One Island Hop

LOCATION:

Hvar, Croatia

 

When planning the Croatia part of the adventure, the Dalmatian coast was high on the priority list. Side note - until yesterday I assumed the Dalmatian coast was called such because of the islands that spot the Adriatic Sea, but "delme" means sheep in some language, and this region was apparently once home to lots of them. We first looked into taking an island hopping cruise throughout Croatia, but the shortest one we found was five nights and they all seemed to feature more time on a boat than exploring the islands, so we opted to base ourselves in Split and do our own hopping via ferry. Unfortunately, we are still a few weeks early for tourist season and - while the lighter crowds are fantastic - the ferries don't run as frequently to as many islands. We decided our hop would be to one of the more popular islands, Hvar, a 2 hour ferry ride from Split.

The ferries, lined up and ready to go.

Waving goodbye to land!

 

We got off and walked to a town called Stari Grad, which was just perfect. It was small and uncrowded, and our first activity was a hike to the top of a hill. At the top there was a cross with benches for what looked like hilltop services, and beautiful views of the town and sea below.

The walk into Stari Grad.

The cross at the top.

And the views of the Adriatic!

 

Walking around the town we discovered a few churches, a Dominican monastery, and - the most famous building in the tiny town - a Croatian poets house designed so all divine creatures could live in harmony. We didn't want to pay the divine entrance fee though, so had to use our imaginations as to what harmonious living looked like from the inside.

Not sure what this church was, but I love the stark inside!

St. Stephen's church, built in 1600.

The monastery from the outside.

Beautiful gardens inside.

Monastery vineyard.

 

One of the ponds outside the poet's house - this kid is probably sad because of the entrance fee too.

After our tour of Stair Grad, we decided to kill time before the bus to the other side of the island - where the larger Hvar Town is - at a bar, of course! Lucky for us, we found one with some shade, a swing, and a yummy yellow banana mystery drink.

I had forgotten just how great a swing can be.

 

We took the bus to Hvar Town but only had about an hour and a half before catching the last ferry back to Split, so we just wandered around the town for a bit, admired the harbor, stuck our feet in the water for a few minutes, and had a nice late lunch before returning. Hvar was a good day trip, and I'm glad we got to see at least one of the Dalmatian islands. It is really beautiful here in Croatia though, so I would love to return someday during more of a tourist season and see more of it! All of the beaches we found were rocky, so I would also love the chance to come back and find some of the smaller, less developed islands with hidden sandy beaches.

Hvar Town, the water is such a prefect color.

 

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