Croatia – Hvar

We woke up early today and headed down to eat our free breakfast before going to the islands. The lobby of our hotel had a grand piano and Alex had been dying to play it since we had arrived. He asked the front desk if he could play and they said only performers were allowed. But this morning some guy was playing, and not very well either. Alex ate and then walked over to the piano to see if he could take a turn. The player and his friends were happy to share, so Alex played some Beethoven, Joplin and Rachmaninoff. He was going to play "Behind the Waterfall" for Grandma when the front desk guy came running over and quite gruffly said "You can't play!" The previous piano playing-turned audience guy proceeded to argue with the front desk guy, during which time we left to catch our cab to the ferry terminal. This has reaffirmed my opinion of Croatia - grouchy!

We took a 9AM, 2-hour long ferry ride from Split to the Croatian island of Hvar. We wanted to be sure and see some of the Dalmatian coastline for which Croatia is famous. The ferry took us to Stari Grad and we took a bus from there to the town of Hvar. Hvar is known for its beach resort atmosphere and it fortress. Built on a Roman Foundation, fortified during the Venetian empire and still in use today for music and cultural activities, the fortress was quite a site. It was about a 20 minute hike, up about 10 stories worth of staired-streets and then along a paved hiking path of switchbacks. We hiked up with a new friend – Nancy – who we met upon exiting the bus. Nancy was really nice - a French-Canadian nurse working in Boston. We also met up with a little cat along the way – Rachel gave it my gluten-free blueberry bar to eat. We toured around the castle, and enjoyed the site of the town below. It was really cool to be inside a medieval castle and see the attached walls surrounding the town.

After hiking back down from the castle, we headed to lunch at Palace Paladini – a recommendation from Nancy’s Rick Steves book. It was pretty good – Alex and Mom had lamb, Rachel had pasta and I had veal. At the end of the meal, our waitress brought grappa for the adults and crepes for the kids! Before boarding the bus back to Stari Grad and our ferry ride, we walked along the coastline. It was very peaceful. There were very few people in the town of Hvar and most shops and restaurants were closed. We could definitely tell that this is a summer beach town. It was fun though – and a nice way to see more of Croatia. Tomorrow we will spend the morning swimming at the hotel before flying back to Rome.