The world is a funny place. Usually in a black comedy kind of way, but sometimes in a lighter hey-this-world-thing-is-ok-even-if-it-is-trippy sense. Take day thirty-five, for instance. Here are Anna and I, more than a month into a combination adventure/whirlwind trip, and we’re swimming in the Adriatic and chatting with Fred, who I’d met when rafting the Futaleufu river in Chile. It was welcome and refreshing, both the swim and the opportunity to speak English to someone other than each other for the first time in weeks, but it was just kind of funny.
Jump back to the beginning of the day: the plan was to make it to Hvar, where I knew Fred would be stopping from 1pm – 6pm, thanks to the magic of the Internet (and thanks to Luke, who had also been rafting in Chile and who had been with us for the Egypt portion of this trip, who connected Fred with our itinerary, making it possible for Fred to discover that we’d be in Croatia at the same time). Sorry for the long paranthetical there; I used to be worse about them, but I haven’t kicked the habit entirely. Anyways, so we’re up around 8am and decide to see if we can get to Hvar. That’s not as easy as it sounds, since we didn’t have Internet access in Stobreč, and all we knew was that there was a ferry of some sort leaving from somewhere in Split.
But, hey, were adventurous, right? So we hopped on a bus to downtown Split, and as the bus headed into town, we started seeing signs for the ferry terminal. Hey, what luck! Sure enough, the bus stopped near the terminal, and from there it was just a matter of finding the ticket booth (success on the second try!) and figuring out the schedule. As it turned out, there was a high speed ferry leaving at 11:30. Sold! The only downside was that there were no return ferries from Hvar, so we’d have to catch a bus to Stari, another city on the same island, for one of the return ferries. But there were lots of them, running as late as 11pm, so it seemed ok.
So 11:30 found us seated on the second high speed ferry of the trip, heading towards Hvar. Somewhere I had read that it was a 3 hour trip, but that was unclear about whether it was 3 hours in the high speed or regular ferry. We had no idea of arrival time.
After just an hour, we found ourselves pulling into Hvar. Heck, we had plenty of time. As we walked around the marina area, but became clear that Hvar is just terribly cute in that way that only Mediterranean resorts are: ancient churches and buildings, a town square area with shops and restaurants, multimillion dollar yachts parked everywhere, and people walking around in various stages of undress. I could live that way.
We heard from Fred around 1pm, and sure enough he was on his Seabourn ship in the harbor and would be in town by 2pm. Anna and I took the time to wander around some more, get some ice cream, and generally enjoy the resort town. And then, around 2pm, we headed back to the harbor area and – wow – there was Fred. Yes, we knew we were going to meet him and had arranged it, but it still felt a bit surreal. I mean, I’d met the guy two years ago, 8000+ miles away, and on another adventure trip.
Anyways, it was great catching up with Fred (hi, Fred!), and the three of us hung out and swam for an hour or two, enjoying the sea water and just taking it easy. One of those life-is-good afternoons where you just kind of idle and chat. Then, after a quick snack, we said our goodbyes and parted ways. Fred, back to his all-inclusive super-luxury cruise, and Anna and I off to find the bus to the other city to find the ferry back to Stobreč, which, while it’s charming in a small-sea-town kind of way, is completely incompatible with the word “luxury.”
The bus, while so packed that Anna and I had to stand for the twisty 30 minute ride, was easy to deal with, as was the ferry back to Split. By this time we were old hands at Croatian public transit, and we had fantastic luck hopping on the bus back to Stobreč, which had just pulled up when we got to the stop.
In the evening, we wandered around town a bit more, then got a quick dinner at one of the small local restaurants. And then it was back to the hotel to sleep – really the last off-the-beaten-path hotel and sleep we’d have, since tomorrow we’d head to London and would be in a Hilton for the remaining days of the trip.
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My husband and I just returned from a FABULOUS trip to Croatia that included Hvar. Hope you enjoyed it as much as I did. FYI, spend only one day in Korcula!