Croatia

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Croatia

Split and Hvar

After a late night flight to London, I decided a 5 hour stopover over in London Gatwick Yotel may be the best option to allow for a few hours sleep before my early morning flight to Split, Croatia. I walked through customs and within 20 metres I saw the entrance to Yotel, extremely convenient. Despite being a little pricy I was very glad to have somewhere to wait for my upcoming flight.

My flight with Easyjet to Split was smooth flying and quite scenic as we flew over snow capped mountains in the Alps. On arrival in Split I was once again met with the stifling heat, but was glad to now be in a seaside location. Split is a very beautiful, busy city on the sea. It was exciting to meet up with Brad, Sarah, Laura and Simon as this meant good times and much laughter was to be had.
Only having one night in Split we spent the day shopping through the cobblestoned streets and Laura, Sarah and I found delight in the hundreds of tiny shoe stores and we all indulged and bought ourselves a pair. In the afternoon we sat around the harbour and relaxed with a few cocktails and watched life pass us by in Split. It was in Split that I first experienced the delights of Croatian seafood. Delicious fresh fish, the best I have ever tasted. In the first of Laura’s recommended restaurants we definitely enjoyed the fish, although the service was not quite up to par. If you wanted anything you had to go and ask.

My time in Split was short-lived, although after a short ferry ride we soon arrived in the stunning Hvar, a small island located not too far from Split. The days were quiet but the nights came alive with people (mainly backpackers) who arrived on sailing cruises. We were greeted at the dock and taken to the most lovely, homely apartment of our stay so far. The climate was hot, however you could not complain when there were 3 air conditioners in our small apartment.

Once again Laura had done her research and found us a beautiful place to stay as well as places to experience the delight of Croatian seafood. We dined in a small restaurant in another of the cobbled stoned streets however this time the service was impeccable. The Croatian waiter not only ensured our every need was met, but also understood Simon’s sarcasm, in his second language, which is a mean feat in itself. Once again dinner was enjoyed with wine and lots of laughter.

We spent our days In Hvar beside the seaside. We bought ourselves a pair of European ‘rock’ shoes and experienced the rocky beaches. The water was delightfully refreshing from the heat. On our second day we took a small water taxi to a small island 2o minutes from Hvar. We were intrigued and entertained when we noticed a boat load of naked fisherman in small tinnie, fishing from the side of the boat. Their tanned skin was evidence that this was a daily occurrence!

When we arrived we headed straight for the beach and dived into the divine clean waters to cool off. We decided we should do as the Croatians do and headed for a small café surrounded by palm trees overlooking the beach. Although we had no expectations from this café we ended up spending the afternoon there. Once again the fish was amazing but when the fisherman walked in with the tray of fresh fish, we just hoped that these were not the same fisherman as we had seen hours earlier in the small tinnie. 

I really enjoyed my time in Hvar and would love to come back again one day soon.

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