Hvar- 9.17-9.19

From Split, we boarded a catamaran headed for Hvar. We were only going to stay one night but immediately fell in love with the island and added a second night to our stay. The hostel owner, Luka, is an exubarant Croatian man, very friendly and very helpful. If you ever come to Hvar we recommend his hostel.



As we were checking in Luka's neighbor, who also happens to be his cousin, came over to tell me I was the color of cheese and laughed at me. Now I realize that I am a little pale but really- cheese? It makes me sound like I am sickly or lumpy, like cottage cheese. I think milk would have been a kinder desciptive word to use but I just smiled until he went away.


Since I didn't harbor any real hard feelings toward Luka's cousin for his cheese comment, we headed over to his restaurant for dinner. The food was AMAZING and for anyone who was with us in Athens we have two words for you- MEAT PLATTER!! We had a few envious stares when our food came out.


Apparently nothing goes better with a stomach full of meat than free shots of tequila because that is what they brought out with our bill. We reluctantly took the shots, chased them with water and three pieces of gum and waddled home.


We finally met some Aussies (we are surprised it took so long as usually they are everywhere) and had a few drinks (1 bottle of vodka) with them on our patio. Good times were had.


Our second day in Hvar (the 18th- Happy Birthday to Daddy K and Mama J!) we did more climbing. This time we hiked to a fortress at the top of a hill. We saw a lizard.


We went back to our hostel and packed a picnic with the intention of exploring the surrounding islands. Then we rented a boat. Looking back, they probably shouldn't have rented us a boat when it took us 20 pulls to get the engine started. If you won't rent a moped to American girls in Greece, why would you rent them a boat in Croatia?

As we zigzagged our way out of the harbor (not necessarily due to obstacles) at a blazing 4 MPH we realized this whole driving a boat thing is harder than we anticipated. Once we cleared the plethora of multi-million dollar boats, we thought it would be smooth sailing. But then we had to deal with the wind and large wakes. After braving the open waters for no longer than 5 minutes we skirted around to the back of a small island and promptly dropped anchor. We lasted about 35 minutes while eating and taking pictures before we became seasick from all the rocking. We held out a few more minutes but decided it was better to look dumb for returning the boat within an hour than to pollute the Adriatic Sea with our vomit. I give much props to Amanda for her skillful docking of the boat.

Last night, after we got our land legs back, we went to Carpe Diem which is supposed to be one of the best clubs in Croatia. It is off season now so it wasn't quite as 'umpin as we anticipated but we enjoyed our mojitos and bellinis nontheless.

Today we are off to Dubrovnik. HAPPY 1ST BIRTHDAY Marcus!!