Island hopping in Croatia

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Trip Start Apr 13, 2010 Previous
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  Split, Croatia
Sunday, May 30, 2010

With Mother Nature still cranking out the good weather in Croatia, Graham and I decided to head back up to Split to do some island hopping before a third road trippin' member jumped in our car.

Before we decamped for Split we watched the State of Origin and cheered on the Queenslanders in an Irish pub in Dubrovnik. We got back up to Split around 7pm found some accommodation and got ourselves ready for a night out. We met up with some friends that night for dinner and a few beers, which inadvertently lead to a few more beers and a bed time of 2am.

The next morning we found ourselves at Tonik, a juice bar run by Steph, an Aussie/Cro. If you ever need some freshly squeezed juice or smoothies, Aussie style coffees, fresh fruit or healthy food alternatives, look no further than this place.

The boat trip to Hvar was easy, drive the car on the ferry, take a seat on the deck of the boat and soak in the sun rays for the next two hours. The ferry drops you off near the Stari Grad (old town) and the drive to Hvar town takes about 20 minutes. We were originally looking at camping over on the islands, however as we drove passed each of the sites, it was decided that the walks to and from town were way too long. 

As we drove through town, two old dears were holding signs for apartments, so we pulled over to check out the place. Before too long we had Teo, the owner of the place outside having a chat with us and offering a beer. This man knows me too well. He also loves Peter Garrett and Midnight Oil, with his favorite song being King of the Mountain. So 10 out of 10 for Teo.  This man should be a car sales man. We ended up with an apartment to ourselves for the next few nights.

We walked around the party town of Hvar, checking out the sights, drinking a few beers. Feeling quite famished we ended up at Teo's restaurant which he had earlier recommended us. The prices were good so we popped in for a meal and some wine. We ended up sitting next to a pair of old pommy guys. While they were slowing down, their wit and humor showed know signs of aging. Graham ended up getting offered a room if he ever gets to Bath on his travels through the UK. After the poms left we ended up sitting between two Aussie couples. We caught up on each of our travels over a few more beers. Teo was very generous and gave us free palačinke (Croatian crepes) for desert.

After dinner Graham and I decided to sample the local night life. It's still on the cusp of summer holidays over here so we weren't expecting much.  We ended up at Carpe Diem for a cocktail and nursed that for a while before heading to another club enroute back to our apartment.

The next morning we explored Hvar's Stari Grad, which dates back to ancient Greek times. We also saw Petar Hektorovic's (famous Croatian poet) mansion, Greek ruins and vegetable patches. In the afternoon we returned to Hvar explored the town before winding our way back along the coast line, first stopping in at Hula Hula, a famous beach bar on Hvar.  The evening was pretty much a repeat of the night before; head to Teo's restaurant before going back to Carpe Diem for another cocktail. It had to be an early night (midnight) as we were heading to Korčula (a neighbouring island) via ferry very early the next morning.

Korčula is a lot like Hvar, although a lot more slower paced. I could have spent another few days here exploring the place however time was a bit of an issue. We stopped in at an agrotourism vineyard and sampled some local olive oils and wines as we drove around just a fraction of the island. Our stay on Korčula however was short lived as we needed to get back to Split to pick up our third member of our road trippin' adventure, Leah. So we jumped back on a ferry for the mainland, took a quick dip in the Adriatic again at one of the nicest beaches we've been to thus far, at the town of Orebic. Bol on Brac island however still pips it... just...

So back at Split we caught up with the local Aussie / Cro contingent and partied with them for most of the night... Crippsy threw in the towel around midnight, which I later reflected upon as I walked back through the door of the hostel at 4.45am.

Now after only a few hours sleep I'm tired and ready to find a greasy morning burek and my favorite juice bar in Split, Tonik for my morning pick me up. I've definitely got to get myself back to this place.

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Hvar by night	Hvar in the afternoon	Stari Grad, Hvar	Looking out over Hvar
Hvar from the ferry

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