Amazin' Croatian vacation, part 2 (Hvar and Dubrovnik)

See here  for Part 1 of my trip to Croatia.

In general, I thought that the coast of Croatia would be like the California or Oregon coast as far as scenery, and it's definitely similar.  Even though we Americans might assume Croatia is nicer, just because it's more exotic and far away from California, the west coast of the US is quite impressive.  But regardless of whether or not it is more "scenic", the Croatian coast was probably more fun.  There was something about the combination of islands, boats, the bluer water, the medieval cities, and even the colors of the roofs that made this one of the most beautiful places I've seen.

Hvar Town and the neighboring islands from above

Coast of Dubrovnik

Dubrovnik through a peep hole

  
Besides Split, Bol, and Hvar, we also wanted to stop in Montenegro, Korcula, Mljet and Vis (and many other places), but we didn't have enough time.  Due to the ferry schedules, it wasn't easy to fit it all in. It actually would have been better to try to do some day trips from Dubrovnik, Split, or Hvar, rather than try to move from one to the next to the next with all our stuff.  But we didn't, so we were flexible and stayed in Hvar a couple more nights than we originally planned.  We didn't mind, because Hvar was the most fun out of them all.

Hvar
In Hvar's Villa Marija we had a 3 bed "apartment" (3 beds, not 3 bedrooms). We had our own kitchen and bathroom, with a balcony that overlooked the main terrace of the hostel. In this hostel it was pretty easy to meet other travelers.  The boss's son, Ivan, made an effort to get everyone to socialize, and Marija brought us all drinks, snacks and encouraged everyone to go out to the bars together (I guess to get the noisy, drunk people away from the hostel).  Ivan's friend was a bartender at Nautica bar, so we got free shots and cheap drinks every time we went there.  Which was all 4 nights.  At the legendary Carpe Diem club, drinks were $10, but at Nautica it was about $4 for the same thing. So clearly I preferred Nautica.  One night Mike and Patty slept early so I went out with the others from the hostel I met that evening. I'm not gonna lie, it was little like Spring Break.

The next morning we decided to rent a small motor boat and explore some of the neighboring islands and beaches. Someone at the hostel told us about how great it was so we thought we'd give it a try.  As he was telling us about this, we noticed that he had sea urchin spines sticking out of his foot, and he was too drunk to do anything about it.  After considering whether or not it would be a good idea to trust a drunk guy with sea urchin spines sticking out of his foot, we decided we still had faith in his judgement of boat rides around Croatian islands.  I mean, it's hard to go wrong there.  The next day, as we walked down to the harbor to find a boat, a guy laying on a bench under a tree called out to us casually "hey wanna rent a boat?"  Normally, we'd run away and ignore this type of offer, but because all salesmen are so un-pushy and un-sketchy, we decided to at least hear him out.  The guy was like "sure, rent from me if you want, the boat is right there, but if you don't want to, no big deal, enjoy your day!"  So strange (but awesome).  The price was the same as other guys at the hostel told us they paid, so we decided not to waste any time and took it.  There must be some standard gentleman's agreement on the pricing on these islands for this type of stuff, because nobody tries to under cut other people's prices.  As we were getting into the boat, we saw the 3 Canadian girls we met on the catamaran the prior day, who we convinced to also stay at the hostel, so we invited them to join us.  Laura, Elaine and Mary were a funny and chatty group of girls, and it was strange to think we only met them the day before because we got along so well. We spent the whole day driving the boat around, laying on various beaches and enjoying some nice Croatian beverages. It was perfect weather and a perfect day. It was definitely my favorite day so far, and the boat was only about $50 for the whole day, in total.

I'm on a boat!

One of the bars had little tree houses to relax in

Since we didn't have a set plan when we arrived in Hvar, we only booked the hostel for 2 nights.  After we decided to stay in Hvar for longer, we found out we couldn't stay at Marija's anymore, because of a big group of high school kids were coming in (which, contrary to what you might believe, meant we wanted to get away anyway).  A lot of others were also trying to extend their stays, so Marija and Ivan helped everyone find hostels nearby.  We ended up at a hostel down the street, Luka's Lodge. We had thought about staying there in the first place, so it was nice to check it out.  However, we felt a bit like outsiders at Luka's, since we had already met so many people at Marija's, so we weren't as social.  It was like moving to a new school in the middle of the year, and having to make new friends all over again.  I don't think we were in the mood for it.  Luka's was a nice place (and he was a very nice guy), but Marija's felt more comfortable.

On the next day, we hiked up to a fortress that overlooks Hvar Town.  We relaxed a lot, went to Hula Hula bar on the far side of the beach for lunch, sitting on a dock in the perfect weather. We tried to go to the Blue Caves, but couldn't due to bad tides. I guess it's nice to have that to do next time (I'm collecting reasons to go back!).  We spent the evening watching old rap videos on Youtube and drinking in our room, just like we were college kids living in a dorm with not a care or responsibility in the world.  The high school kids were probably doing that over at Marija's too. 

From above Hvar

For dinner we went to Dalmatino's, where I had a truffle steak, which my friend May recommended.  It was really good...I didn't even know if I liked truffles (I still don't know what exactly the truffle flavor was), but it was worth the price.  The spaghetti was also really good. Besides the seafood in Croatia, it seems like the most common dishes are Italian (I guess because Italy is just across the sea).  And you know I could eat Italian Italian food every day of my life.

