Surf and Sandcastles: Hvar

When we planned our trip to Croatia, we played around with different scenarios, (when to rent the car, what places we would visit etc). We found it was way cheaper to rent a car our entire time in Croatia and just park it when we did not need it. We got a crazy deal for $13/day so it totally made sense to have it the whole time. What a difference this made. The coast is full of hidden gems and gorgeous landscapes, small little villages and inlets with stunning beaches. We took a car ferry to Hvar from Split (only $90 return for the car and the 4 of us) and then drove from the port to Hvar Town where we decided to stay. Another spectacular ancient town, that looks like it came straight from the pages of a fairy tale, (seriously the town looked like Arendelle from Frozen). An incredible waterfront with a trail to walk along the coast, backed by 7th century walls, while up on the hill a fortress overlooks the whole town. What a sight!

standing on the promenade overlooking the water

St Stephens Cathedral

standing in the Piazza, by St Stephens Cathedral

Aview of the town from the promenade

The town of Hvar has small little beaches and areas to swim in so many areas along the coast.

Johnny and Anneka went in for a dip

My favourite streets, the narrow alleys that I could get lost in for hours

As I mentioned previously, there is only so much exploring the girls want to do, so we decided to do something a little different and rent a boat for the day to cruise around all the little islands. What an awesome time we had going from one beach to another (we even came across a nude beach, much to the girls chagrin!).

the water was cool but so refreshing on such a hot day

Perfect view of the fortress and old town from the boat

One of the many marvellous beaches we stumbled across

the port in Hvar town

Hiking up to the fortress was a very steep climb, but the views were totally worth it. The fortress was also the most beautiful one we have seen yet, very obviously refurbished, but done so well it felt like we were on a movie set.

The view of the town from the fortress with a glimpse at the old wall that surrounded the city

The prison steps in the fortress

from the highest point

you can see all the islands we toured in the boat

A very steep walk, much easier on the way down

After 3 days it was time to go... our ferry was not until 5pm so luckily we were able to cruise around the rest of the island. It is much bigger then I thought and full of many picturesque little villages that are all unique. I particularly loved Stari Grad and Jelsa. We also were on the search for the fields of lavender, unfortunately we were about 2-3 weeks too early, but we did manage to find a field that was almost in bloom. We could have easily spent the whole time we were in Croation on the island, it was THAT impressive.