Hvar, Croatia

We have been on the island Hvar for 3 days now, thoroughly enjoying our time on the Adriatic. It is really amazingly beautiful here, the sea that deep blue that you see in photos, the buildings all stone with orange clay roof tiles, the hills steep and dotted with trees bearing olives, lemons, oranges, and limes, and the food simply amazing. How will I live without grilled squid and fresh mussels after this?

We took a slow ferry from Dubrovnik to Hvar back on Sunday, an 8 hour trip that could have been 5 by bus but was so much better by sea. We laid around on deck, we ate, we napped, we stared at the deep blue water.

Since arriving we have done our share of walking and exploring, as ever, and it has been wonderful. (No, I cannot find the apostrophe on this kezboard, and the z is where the y should be, so I deal.) Yesterdaz we rented scooters and took the old road up over the mountain and to the other side of the island to Stari Grad, one of the oldest cities in all of Europe, if you can imagine that. We had perhaps the best meal of the trip there, starting with a cheese from the Livgno region, then sharing a seafood platter with sea devil, sea bass, dorada (maybe the tastiest fish fillet ever), grilled squid, 2 huge prawns, and boiled potatoes and spinach. We washed it down with local white wine and a bunch of bread soaked in local olive oil. Absolutelz amaying.

The scooter ride was great fun and made me wish I had come prepared to ride a bike. The road over and back would have been about 45 km, and one of the most gorgeous roads ever, hardly used by car since the costruction of the new road and tunnel, so we had it largely to ourselves. The descent to our seaside destination would have been unreal. Next time. (I have figured out my retirement: I will buy a small emptied village on the road there and open a hotel slash training center slash ecolodge with amazing road and mountain biking plus freeclimbing just up the road and access to scuba diving and sailing facilities. That would be the life.)

So, today is laundry and internet day, we will relax and enjoy our last day on the coast, and tomorrow we head to Trogir, a UNESCO world heritage city, where we spend one night before getting on a plane to Amsterdam. This has been a wonderful and relaxing stay, and we look forward to ending our trip with 4 days in my favorite city.

Hope all reading this are doing well and enjoying the change to spring. See zou soon.