With no real plan the next day, we rented boats again with a few others from Marija's; twins from Montreal (Charlotte and Marie) and a girl from Eugene, Oregon (Molly). Mike and Patty liked Molly because she was a Duck fan (I was outnumbered!).  The water was a bit more rough that day, so we went on a different route, but it was a lot of fun again. We found a bar with a water trampoline and of course took jumping pictures.  We also had little adventure when I got the anchor stuck in a concrete slab under the water and spent 15 minutes maneuvering the boat around while everyone watched. Then Mike dove in and tried to dislodge it from under water, which was like watching a Navy Seal rescue us from disaster.  We relaxed, got more sun, and ate our packed lunch. The girls were all in college still, so it made me feel young again (or maybe it made me feel old, I can't decide).  During our jumping pictures Patty's foot brushed a sea urchin, and it left her some nice take-home souvenirs.  She couldn't get all the spines out, so we read that she should soak her foot every day, and the spines would eventually push themselves out, or dissolve completely over time.  Hopefully they're out by now, because that would be gross if they were still there!

Our private little floating trampoline

Mike and Patty had a date-night on the last night in Hvar (I suppose after 10 days together, they should get at least one night without me).  The next morning we woke up to take the catamaran to Split (1 hour), where we caught the bus to Dubrovnik (4.5 hours).  Molly, the girl from Eugene, was also going to Dubrovnik, so we traveled together. It's funny how you can quickly become "friends" with strangers when traveling and you look after each other, even though you don't really know if the other person is an axe murderer or a crazy person. For the record, I don't think Molly is either of those things. I know this because we are friends on Facebook. 

There are only certain days that you can take a ferry straight from Hvar to Dubrovnik and that day wasn't one of them, so we had to do this ferry/bus combo.  It's OK because we stopped in Bosnia on the way, so now I've been in 7 countries with Mike and Patty (Croatia, Bosnia, US, Germany, Netherlands, Poland, England).

Dubrovnik
I was really looking forward to Dubrovnik.  We had a nice apartment (Villa Katarina) with a view of a bay, but a bit far from Old Town. It seems that there aren't too many places to stay actually in the Old Town, so we had to take a bus there (the bus was always filled with tourists).  There were nice walking areas and a beach by our apartment, with several hotels and resorts nearby.  The apartment wasn't "cheap", but it was a nice place. The taxi from the bus station was $12 and to Old Town was about $10.

To plan our always important culinary experience, Patty found some restaurants on Trip Advisor.  Spaghetteria Toni was our first stop, because we saw people eating pasta and got a craving for it.  This was a really nice dinner for us...and it was one of the cheaper meals of the trip as well.

Dubrovnik's Old Town is probably the most popular tourist spot in all of Croatia.  There is a huge city wall that surrounds the city, which you can walk on top of for some gorgeous views of the city and sea.  It was one of the greatest fortifications in history, never being breached during the Middle Ages (although some was destroyed in the war in 1991).  There are several bars and restaurants located in the narrow, and sometimes steep streets all around the city, inside the huge walls.  It's easy to get lost in this little peninsula on the Adriatic sea, but it's small enough where you can find yourself after just a short time.  The beaches in Dubrovnik were nothing special, and in general, I would say that the beaches and food are better in Hawaii than in Croatia.  But mixing in the medieval history and the many islands all around (and the fact that you don't find sand in your crotch after you leave the beaches in Croatia because it's mostly rocks and pebbles), it might be more interesting overall in Croatia.  It would be nice to spend a little more time in Dubrovnik, to have the opportunity for other day trips to Montenegro, Mljet or Korcula.

We did the city wall tour at 10 am and it was HOT. It cost 70 kuna to enter the wall (with no guide) and we paid 50 more outside for an audio guide. It was nice to learn a bit about the wall and history, but the main attraction is the beauty of the city, the walls, the sea, the hills, the rocks, etc. It was hot so about halfway we stopped listening to the guide and just hid in the shade in between taking pictures. It was getting a bit crowded too, so I'd recommend going as early as you can close to opening (i.e. 8am).

City wall by night

The city wall tour

Playing with color accent

We stopped for lunch at a nice place with the perfect combination of seafood - mussels, shrimp, calamari, and a whole sea bass. The quality wasn't as good as some other places, but I love combo meals and had to get the most out of my remaining meals. Give me a combo meal any day of the week.  The last night we tried to buy some fish to cook at home, but couldn't find any markets in the Old Town.  After we finally found one, it was closed. We almost gave up, until we saw a guy walking around with a plastic bag full of fish and mussels. Patty chased him down to ask where he got them. The market was a few bus stops down the road, so we hopped aboard a bus, found the market and brought home some fish and calamari to cook for dinner. We don't know what kind of fish it was, because Google couldn't translate it, but it was very inexpensive in the shop.  Patty cooked a nice meal for 10 people, even though there were only 3 of us, of fish, squid, pasta and vegetables.  In the end we couldn't eat all the seafood because one of the squid creeped us out.  It came to us with a shrimp still in his mouth! The shrimp head was sticking out, like the alien heads that come out of the human bodies in the movie Aliens.  When we saw it, Mike and I were completely disgusted and couldn't stopped squealing like little pigs (Ok, I squealed, Mike just closed his eyes and shook his head.  I assume he did this because of the squid, not because of my squeeling).  After that I couldn't even look at the squid.  I still get chills down my spine thinking about it, so I refuse to look at the picture.

The prawn riding on the back of the sea bass = delicious

The prawn sticking out of my mouth = not really that gross

The prawn sticking out of the squid's mouth = DISGUSTING!!!

Eventually, our amazing trip to Croatia came to an end, and was followed by a few more days in Poland with Mike and Patty.  It was such a great trip, one of my favorites ever, and the timing was perfect.  I was actually happy to be going home. We ended up spending 14 nights together, and we never actually got sick of each other...at least I didn't get sick of them.  But who knows, maybe they're writing a blog right now about how much they couldn't wait to get rid of me!

I guess they have a few weeks to get over it, because I'll be staying with them in London again for the Olympics in August.  Just please no calamari!

Sunset over an amazing trip...can't wait til next time