After two beautiful days at Bobovišća and Vis (read more here), we continued our sailing and island hopping adventure, this time docking at Palmižana and taking a trip to Hvar Town.
It was a beautiful morning at Vis, we bought some fresh fruit from the little shop right in the marina, had coffee and got ready to head towards Palmižana. Some three hours later, we were there – at this huge port with two piers and some of the most breathtaking nature I’d ever seen.
Paklinski or Pakleni islands are uninhabited, so everything was significantly more expensive (the least expensive loaf of bread I was able to find cost 10 kn, yoghurt was 8, coffee at the bar cost 16 kn, Radler was 27 and a cocktail cost a whopping 85 HRK).
We headed over to the other side of the island to have a picnic and see the other beaches, passing through a maze of what looked like a tropical forest. Crystal clear beaches, full of sea urchins – guaranteeing that they were very clean – were a perfect backdrop to a tasty snack before heading to Hvar for dinner.
From Palmižana, we took a speed taxi to get to Hvar (100 kn both ways) and it took some 10 min to get there.
Hvar was actually the only place I had visited before the trip – I went there in 2009 and it was significantly different – the streets weren’t as filled with restaurants as they are now and there weren’t nearly as many tourists. It looked more like a small island town than a party destination that it has now turned into and, I must admit, I was kind of disappointed. Still, Hvar is, without a doubt, a gorgeous place, but it seems to have lost its island charm and it has turned into a partying destination instead.
We climbed up to St. George’s Fort (also known as the Spanish fort) and enjoyed a spectacular view of the town and the harbour.
After walking down, we needed our carbs, so we went to get some ice-cream.
On the way down, we encountered some charming barbe. Barbe is a traditionally Dalmatian group of men over 50 who sit together, chat, sometimes play cards, often drink white wine, and generally enjoy life. I asked if I could take a photo and they posed happily.
We strolled around Riva, saw some more barbe,
and along the walkway until we reached the (in)famous Hula Hula, one of the most popular beach bars on the island.
The restaurant where we had our dinner, Mizarola, made up for the pretty unimpressive ice-cream we had had earlier – we got delicious (and huge) mixed meat platters, with steak, pork chops, chicken, mushrooms, baked potatoes; salad, and pizzas and risottos for vegetarian members of our party. The waiters were brilliant, so happy, cheerful and glad to help, it was seriously one of the best restaurant atmospheres of my life! We got table wine – 90 kn per litre, which was very good, and not too pricey. We went back to Palmižana significantly happier and with fuller stomachs.
I think this photo sums up the day best:
That’s it for day three. next up are Stari Grad and Jelsa, so stay tuned!
