Croatian beach time

Hvar was amazing. It was an idyllic, beautiful paradise of an island. Amazing scenery, buildings, and everything else. We also had no less than 4 of the best meals I have ever had - amazing italian seafood mostly - and took a few hikes to remote beach/coves, including one that culminated in a beautiful one man restaurant called Robinsons that was amazing.

But much like people do not like to hear stories about how cute other peoples pets are, I will not spend much time describing our awesome island beach vacation. I will just say that it was fantastic and the photos barely capture it.

After 3 days in Hvar, we took a boat back to the mainland and a bus all the way to the southern tip of Croatia to Dubrovnik. This old walled city was really cool, but a little over-run with tourists. The old town had really cool walls all around it which you could climb up then hike around to get great views of the city.

Instead of getting a hotel in Dubrovnik we ended up renting a Sobe, or private accommodation, from a nice Croatian couple Bozo and Rada. We rented an apartment in a 400 year old building that had been in their family for generations. Their kids had grown up though, so Bozo and Rada had just finished renovating their apartment for renters. It was really cool being able to stay in a unique place in the heart of the old town.

Despite the daytime crowds (nothing like Venice, but after Hvar almost anything would have seemed too crowded), Dubrovnik was pretty great. And while we have now definitely seen a number of Stari Grads (old town) this trip, Dubrovnik was probably my favorite. We watched an outdoor movie that was projected on the old city wall right across the street from our house. We went to Lokrum island (about 10 minutes away) for some more beach time, and generally enjoyed wandering around, stopping in shops and cafes, and taking in the views from the city walls.

Then, after two great days in Dubrovnik, we headed even further south into Montenegro.