bags as we swam out to the buoys. The swimming area was sheltered and big enough that it was possible to do laps. I used goggles that we’d found in the Philippines and did a few laps, dodging children and drunk guys on inner tubes.

The water was so cold that we’d actually get a chill and then need to sit in the hot sun again to warm up. But then the sun was so hot, we’d have to go back in and dunk our bodies in the cold water. It was a repetitive ritual. By about 5pm it felt time to go, so we packed up and trekked back up the hill.

We saw another couple struggling to get their scooter up and over the ridge back to the main road. They made it but then later we saw them walking their bike up the hill. They said it had just puttered out on them while they were going up. They were going to try to use the momentum of the next downhill to get it going again. They seemed confident in finding a solution, so we wished them luck and rode away, hoping they could make it back to town ok.

Once we were back in town we got a few more snacks from the grocery and then hiked back up to our apartment. We had a nice snack-dinner of crostinis with cheese and honey (from the lavender stand). We continued to nibble on the prosciutto and popped open a bottle of Debit, a Croatian white wine so named because the French once accepted barrels of it as debit toward taxes.

We looked out over the sea as the sun set and the sky turned pretty colors of pink and purple. Then the yellow moon came out and it was so bright despite being a half moon.

Sunday, August 7

We walked down to the pier about 930am to meet our tour, a sailboat that would take us to the islands off of Hvar for some swimming. While we waited at the tour agency office we grabbed some nitro cold brew lattes from the cafe next door and got a jolt because we haven’t had that much caffeine in a while.

Finally they lead us down the boardwalk onto the boat. There were three other couples on the tour with us: one from France, one from Sweden, and one from Australia. The French guy didn’t speak much English but every one else was politely chatty as we pushed off and motored out into the bay.

The captain explained that the first two weeks of August are known for having little wind (lucky us) so instead of sailing very far the plan would be to motor out to some secluded beaches for swimming. We didn’t go very far at all but we did pass between two islands and anchored on the other side of a tiny island on a beach that had nothing on it except rocks and a little cabana made from sticks.

We jumped in and swam around, grateful for the opportunity to cool off. The captain pulled out a bag of snorkels and masks for us to use, but there was barely anything to look at. We found some sea cucumbers and some red coral and a bunch of fish with a little black spot at their tail. Nothing else.

I got cold at one point and tried to hang out on the beach. Though there was no one else there, the beach was incredibly rocky and some rocks had slick algae on them -not ideal! So I forced myself back into the cold water to swim back to the boat and sit in the sun.

The captain served cookies and Carl found the bottles of wine that had been advertised for the tour. We think they had taken boxed wine and put it into glass bottles but it was still alright, and we meant to get our moneys worth. Carl turned into the bartender and was pouring everyone a cup.

Then we motored over to a different area where there were several restaurants. Our captain told us we would need reservations for the small family place he was taking us to. He implied it would be cheaper than it was. We all sat at a big table together. Despite the place being called Bacchus, none of us ordered wine. The Australians didn’t drink at all, explaining that they had just been to Ibiza and had drank so many mojitos that mint was triggering.

Carl and I got a meat and cheese platter to share. Everyone else ordered the oven baked lamb or octopus that came with veggies and potatoes cooked together. Their portions ended up being so big that they shared some with us. The lamb was predictably amazing but the octopus was so so surprisingly good. We had talked about giving up eating octopus because they are too smart and usually don’t taste very good. This dish made us doubt that decision.

Then we got back on the boat to go to one more swimming spot. This time there was some wind so the captain put up the sail and we cruised back over to the side of the island where we could see Hvar across the sea.

We stopped at an area to swim again. It was less sheltered than the first place and the waves were noticeably choppier. We saw a little bit of yellow coral, and not much else. The water was so salty that it was so easy to float. We all hung out in the water for a little bit before climbing back in the boat to dry in the sun and sip some cheap wine.

Then it was time to go back to Hvar. It felt like we’d only been out for a couple hours but it was already almost 5pm. We hiked back up to our apartment, showered off, and chilled in the AC and on the patio for the rest of the day. We ate Carl’s delicious pasta leftovers for dinner and watched a tv show we had downloaded when the WiFi had been working slightly better.

We wished we could’ve explored more of Hvar island and the surrounding islands but we had other places to visit too. Next stop: Dubrovnik.