Hvar

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We had been planning to travel to the island of Hvar by ferry from Dubrovnik, however when we asked about the ferry we found out it only went two days a week and the day we wished to travel was not one of them. This meant another long bus trip instead, direct to Split! This bus trip took about 4.5 hours and involved travelling up some long, winding and narrow sections of road. At one stage we had to stop whilst another vehicle coming the other way down the hill had to reverse so we could get past.

Coming off the bus at Split we were greeted once again with hoards of people trying to sell us accommodation. This time, without it being so hot, we first checked the ferry timetable to see what we would do. It turned out there were heaps of ferrys running between Split and Hvar each day, so what we decided to do was spend 3 nights in Split including a whole day in Hvar by travelling there and back within the one day.

The ferry trip to Hvar took almost two hours and was in a small car ferry similar to the one that goes between Sorrento and Queenscliff. Once on the island, at a place called Stari Grad, it was a short bus ride for 15km into the main town of Hvar.

Hvar town is quite small in scale, but consists of a main pedestrianised street with cafes and other narrower pedestrian lanes which lead up a hill with a fortress at the top overlooking the town and harbour.

We spent most of our time at Hvar in the water. There were plenty of places to swim including two small beaches and several rocky areas around the harbour. We chose the rocky areas to avoid standing on pebbly beaches and also to avoid the crowds. This time Kerrie even managed to avoid being bitten by fishes.

After our swims we walked up to the fortress and had dinner back down in the town. We were aiming to catch the last ferry back to Split at 11pm, but there were no connecting buses at this time. This meant we had to catch a taxi which we thought would be no problem, however it turned out to be about the most expensive taxi ride in history, costing over $50. That is over $3 per kilometre! By about 1am we were back in Split ready to go to sleep.

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