Hvar-ppy Birthday to Suz
Arriving in Hvar, all of us still wanted to see if we could arrange accommodation together in the same house and decided to look for the people offering rooms.
It seems that we didn’t have to worry though, on every other port here in Croatia there has always been 3-4 different people offering us accommodation. Upon arrival in Hvar we were literally attacked by a dozen people who wanted us to stay at their place.
The ongoing rate started a bit high but as soon as they found out that we were all together they started dropping their prices. At the end we just followed a man who had three rooms for us and at a decent price. The rooms were ok, it came with a good equipped kitchen and we also had a terrace, couldn’t ask for much more really.
We had heard about the lavender fields of Hvar and wanted to have a look to see if we could find them….
Originally, Suz and I thought of renting a motorcycle to explore the island with, but since none of the other girls would have been able to drive one we just thought, why not share the cost and just rent a car?
Said and done, we found a very cute old yellow convertible Beetle that we picked up and we took off towards the fortress looking over Hvar town to start with.
Driving the Beetle was quite an experience, to start the car I had to keep the pedal to the metal or it would just shut down on me. It came with 4 gears but since the roads are very windy and narrow I barely touched the 3rd gear.
It only took us between 5-10min to reach Fortress Španjol…
From here we had the best view over the town of Hvar and we made sure that we got some good photos from every possible angle, we even arranged my camera on the tripod and managed to get a good group photo that way.
Eventually we decided that we had had enough of the fortress and continued on our search for Lavender.
Driving along the small narrow road of Hvar you have to watch out for the edge of the road, there are no railings on the side which would keep you on the road if you swerved to hard to one side….no, here you would just tumble all the way down. Which is quite scary considering the views are amazing as you drive by, I wanted to see them but I also had to keep my eyes on the road.
Well, I just made sure to make a few stops here and there so that I could see some of the scenery as well!
The girls kept looking for the lavender fields but unfortunately we were later told that it was too late in the year for them, which would explain why we couldn’t find them. We did on the other hand see some very weird rock formations along the side of the cliffs and wondered if it was there for the lavender plants….
After driving for a while we eventually reached Stari Grad, which actually means Old Town. We parked and wandered along the streets for a while trying to find somewhere to have lunch. Eventually we managed to find a family owned little restaurant where we got some good food.
With lunch taken care of we continued along the road, this time we were on the lookout for a nice beach and we had heard that there was one just outside of the small town of Jelsa.
Passing Jelsa we followed the sign to a camping area and eventually found a beach, but since this seemed to be filled with caravans and people who live in caravans we decided to look around the area for an alternative beach.
Well, we didn’t exactly find a beach but at least we found a place where we could get into the water. The bad news about it was that it was very rocky and quite difficult to get in. Suz eventually gave up from trying (and I think she thought the water was a bit too cold as well). Laura and I were actually the only ones to dare the cold water.
After a refreshing dip I got out and laid down to rest for a while in the sun, since it was sunny I decided to use my sarong over my head for cover and this amused the girls to no end!
They started by folding the sarong tightly around my head and then putting on a pair of sunglasses on top of the sarong. Then they used the sunscreen to type a very charming message across my stomach….. This is what happens when you travel with 4 girls!
The afternoon was now upon us and we decided to start heading back to Hvar…. passing and stopping at the small towns of Jelsa, Vrboska and Milna along the way for some well deserved gelato (it still cannot compete with the one we had in Rome though).
Originally we had intended to return the car the next morning (we did rent it for 24h after all) but the hassle of parking just wasn’t worth it. So when we returned to Hvar Town in the early evening we called the rental guy and managed to return the car…. perfect!
That evening we strolled the small streets and harbour of Hvar Town, just wandering aimlessly…. and the next morning, it was Suz’s Birthday!
We started the celebrations by having a well deserved sleep-in (I asked Suz what she wanted for her B’day and she responded: “Not to get up before noon!”).
Once we managed to drag ourselves out of bed we went for a stroll around town during daytime. At some point we even managed to get a bit lost but eventually we made our way back to our house.
That evening Alex and I did the cooking, she sliced and diced and I invented the now very famous “Hvar Stew”!
We all sat around that night, eating, celebrating and just being silly (which we are very good at). We finished up the evening sitting around the computer, sharing photos and some of our delicious local Procek wine!
The next morning it was time to leave the islands and head for the mainland once more….
Our main reason for visiting Hvar was to see the large fields of Lavender, we were of course a bit disapointed that we didn’t see it but still had a great time on the island.
It’s still a gorgeous island and with our rental Beetle (which we just loved to drive around in) we managed to see some great areas. It didn’t leave such an impression as Korcula and to some extent Dubrovnik, but we would still recommend people to visit it (just make sure to arrive in Lavender season!!).
