The travels of Tim and Megan: Hvar, Croatia

Friday

It was an early start on Friday as we caught the 5am bus from Dubrovnik up the Croatian coast to Split. The bus ride was 4 and a half hours, but was actually fairly painless. We both managed to get a bit of sleep, but when we were awake, the scenery was stunning. The coastal road actually crosses the border into Bosnia & Herzegovina for around 20 minutes before crossing back into Croatia. At each checkpoint we had to produce our passports for a stern looking official who boarded our bus - sadly no bonus stamp in the passport. We must say that the public transport in Croatia is top class. Every bus, ferry and shuttle we caught left and arrived on time, was clean and comfortable, had good service and was very cheap. It really puts New Zealand's public transport to shame.

Aside from maximising our time in Hvar, the other benefit of travelling so early in the day was that it wasn't quite as hot. By the time we arrived in Split, it was 33 degrees at 9.30am, so we were glad not to be travelling in the middle of the day. Split is Croatia's second largest city and it is the main pick-up and drop-off point for most of the ferries that run between Croatia's many islands. We got the 11am ferry to Hvar and arrived there at 12.30pm. Again, the ride was very pleasant with spectacular scenery the whole way.

On our short taxi ride from the ferry terminal to Hvar Town, the driver explained that we had chosen a great time to visit Hvar. The weather was nice without being too hot and we had avoided the peak tourist season of late July-August, when the small town is invaded by 12,000 tourists, 10,000 of whom are Italian! The driver noted that the Italians can be very noisy...

We checked in to our hotel, the Dalmacija Hvar Villa Hotel, which was very nice and in the best location possible, just on the edge of the main harbour, so very close to the town, but not right in the middle of the crowds and noise! Just along from the hotel was a little bay where we spent quite a bit of time lying in the sun and cooling off in the water during our stay.

After settling in, we walked into the town centre. Hvar Town is such a beautiful place. There is a large open square in the middle of town full of cafes, bars, restaurants and souvenir shops, and there is a beautiful old church at the far end of the square. The main harbour is small and packed with boats; along one side of it there are about 6-8 super yachts docked at any given time. Tres impressive.

We stopped for lunch at Cafe Pjaca in the main square. Tim had a burger and fries, which was fantastic and Megan had a salmon sandwich which didn't quite live up to her expectations, but the cafe was very nice. After lunch we explored the rest of the town centre, which reminded us a bit of parts of Athens and Santorini, where there are literally dozens and dozens of tiny narrow streets that run off one another like a maze. It's impressive how many streets and houses/buildings they fit into such a small town. No quarter-acre backyards in Hvar Town!

To escape the heat, we grabbed our togs and headed for the little bay near out hotel. You can hire sun chairs at every beach, which are crucial as a stony beach is not the best to lie on (there's not a lot of sand on Croatian beaches!). We caught some rays on the beach for the rest of the afternoon and then grabbed a few beers from the supermarket and sat on our balcony sipping on those, taking in the brilliant views. Croatian beer is very nice - they have a couple of good ones called Ozujsko and Karlovacko. Then we sampled some cocktails at a nice bar on the waterfront, looking out to the super yachts, before moving on to Pizza Kogo for dinner.

Friday night happened to be the night that Croatia played Turkey in the quarter-finals of Euro 2008. Croatia had stormed through the group stage and were firm favourites to progress to the semi-finals. Every restaurant had set up a TV outside so its customers would not miss a minute of the action. Literally every man and his dog from Hvar were decked out in Croatian football shirts, hats, scarves, flags, etc. From three-year olds to senior citizens, men, women and children and even a dog were wearing their team's colours. Tim felt left out and needed a sunhat with a brim, so joined in the fun by buying a Croatian hat!

The match was pretty even (0-0 at full time) and despite not playing well, Croatia took the lead with three minutes left to play in extra-time. The entire town erupted in celebration. The locals lit flares, set off fireworks and a waiter at Pizza Kogo even bashed his serving tray against the footpath to make some more noise. Sadly, while these celebrations went on, sneaky old Turkey snatched an equaliser with about 10 seconds to go in extra-time. This sent the match to a penalty shoot-out, which Croatia lost miserably. However, within a few minutes the Croats were smiling, laughing and ordering another drink. They were proud of their team's achievements despite the loss. Kiwis could learn a lot from the Croats...

We were pretty exhausted after our early start and being out in the sun all day, so we called it a day.