Well, having done pretty much nothing for the last couple of days, there hasn't been much to blog about! We have been hanging around the apartment, enjoying the views, reading, wandering into town for drinks or lunch and enjoying the sunshine.
The most exciting things that happened were that Linda found a "slow food" restaurant called Famesa where she enjoyed fish pate wrapped in zucchini - love the little pipettes filled with olive oil in those - and sweet potato gnocchi. I ordered chicken stuffed with sun-dried tomatoes, mozzarella and pesto served with wild rice. Both meals were delicious.
Then, while we were sitting there, a big yacht pulled in and, as I am prone to do, I googled the name to find out about it. It was called Oneness, registered in Georgetown, and owned by some Ukrainian billionaire. There was a crew of at least 6 - all in khaki shorts and white t-shirts and, according to the website, it has just had a $1 million refit!!!
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| Linda with Oneness in the far background over her left shoulder |
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Another view of Oneness
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Then, a major crisis happened here in Croatia Friday evening. I got back to the apartment around 5 pm only to find I had ONLY 2 glasses of rose left in my wine bottle! That was traumatic but, thankfully, I somehow coped!
Our first destination was Stari Grad, a town on the other side of the island and the main port for it, the one where the car ferries dock. The Stari Grad Plain of which the town is part of is a UNESCO WHS. From the website:
Stari
Grad Plain is a cultural landscape that has remained practically intact since
it was first colonized by Ionian Greeks from Paros in the 4th century BC. The original agricultural activity of this
fertile plain, mainly centering on grapes and olives, has been maintained since
then to the present. The site is also a natural reserve. The landscape features ancient stone walls and
trims, or small stone shelters, and bears testimony to the ancient geometrical
system of land division used by the ancient Greeks, the chora which has
remained virtually intact over 24 centuries.
We drove over the inland mountains and through some very interesting terrain
– stone walls, stone mounds and other piles of rock. We asked someone and he explained that
hundreds of years ago, in order to have arable land, the people created the walls,
etc. in order to make space to plant crops. (I have since read an article that says much of the rocks were moved by ancient Greek civilizations starting in 4 BC). That is not dissimilar to what was done on the Aran Islands in Ireland where there was no land available for farming until all the rocks were moved. The main crops around here seemed to be lavender, unfortunately not in bloom yet, as well as grapes and olives. Croatia, in general, seems to have a lot of vineyards. The scenery looking both to the mainland and to the west was amazing and very different to what we have seen the last few days.
Here are some photos which show the amazing amount of work that was done hundreds (possibly thousands of years ago) to clear the land of the rocks. These are all over this area and are why it has been designated by UNSECO. The work that it would have taken to do all this is incredible - and without machines!!
Stari Grad is a charming town and we spent considerable time wandering around its old streets, some of which date from Roman times. Linda found an atelier where she bought a small painting much to the delight of the woman who was the painter. We also visited another craft shop where the guy was very friendly and informative, not to mention creative. We enjoyed his whimsical creations from driftwood and pebbles. One said “What I need is Vitamin Sea” – I probably should have bought it as it is certainly my philosophy! When I was talking to him, I learned that the Germans occupied the island during the war and another island nearby was occupied by the Brits. The RAF dropped a bomb on the street where we were standing. He told me that the island where the RAF was stationed is the only part of Croatia where cricket is still played – old habits die hard, I guess! Further along the street we came upon a deli that was owned by a French couple. There were lots of interesting foods and items in the shop but I restrained myself to some herb salt (herbs from Hvar island) and an interesting chocolate bar with orange, pepper and thyme. We also found a gluten-free restaurant much to Linda’s delight where we stopped for a light lunch.
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| The painting Linda bought |
Our next stop was a small town called Jelsa. It had a pretty harbour but, other than that, was a bit of a disappointment after the charm of Stari Grad. I had an ice cream cone – only to get the change we needed to get our car out of the parking lot. The system worked a bit differently – you scanned the barcode on your parking ticket and the machine told you what to pay and then, on leaving, you scanned the ticket again and “it” knew you had paid and the gate opened. Slick! It seemed the main thing to see here was the harbour and a statue of a little donkey that was somehow significant here - 0h, and perhaps the church but we didn't bother to hike up the hill to check it out.
We went to Vrboska, a little north of Jelsa, next. It was lovely with a cute little harbour. I got onto a very small street on the waterfront but we managed to turn around in a very tight space and get out. We crossed over a small bridge, drove along the seafront and then onto a lovely scenic road along the long cove and back to the highway. I didn’t stop to take any photos there but it was very pretty – more charming than Jelsa we thought.
Our next destination was the other side of the island, to the south where the car rental guy had told us there was some nice beaches. To get there, we had to drive through an old military tunnel with a sensor at each entrance to control the traffic. The tunnel itself was 2.4 km long with unfinished walls (picture a rough cave wall) and no lighting. That would not have been a problem had the headlights on our car worked - they didn't! I managed to drive through the tunnel holding the high-beam on so we could see where we were going. It worked out fine but it sure could have been a bit harrowing. The roads leading to the tunnel and on the other side were also a bit of a challenge with lots of very sharp and steep hairpin turns. Again, these wouldn’t necessarily have been a problem if people could keep to their own side of the road, especially those campers from the Netherlands. In addition, the road was almost single track at times which was a little scary. There were supposed to be some lovely beaches on that side of the island but the first one we stopped at was no big deal - just a little rocky beach like the one at the end of the street where I live - so we just turned around and headed back to the main highway to Hvar.
We got back around 3:30 and, after satisfying our curiosity by checking out the beach at the end of the road past our apartment, we returned the car. Renting it was sure a lot better than paying double for a guided tour that wouldn’t have let us do what we wanted to.
We headed for the Top Bar at the Adriana Hotel on the other side of the harbour. It is a rooftop bar purporting to offer the best views of the town. We had spotted it a few days ago and it seemed a perfect place to have “happy hour” on our last evening here. The views were indeed as advertised. It was a bit ironic, however, that my glasses of rose wine were half the price of Linda’s non-alcoholic ginger beer ($7 vs $14!).
After leaving there we decided to go back to Kod Kapetan, where we had lunch previously. I ordered the prawns in garlic, butter and white wine again but had them with chard and fries (the best we have had so far). The waiter was lovely and brought us complimentary desserts and, for me, a glass of dessert wine. Loyalty seems to be rewarded here! By the time we finished dinner, the weather had turned cool and a bit breezy so we solved that by taking a taxi back to the apartment. It cost 100 HRK and it was well worth it!!
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