We’ve gone so Hvar

Julian and I were ecstatic to land in Croatia! We had been seeing pictures of its beauty (and watching Game of Thrones) for so long, that it seemed like it may not live up to the hype; but it certainly did. After an hour delay of our plane, it was late when we finally got into Split and we ate a simple dinner before heading to sleep. The next morning we caught a ferry to the island of Hvar, known for being the place to party in the islands. Once we were settled into our hostel, we spent the day relaxing on the rocky coastline. When we jumped into the water, both of us were surprised by the salt. The water is so crystal clear you can easily forget that it’s the ocean. We were in awe as well at all the yachts that dock there for the night. Most are private, and one that we googled later (owned by only a family) is valued at nearly $50 million!

A massive sailboat docked for the night, along side million dollar yachts

In the evening, we joined the pubcrawl set up by the hostel. When we arrived at the first bar at 11pm, it was quite obvious how much of a party island it is. The street is over crowded with people, and vendors selling jewelry and lavender don’t shut down until midnight. After hitting two bars, the crawl heads off to a club on a smaller island, only reachable by boat. Since the entrance cost is nearly $20 and drinks are even more, we opted to head back, noticing plenty of people who were just heading out.

We awoke the next morning and got ready for a boat trip set up by the hostel. 12 of us hopped onto a speed boat and for nearly an hour rode across the ocean to the Blue Cave. The dalmatia coast is full of small limestone islands, and its resemblance to Lake Travis is at time uncanny.

Julian up front on the boat

We arrived at the Blue Cave, only to have to wait for an hour in line before we could get in. While it was pretty cool to see inside the cave, illuminated by the outside light from a hole beneath the water, it’s certainly not something I would recommend waiting an hour in the heat for.

Blue cave lit up by the hole that lets in the sunlight form outside

Our next stops were at a swimming spot called green lagoon where we all jumped in a relaxed, and another cave, called green cave were sunlight shines in from a hole in the ceiling, reaching all the way to the seafloor in a green color. While also beautiful, there were about 5 other boats in this small cave, and unfortunately it alters the experience. Afterwards our driver took us to a party spot. Julian and some others explored off the boat, while I spent the time jumping in and out of the cool water. When everyone was finally ready to go, we convinced our driver to take us cliff jumping. He took us to a spot we assumed was safe (that we later found out someone on our boat had just told him to go to) and up the cliffs everyone went (except me and one other girl). Looking from the boat, the spot the boys picked to jump from looked horribly unsafe. But, person by person, off they went, everyone landing just fine, some going again. Julian was paralyzed by fright, so I decided to head up and encourage him. Despite my efforts, he never jumped. I however, did, and it was a HUGE mistake! Even though I have jumped from high cliffs before, I let my legs go barley too far in front of me instead of directly under and bruised by tailbone. Luckily, I wasn’t hurt more, but my cliff jumping career is definitely over.

 

They boys getting ready to jump. the picture of me jumping is on facebook

 
The pain in my tailbone stopped me from sitting and going out that night. Even the next day the pain was bad enough that I couldn’t even get in the water. Which is very unfortunate because the water is so clear and we had found a pretty secluded beach to relax on. Some lessons you have to learn the hard way I suppose.

Julian swimming back to shore in the crystal clear waters

That evening we hiked to the top of the old fortress, which gave us a fabulous view of the water for our last night in Hvar.

View from the top of the fortress