After watching the US upset Italy by tying them in an extremely violent match last night, we hit the sack early and woke up at 5:30 to begin our journey to Hvar - the last island stop on our trip. We caught a 6:30 bus to Vela Luka (situated on the other end of the Korčula island - a 46 km drive), and then picked up an 8:00 am catamaran ferry to Hvar. We arrived in Hvar Town a little before 9:00 am.Our first order of business was to secure lodging. The room we got is a lot more swank than our places in Dubrovnik and Korčula (small kitchenette, antique furniture, hardwood floors, and linen curtains) with a price to match, but Hvar is a pretty swanky town in general. It is one of the main ports of call in croatia for the world's rich and famous (as evidenced by some of the montrous yachts in the harbor - apparently we just missed Eric Clapton) partly becuase it receives more hours of sunshine per year (around 2300) than any other place in Croatia. The main seaside promenade is guarded by tall palm trees and lined with bars (some of them appear quite trendy) and stands peddling products made from the lavander cultivated on the hills outside of town. The town itself is pretty small.. in fact, none of the streets on the island have names but the bars are packed all day (and from what we've heard, well into the night). To make things even more exciting the Croatia Japan soccer match is today, so there are quite a few "enthused" fans. When ever something good happens, the entire town erupts into a simultaneous cheer.
This picture was taken from the window of our room overlooking the harbor.
Our original plan was to spend two nights in Hvar, before making our way to Italy for a couple nights in either Venice and Milan, but we've grown very fond of this bohemian lifestyle we've been living the past few day and we're considering extending our stay in Hvar to 4 nights and cutting out the final few days in Italy.
Tomorrow we are planning to rent a boat to explore some of the small islets and coves around the island, and since we try not to plan anything more than a day in advance, that's the extent of our agenda so far.
A couple more pictures from our day today
P.S. : The internet on Hvar is about 3 times as expensive as the other places we've been in Croatia so we're trying to limit our time. As such you may not hear from us tomorrow (just a warning so that we can avoid frantic e-mails from mom wondering if we're all right).
