Paradise on Hvar and Hell's Islands

We've been quite busy the past week or so. We went to the Island Hvar on Tuesday of last week and stayed two nights. The Island is just off the coast from Split and is a two hour ferry ride away. Vedran's Godfather has a summer place on the island, so we were able to stay with he and his family. Our first day we bummed around in Stari Grad (Old City) and swam on one of the less cramped beaches. Hvar is packed with tourists at this time of year.

I blatantly stole this aerial shot of Stari Grad from this Croatian Travel Blog that is no longer being maintained. I'm sure they won't mind. (I have become quite bad at keeping up with taking photos) So, as I said, we went swimming near the town on the first day and, for dinner, enjoyed pizza on the riva (the boardwalk around the walk...every town in Croatia has one...I'm not sure why Stari Grad's riva resembles a cock and balls, but it does) After dinner we hung out in the main square (located at the tip of the penis) and listened to live music. One of the cafes in the square was celebrating its 25th anniversary and were serving up grilled anchovies and bread.

The next day we I got up early and waited for Vedran to get his butt out of bed. Then we headed for Hvar (the town) in a Buba (pronounced BOOBa) What they call Bubas, we call VW Beetles. Vedran's godfather rents these out, so we were able to get one free of charge. Most of them are cabriolets, but the only one left was one of the regular ones.

Boy did this bring back memories. I remember my Dad's old VW Beetle. I can recall the horendous vibrating sound of the engine. When I was a kid I used to sit at home and listen to my Dad driving away in the Beetle and then I would go to my bedroom and play with the springy door stop behind my bedroom door. When I flicked it, it sounded just like the Beetle changing gears and accelerating. I know, I'm weird!

Anyhow, we drove in the old clunker down to Hvar and strolled around for a bit. We enjoyed a coffee on the riva (I told you...EVERY town) After coffee we climbed aboard a ferry and made our way out to sea. It was a private little jobby...nothing like BC ferries.

Our destination was the Pakleni Otoci (Hell's Islands). Sounds like a nasty place I know, but it's paradise. Pakleni Otoci are a series of islands off the south-western coast of Hvar. We were on one of the smaller ones. The picture below was pillaged from this website.

The waters are crystal, crystal clear. Some of the clearest I have seen in Croatia, and that is saying something. All of the water in Croatia sparkles. I mean, just look at it. Tell me you don't want to be in here right now? Oh, and it is oooooh so warm.

The other thing I particularly liked about the Islands were that they seemed to be clothing optional. I say seemed to be because there is no official nudist designation for the beach, but half the people were naked. Since coming to Croatia I have learned how to be naked most of the time when I am on the beach. When we were swimming near Stari Grad on the first day I had to wear my swimming trunks and it just felt so strange. I'm going to be a full blown nudist by the time I come back to Canada I'm sure of it. Here are a few pictures of the view we had from the Island (I hope this man doesn't mind his bum being in the picture...better his than mine I say)

Remember, you can click on any of these pictures to view the full size image. We spent nearly six hours on the beach here. It was nice because there were lots of trees to provide shade, but the beach was not sandy and finding a comfortable spot to lay was a bit of a challenge. 

On our last day on the island, we headed out to the beach again, but this time we stayed on Hvar. We found a nice semi-secluded spot along the north coast of Hvar near Vrboska. We were lucky enough to get our hands on another Buba, and this time it was a cabrio. 

That was it for our trip to Hvar. After swimming, we caught the ferry back to Split. Over the weekend, we ended up going to Zagreb and to Istra, just on an overnight trip. I didn't manage to get any photos, but we had a nice time. Istra is beautiful; I will make sure to pull out the camera next time we are there.