Dubrovnik and Hvar

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Thursday 19th – Full day Dubrovnik
It was nice to sleep in, go to the gym and have a leisurely breakfast. After breakfast we enquired about getting the ferry from Dubrovnik to Hvar the next day. Our cab driver the day before had told us that the ferry only operates twice a week and that we should get a driver to take us to Split and get the ferry to Hvar from there. We thought he was just after another job and didn’t pay much attention to him. Turns out he was right. Ferries run every day to Hvar in the high season which doesn’t start til June. We then needed to hire a car to take us the four hours from Dubrovnik to Split and then get the fast ferry to Hvar.
So we booked the car for the next day. Lucky dad was with us. Hiring cars in foreign countries where they drive on the other side of the road is not something I think mum and I could have tackled.
The rest of the day was spent wandering around Dubrovnik sightseeing and shopping. In the afternoon we all got some sunshine by the water. It was an incredible place to sit and get some rays– the Adriatic was only inches away and a hundred metres to our right was the Old Town.
Dad picked the restaurant for dinner that night and we watched the sun set over the old fortress and the docked boats. We had a particularly good bottle of wine – so good that I poured what was left over into my empty water bottle. Classy.

Friday 20th – Dubrovnik – Hvar.
What an interesting day. We picked the car up at 8.30am and left for Hvar around 9am after sorting out the paperwork and the sat nav. It was a 3.5 – 4 hour drive to Split so we had plenty of time to catch the 2pm fast ferry to Hvar (which you couldn’t book online...).
The sat nav was not particularly helpful and we got lost before we even left the Dubrovnik area... About an hour into the drive (we figured we would be ok as long as we followed the coast) we approached what we thought was a toll booth. Whilst we scrambled for change I noticed that the guards were looking very official for a toll booth... turns out it was not a toll booth but a border crossing. Clearly we had not done enough research about this part of the trip because none of us realised we would enter Bosnia on the way.
In Bosnia we were delayed another 30 mins whilst they repaved part of the road. Once back in Croatia the sat nav went ballistic as we approached some brand new roads. They were so new that not only did the sat nav not pick them up, but they were not signposted. We took a wrong turn which we think added another 45 mins to the trip.
It was pretty tense in the car at this stage. Lucky I had my water bottle with wine on me. After my liquid lunch I was much more placid.
We finally arrived in Split at 1.20pm. After dropping off the car we ran to get the fast ferry tickets only to be told that the fast ferry was full and that we would need to get the slow ferry at 2.30. The fast ferry was 45 mins, the slow ferry was 1hr 45 mins.
Getting to Hvar we all hoped the effort and troubles of the day would be worth it. Our resort was 500m around the bay from the centre of town and had a beautiful, large pool. We dumped our bags and walked into town and had an early dinner, exhausted after our day of travelling.

Saturday 21st – Full day Hvar.
We decided to spend the morning exploring the town and the afternoon by the pool. It was the most relaxing day I have had since leaving Sydney. There was no place we needed to be and the weather was glorious.
Hvar is only a small town but very pretty and in Summer it is inundated with yachts. As we are just outside the peak travel season we missed the full hype, however saw plenty of million dollar boats coming and going.
More good food and wine in Hvar. Most restaurants in Croatia have side dishes of grilled vegetables which I could live on. Having a healthy dinner also makes me feel better about the gelato after dinner.

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