A motorbike, 2 boats, and 20,000 straws

Arrived in Hvar on a beautiful day, warm and sunny, exactly what I’d been hoping for along the Croatian coast and islands, but yes we were hung over. We slept most the 2 hour ferry ride but we were still tired. Landing Hvar was what was explained to us, luxury The dock was surrounded by fancy hotels and million dollar yachts. We sat in front of a nearby hotel to eat a snack and use their wifi so that we could find out where are hostel was, whoops – we came did this a few times.
Hvar was gorgeous and fancy. I remember all the red roofs and gorgeous fishing and boat inlets and sailboats docked not far from the shoreline. As backpackers we were a little out of our element but we would soon find our people, and they were great! We made some awesome friends here.

Livin the lux life, loving the sun…and oh so tired

Stairs up to get our hostel

We arrived at our hostel, after what seemed like a long walk (we were tired) straight up the hill. it was another party one but this time we had reserved our own room, turns out it was our own apartment but the main area was in view of our balcony, along with the beautiful and sparkly Aegean Sea. We decided to open our balcony doors, feel the fresh air and sunshine and take a nap. It felt great. When we woke up the sun was about an hour before setting so we walked along the beach taking in the island, looking out to the nearby islands, it was our first island of the trip and first of many more to come.

View from our bedroom, not so shabby!

Along the shoreline

Stretches of coast

Thanks for the heads up. (Croatia has many “clothing optional” beaches, as we came to notice

We came back for the hostel after stopping at our super market for snacks, breakfast items, some wine and some beer. At 8p our hostel was throwing its communal BBQ – the company and the food was great. Luca, the owner BBQ’d pork chops, while the other workers put out lots of bread that we devoured with the tabled homemade olive oil – it was so delicious – he sold it too, but I knew it wouldn’t last in our backpacks, a light potato salad and esparagus. There was unlimited white and red wine though some of the guys brought there own beer. Beer was cheap if you bought at the market, you could get a 1/2 liter can for about $3. Around the table sat travelers from everywhere, but also some groups who came from the Uk to just spend a week here and it sounded like they had done it before.

Hvar is known for being a place to party and go to fancy discotheques and but it was still early season and we came to find out the bigger clubs and parties happened in July and August. That’s ok, we found our refuge, a terrific watering hole, Kiva Bar. Kiva Bar is placed is a narrow alley way. Choose your adventure: inside or out. Dance inside the crowded little bar (fun), hang outside meet/talk to people or sit on the stairs while ordering at the bar through a small window. Whatever you choice, be sure to order a liter glass filled with lots of alcohol and straws, then share among friends. We stayed at Kiva all night and walked home in the wee hours.

Kiva bar – straws!

And more straws…

And more…

Dancing

Drinking

One of my favorite photos ever

Day two, I woke up and made us breakfast out on our patio. It was so great to have our own space, not to mention outdoors, with a view! The sun on my face and eating some fruit salad, yum. Aaron eventually got up and we sat on the balcony so happy to be here, it was gorgeous!

Breakfast on our balcony

There was no rush, but we had planned to go to the farther beaches and I also wanted to see the lavender hills Hvar is known for, on top of its oils and white wine. We rented a motorbike from the hostel and headed up the hills. The views were amazing on the bike. Looking right out to an endless sparkling sea, over nearby islands. The hills were steep, our bike had little power but there wasn’t many cars since Hvar was a small island. Biking is the perfect way to see the island. We hit up our first beach and had lunch at a cute cafe along the water. We had seafood and pasta, I had a big beer, my driver had a small one and we looked out to a green blue sea, which it seemedlike we owned. After lunch we laid on the beach a bit and back on the motorbike to visit another secluded beach. When we arrived, there was a short hike down but well worth it with the views. Walking through tall grass through olive trees, making ourselves down the stretch, it was magical. At the beach, Aaron swam, I did some sunning and when the sun started to fall, we got back on our bike and headed home overlooking the sea. At one point we pulled over to take our jumping pictures and every car/bike would honk.

My driver, our bike

What a beauty

Our views, driving around the island

Our hike down to the beach

The beach

As far as I go in…

Aaron struggling with the pebbles

Back on the bike

Lunch, right on the water

Our restaurant

We got back, changed and had happy hour at the well known Hula Bar. Hula Bar has a sunset party, where music pumps and everyone hangs to watch the sunset. Sailboats dock and people come up to catch a drink before getting back on the sea. we headed back then to Kiva bar where we met up with our hostel friends.

Hula Bar, close to sunset

Sunset

Kiva Bar reprise 

The next day was our boat day, and one of my favorite days in Croatia/on the trip/ ever maybe. We decided that we were going to rent a boat and go island hopping with 7 of our hostel mates: 6 fun girls from the Uk and a guy, a UK sailor I had nicknamed Strawberry, because he was suffering from sunburn from falling asleep at the beach. We got in our boats and headed towards the islands, jumping in, laying out, it was a blast. I remember Aaron saying, “we got to get one of these, we need a boat,” so I’m going to hold him to that one day. There were many a-clothing optional beaches we came across which was weird, it’s true what they say, they are always older and fatter than the bodies you’d care to see naked on an island.

The sun, the beer on the boat drained us and when we got back we napped. A little later than we wanted but quickly changed and yep, Kiva Bar till late.

Last night at Kiva Bar

The next and last day I wanted to explore more of the city center. We had motorbikes around the island, walked the shoreline and boated to neighboring islands but other than our late night walks to Kiva Bar, I hadn’t seen the city. So we walked into town and up and down the stairs through passages leading up to the fortress. The city is nice, but the views are breathtaking.

Ice cream!

Walking up and up to the fortress

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