One of the main reasons we chose to go to Split is because it was really well connected to lots of other small towns and a network of islands.

One such island is Hvar, with a fortress and extensive beach spots. And that is where we decided to go! We got up extra early to walk to the port where we bought tickets from a sketchy looking booth for a ferry out to the island.

An hour on the boat and we were at the Hvar port. We stopped at a bakery for breakfast, to find CHEESE PIES for sale!!!! CHEESE PIES?! They were, and are, some of the yummiest snacks me and Celesta had in Greece – the time I went back to visit Greece, it’s one of the only things I sought out to eat. Its a baked pastry filled with feta cheese. It’s warm and flaky and I would LOVE ONE RIGHT NOW I have to stop talking about it.

Moving on…

We decided to climb to the fortress first, so we didn’t end up climbing the mountain in the full 35 degree heat. And my, it was a long trek. Long, and hot, and steep. I did not enjoy it. But surprisingly, when we got to the top, very few people actually went into the fortress. You had to pay (obviously), and to me it seemed like a waste to climb all the way and then not even go inside.

So it was kind of nice because there weren’t other people in my photos, but it felt weird being almost alone there. I’m always so used to being surrounded by people at these tourist places, it was almost disconcerting to not see a crowd of other people!

But we eventually had to make it back down into the city, where it was time for the beach!! Well, we did stop at a couple churches to look inside, but the biggest lure of Hvar is the beaches. And we had been doing lots of touring and walking around thus far, we deserved a beach day! And we went all the way.

Most of the beaches there weren’t sand, they were mostly rocks and stones. And we were on the hunt for sand. But by 11:30, most of the beaches, sand or not, were claimed space. However, there were a bunch of white comfy chairs just sitting around on this little cove, and so we climbed down to claim a couple chairs. The cove was beautiful, and the sun was strong. And we were set for the day.

About 20 minutes later, a boy on a bike came riding by, and started yelling at us that we couldn’t sit there unless we paid to have the chairs. I guess it was a private spot, and while I didn’t fully trust the seemingly hooligan 13 year old asking for money, we agreed and paid him cash. It wasn’t very much, and it guaranteed our spots which was nice. And so we relaxed, and swam, and pretty much just had a nice afternoon. After a while we walked and got some lunch, and tons of water, because ya girl was getting pretty dehydrated haha.

 

As the afternoon went on, the cooling breeze wore off and I began noticing just how hot it was, which meant I was probably already burnt. I’m from Canada – we don’t do heat that well haha. Eventually we both got nervous about sun exposure, and decided to walk to find some ice cream. We found a cafe with wifi, and lots of desserts and mocktails, and watched the world cup while sitting in the shade for a couple hours. In that time, I claimed I was on vacation, and order 3 or 4 virgin mojitos, which our waiter found hilarious and kept laughing at me every time I ordered a new one.

It was nice to just sit and chat and not worry about things. We also watched some weird art display or something in the middle of the square – it was some dude in a full suit, kneeling on the ground with some weird piece or art that we didn’t understand. The whole thing was super bizarre.

We wandered through some stands selling trinkets, and waited for our boat to come back to take us back to the main land.

 

After getting back to Split, we took the long walk back to the house. I honestly don’t remember if we got dinner, or if we just relaxed and went to bed.

We did stop at a corner store to buy lotion and more sunscreen, because I could already tell I was in for a long night. And I was – sleeping with a bad sunburn on your back and shoulders. Neither of us slept that well, which was definitely not ideal.

But we’ll get into that later.