The Islands - Hvar

Hvar

In the summer months, 20,000 Italians descend on the island of Hvar off the coast of Croatia. Luckily for us it isn't summer, and when we arrived on Hvar last Wednesday morning it was very quiet. We decided to stay in the accommodation recommended to us by the West Australans we met on the ferry from Dubrovnik - an apartment 10 mins walk from the harbour with a balcony and small view of the ocean, for only $45 per night!

After settling in we walked into the harbour past a gorgeous church on the water:

We loved how clear the water was, all the fish swimming by the boats, and the palm trees. Here's us by the water:

And Japh standing in the main harbour area:

After Em sneakily darted into a few shops to buy some pretty things, we explored the church (which was creepy... there was a painting with eyeballs on a plate), and then walked up the steep hill at the back of the harbour. This led to a castle looking out over the harbour of Hvar Town and the islands:
.
Em loved it up there:

We wandered back to the harbour for pizza by the water and admired the sunset on the way home.

Our second day on Hvar was even better weather-wise, so we decided to be adventurous. The water by the harbour looked incredible:

So we decided to explore the water further out. We hired a small motorboat, just the two of us, so we could go boat around the islands we had seen from the castle the day before. Em did have a steer of the boat but Japh was the main 'driver':

We stopped in a small bay for lunch, and ate bread, cheese, bananas, biscuits and chips. There was a restaurant on the bay and the jazz music floated across the water towards us. Small fish were swimming all around the boat and the water was an amazing aqua colour:
.

This was probably the best part of our day. After leaving the bay the wind picked up, and the swell got quite large. We were in a tiny boat. This is a shot Em took of the water just before it got really bad:

Because by the time it got even worse she was hanging on for her life. We seriously came close to capsizing several times, but managed to make it back safely to Hvar Town where Japh was happy to 'park' the boat. We went back to our apartment to admire the sunset and be thankful we were alive:

We decided to recover the next day and not do anything too strenuous. In the opposite direction to the harbour we found a goat track down to an incredible little bay:

Fuzlet loved it here:

And Emi and Japh took turns skimming rocks:

It was a beautiful warm day so we spent the rest of the afternoon wandering around the harbour and sharing a calzone pizza by the water.

We hadn't planned anything for our last day on Hvar so we went down to the harbour again:

And sat by the clear water:

We walked along the rocky point and found rock pools:

And discovered a large bay with lovely blue water and jetties. After a while Japh got sick of all the walking so he decided to hire a scooter. He convinced Emi to join him:

And we found the road along the coast, which we followed before finding the bay we'd discovered the day before:

This was the perfect end to Japh's Hvar trip and, as we both loved the island so much, we decided to visit another island called Vis the next day, and stay for another 4 nights instead of going back to Italy. It is so much cheaper in Croatia and the weather has generally been good. The pace is more relaxed and there are less people, so it has felt more like a holiday. We both love it here and think everyone should come visit!

Next up - the island of Vis, and why it is awesome.