What we thought would be a vacation...

Trip Start Sep 08, 2009
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Trip End Nov 24, 2009


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Where I stayed
private soba
(Hvar hotels)

Flag of Croatia  , Hvar Island,
Tuesday, October 27, 2009

We were really excited to finally get to a Croatian island. We took a ferry from Split to the island of Hvar. It's a really small island where pretty much the only thing to do there is go to the beach. We didn’t have a place to stay booked because we knew about the "sobes." They are apartments locals rent out to tourists for really good deals (especially in October when it’s on the border of shoulder season and off season). The second we were stepping off the ferry, hoards of people were shouting to us, “Do you need accommodation?!” It was all the locals who have sobes. They all wait at the ferry dock to “attack” tourists when they are walking off the plank. We then had to choose between three different people who had gotten to us, all trying to convince us to rent their place simultaneously. It’s really hard to listen to three Croatians who barely speak English, all at once, telling us either “1 minute walking” or “city center” or “50 meter to beach” or “nice room” or “come see room” in broken English Sunset
Sunset
 . We finally settled on the guy who spoke the most English and promised us the lowest price. Of course, when he took us to his apartment so we could check it out, he had “forgotten” his low price at the dock and Andre had to haggle with him quite a bit to get him back to the price we thought we were getting. In the end, it worked out and we had a 3-bedroom apartment with a really beautiful view all to ourselves for 480 Kuna altogether (that’s only $16 each a night which is really cheap in Europe). We got settled in just in time for sunset, took some pretty pictures from our lanai, and then went to the market down the street for groceries. We cooked a good dinner then chilled out and went to bed.

Of course what we didn’t know is that the next day, the island was going to experience a full on storm. We were told it might rain a little that day, but raining a little was a big understatement. From the time we woke up the next morning until after we left two days later, it was POURING down rain and VERY windy. We were house-bound for 2 days. The only time we went out was one evening when the rain died down a little. We put on our raincoats and walked into town, risking getting drenched. It ended up not being too bad but started pouring again soon after.

So after three days on the beautiful island of Hvar, we did not go to the beach once The town at night, with the fortress on the hill
The town at night, with the fortress on the hill
 . We did not see any sun until it peeked out for a few minutes an hour before we left. The only good thing was that those were the three days Andre had a cold/flu so even though it was a bummer he was sick, it was the perfect time to be sick. We just watched movies on his laptop, American shows on the TV with 2 channels (Friends, Xena Warrior Princess…), cooked, and played Chess on our mini travel set. Overall, it was nice to relax but I know I started feeling a little bored.  

Saturday came around and the storm was clearing (only a little bit of rain and clouds that morning). We then hopped on a ferry to another island, called Korcula.
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